The Seaport Museum maintains a 12,000 plus ship plan collection relating to vessels built in the greater Philadelphia area. These include personal crafts, commercial vessels and military ships and submarines.
Name of Collections:
- Small Craft Plan collection
- Large Craft Plan collection
- Becuna (Submarine) plans
- John H. Mathis Company records
- John Lenthall papers of The Franklin Institute
- Pennsylvania Railroad records
- RTC Shipbuilding Co. records
- Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company records
- Thomas D. Bowes, M.E., Associates records
- William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company collection of The Franklin Institute
Description:
Small Craft Plan collection: The collection is comprised of traditional wooden craft built along the Delaware River and the New Jersey seaboard. It includes plans for: canoes, catboats, Delaware duckers, garveys, mellon seeds, oyster schooners, skiffs, sloops, sneakboxes, tuck-ups and other small vessels.
Large Craft Plan collection: The collection contains plans for both wood, iron and steel vessels. Companies represented include: Philadelphia and Reading Transportation Line, Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad, Delaware River Ferry Company, Pusey and Jones, Morris and Mathis, RTC Shipbuilding, J. Murray Watts and more. There are also plans by Edward Brownlee in the collection.
Vessel Types
- Military
- Commercial / Cargo
- Commercial / Passenger
- Commercial / Fishing
- Recreation / Pleasure
- Sailing
- Steam
- Military / Cargo
- Diesel
- Small Craft
- Other Government
- Research
Type of Access:
- Online
- By Appointment
- Written Request
- Telephone Request
- Email request
Website http://www.phillyseaport.org/online-resources
Contact:
Megan Good, Director of Archives and Library
Phone: 215-413-8640
Email: library@phillyseaport.org
Independence Seaport Museum
211 South Columbus Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19106