Local Maritime History Resources

While the library and archive of the Maritime Museum of San Diego contains a wealth of information, we also advise researchers to investigate other local resources for historical materials.  For further information click on the headings below:

Concrete Ship Construction:
The S.S. San Pasqual and the S.S. Cuyamaca were built by Pacific Marine and Construction Co. between 1919 and 1920 at the location of what is now the Navy Yard.  The project was sponsored by the U.S. Shipping Board’s Emergency Fleet, a federal agency that was mandated to expand the country’s wartime fleet  following World War I.  The San Diego State Library contains an archive of 329 original photographs and also related papers, manuscripts, and reports pertaining to this aspect of local shipbuilding.

Coronado Historical Association:
If you are interested in researching the story of Coronado and its associations with the sea, the best place to start will be the archive of the Coronado Historical Association.

San Diego Historical Society:
The San Diego Historical Society contains an extensive photographic archive related to the local history of San Diego.  Archival holdings of maritime-themed images including vessels, the port of San Diego, and people associated with the sea.

The Hill Collection, UCSD:
In 1974 Kenneth and Dorothy Hill donated a significant collection of rare books to the University of California, San Diego.  These focus primarily on the history of navigation and exploration in the Pacific Ocean.  This extremely important collection may be consulted at UCSD’s Mandeville Special Collections Library.  The printed catalog of the Hill Collection may be consulted in the research room of the library of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library:
Offering much more than an ocean view and a great place to study, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library is the largest oceanography library in the world, offering unparalleled resources in marine and earth sciences.