Harry Pidgeon Collection, 1869-1954; bulk dates 1921-1937

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Scope and content:: Donated to the Cabrillo Beach Museum in 1980, the collection of objects was later transferred to the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. The collection is from Harry Pidgeon’s voyages around the world beginning in 1921. Pidgeon made two of these, one between 1921 and 1925 and the second between 1932 and 1937. One of his achievements prior to making the voyages was to build his own vessel which he named “Islander”. The Museum’s collection of his 80 objects and tools reflects his woodworking skills, the skills he gained by building the yawl himself with hand tools. Two collections of Pidgeon’s glass plate negatives are found at local repositories: the University of California Riverside, California Museum of Photography holds 1550 glass plate negatives taken between 1888 and 1936. At California State University, Fresno are 634 glass plate negatives detailing the lumbering operations in California Sierras.
Biographical / historical:: Harry Pidgeon was born in Salem, Iowa on a farm in 1869. He emmigrated to the West Coast as a young man eager to learn woodworking trades and found work in lumber mills of California and Alaska. He died in San Pedro at the age of 85 in 1954.

Access and use

Restrictions:: Access is by prior consent of the Archivist or Museum Director.
Terms of access:: Copyright restrictions apply.

Location of this collection:: Los Angeles Maritime Museum

Berth 84

Foot of 6th St

San Pedro, CA 90043, US