Ocean Liner Ephemera

An ocean liner is a ship with a fixed route and scheduled to leave at a specific date and time. The first ocean liner set sail in January 1818 from Peck Slip, just a couple of blocks from Seaport Museum. By the 1860s, steamships were replacing sailing ships, and transporting immigrants across the Atlantic was big business.

The Museum own two major ocean liner collections (the Der Scutt Ocean Liner Collection and the Ocean Liner Museum Collection,) as well as an array of other smaller donations related to ocean liner and cruise ships materials. The collections help us document, research, and tell the story of the port of New York in the early and mid-20th century, from the dual perspective of the passengers aboard these great liners, immigrants, emigrant workers, and First Class tourists.