There are numerous online resources provided by CAMM member institutions for researching maritime history. Some sites provide a searchable catalog or downloadable digital images; others simply include a description of their collection requiring an onsite visit to access the material. Click on the categories below to move to that topic.
Manuscripts Collections
Maps & Charts
Navy / Military
Oral Histories
Photography
Ships
Small Craft
Shipwrecks / Maritime Archaeology
U.S. Lifesaving Service
U.S. Lighthouse Service
Manuscript Collections
- Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
- Columbia River Maritime Museum
- Herreshoff Marine Museum
- Independence Seaport Museum
- Los Angeles Maritime Museum
- Maine Maritime Museum
- Marine Museum of the Great Lakes
- Maryland Historical Society
- MIT Hart Nautical Collections
- Mystic Seaport
- Nantucket Historical Association
- Navy History and Heritage Command
- New Bedford Whaling Museum
- Peabody Essex Museum
- Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society
- San Diego Maritime Museum
- San Francisco Maritime NHP
- Smithsonian National Museum of American History
- The Mariners’ Museum
- Vancouver Maritime Museum
- Wisconsin Maritime Museum
Maps & Charts
- Library of Congress Map Collections
- Mystic Seaport
- New Bedford Whaling Museum
- NOAA’s Historical Map & Chart Collection
- The Mariners’ Museum
- Vancouver Maritime Museum
Navy / Military
- Historic Naval Ships Association (includes Navy manuals and other technical information)
- Independence Seaport Museum
- Los Angeles Maritime Museum
- National Archives: Maritime Records
- Naval History and Heritage Command
- The Mariners’ Museum
- U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office
Oral Histories
Photography
- Columbia River Maritime Museum
- Connecticut River Museum
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
- Library of Congress “Built in America” project (documentation projects by HABS/HAER/HALS)
- Maryland Historical Society
- Mystic Seaport
- Nantucket Historical Association
- Naval History & Heritage Command
- New Bedford Whaling Museum
- Penobscot Maritime Museum
- San Francisco Maritime NHP
- Steamship Historical Society of America – Image Porthole
- The Mariners’ Museum
- U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office
- Vancouver Maritime Museum
- Wisconsin Maritime Museum
Ships
- The American Neptune Collection (Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum)
- CAMM’s Directory of Ship Plans
- Historic Naval Ships Association
- Independence Seaport Museum (includes shipbuilding, design & technology)
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
- Library of Congress “Built in America” project (includes photos, plans, and histories of ships by HABS/HAER/HALS)
- Los Angeles Maritime Museum
- Marine Museum of the Great Lakes
- Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (Sailing Ship Rigs)
- MIT Hart Nautical Collections
- Maine Maritime Museum Merchant Mariners Muster
- The Mariners’ Museum (plans & drawings)
- Mystic Seaport (ship plans)
- National Archives: Maritime Records
- Naval History and Heritage Command
- New Bedford Whaling Museum (includes digitized logbooks)
- Penobscot Marine Museum
- Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society
- San Francisco Maritime NHP
- Steamship Historical Society of America
- Texas Seaport Museum Immigration Database
- U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office
- U.S. Ship Log Books of the 19th & 20th Centuries (An Old Weather Citizen History Project)
- Vancouver Maritime Museum
Shipwrecks / Maritime Archaeology
- Institute of Nautical Archaeology
- Library of Congress “Built in America” project (includes photos, plans, and histories of shipwrecks documented by HABS/HAER/HALS)
- Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (Lake Champlain shipwrecks)
- Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (Nova Scotia shipwrecks)
- Naval History & Heritage Command
- NOAA’s Shipwreck & Obstructions Database
- The Mariners’ Museum
Small Craft
- Independence Seaport Museum (plans)
- Museum Small Craft Association Union List
- Mystic Seaport
- The Mariners’ Museum Chris-Craft Collection
- The Mariners’ Museum International Small Craft Center
U.S. Lifesaving Service
- The Mariners’ Museum
- U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office
- U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association
U.S. Lighthouse Service
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
- Library of Congress “Built in America” project (includes photos, plans, and histories of lighthouses documented by HABS/HAER/HALS)
- The Mariners’ Museum
- U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office
- U.S. Lighthouse Society (Light Lists, lens and lamp inventories, database of descriptive pamphlets from the National Archives, articles from The Keeper’s Logs)