Collection Guide
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Congdon (Theodore G. and Eleanor S.) Maritime
Collection
priTEC
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Theodore G. and Eleanor S. Congdon Maritime Collection
Identifier/Call Number: priTEC
Physical Description:
65.16 Linear Feet
(2 boxes, 145 folders, 4 volumes)
Date (inclusive): approximately 1700-1990
Date (bulk): 1800-1935
Abstract: The Theodore G. and Eleanor S. Congdon
Maritime Collection contains 190 items that pertain to commercial, naval, and recreational
maritime-related activities primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. Materials
date from approximately 1700 to 1990, with the bulk dating from 1800-1935. The collection
consists of prints (engravings, etchings, aquatints, and lithographs), photographs,
manuscript materials, publications, portfolios and bound volumes, and a single painting. The
items deal primarily with whaling, yachting, and naval battles, and the vessels and people
involved in these activities.
Language of Material: Primarily English, with some
French.
Finding aid last updated on January 27, 2016.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Theodore G. and Eleanor S. Congdon Maritime Collection, The
Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
This collection was donated to the Huntington Library by Theodore G. and Eleanor S. Congdon
in August 2006 and February 2008. Most of the items in the collection were donated in 2008;
the 2006 donation consists of the following 26 items: priTEC 0165-priTEC 0190.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services.
Theodore G. Congdon (1929-2012) lived in the Pasadena area of southern California with his
wife Eleanor, where he worked as an accountant. He grew up in New England, one of five sons
of the socially prominent Congdon family that founded Congdon & Carpenter Co. in 1790.
The firm dealt in iron, steel, hardware, carriage and saddlery goods, and paints and oils,
and was one of the oldest family-owned and operated businesses in the United States until it
was sold in 1977.
Ted Congdon's deep interest in maritime history led him to amass a variety of prints,
documents, periodicals, and artifacts related to whaling, yachting, and naval history, the
bulk of which forms the Theodore G. and Eleanor S. Congdon Maritime Collection.
The Theodore G. and Eleanor S. Congdon Maritime Collection contains 190 items that pertain
to commercial, naval, and recreational maritime-related activities primarily in the United
States and the United Kingdom. Materials date from approximately 1700 to 1990, with the bulk
dating from 1800-1935. The collection consists of prints (engravings, etchings, aquatints,
and lithographs), photographs, manuscript materials, publications, portfolios and bound
volumes, and a single painting. The items deal primarily with whaling, yachting, and naval
battles, and the vessels and people involved in these activities.
Materials are arranged in three series: Commercial, Naval, and Recreational. These series
are further divided into subseries based on format. All items are fully inventoried, and all
printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name.
The collection contains materials as diverse as early 18th-century engravings of whaling
expeditions, letters from sailors working on whaling vessels during the 19th century,
photographs of yachts competing for the America's Cup in the early 20th century,
19th-century lithographs of naval ships engaged in battle, and letters of marque and safe
conduct signed by presidents of the United States, from George Washington to James Buchanan.
These items offer a wealth of information regarding the vessels that operated throughout
three centuries, as well as the fishermen, sailors, and sportsmen who manned them.
Existence and Location of Copies
Visit the
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from this collection.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
Periodicals donated by Theodore G. and Eleanor S. Congdon as part of the Theodore G. and
Eleanor S. Congdon Maritime Collection:
Manuscript volumes donated by Theodore G. and Eleanor S. Congdon as part of the Theodore G.
and Eleanor S. Congdon Maritime Collection:
- A Treatise Concerninge the Navye Royall, of England, Wrytten by John Montgomery, with an Addic[i]on thereto, In Anno: 1588 (mssHM 70177)
- James Bradley remarks on Board HMS Ajax From July the 18th, 1809 (mssHM 70178)
- Watch Station and Quarter Bill of His Majesty's Sloop Harlequin, John Weeks, Esq. Commander., ca. 1820 (mssHM 70179)
- Horatio Thomas Austin log of the HMS Salamander (Steam Sloop) and the HMS Medea (Steam Sloop), 1833-1834 (mssHM 70180)
- Richard Malone log of the HMS Harrier, 1835-1839 (mssHM 70181)
Related collections:
The collection is arranged in the following three series, which are further divided into
subseries by genre:
- Series I. Commercial
- Subseries A. Manuscripts
- Subseries B. Prints
- Subseries C. Publications
- Series II. Naval
- Subseries A. Manuscripts
- Subseries B. Prints
- Series III. Recreational
- Subseries A. Paintings
- Subseries B. Photographs
- Subseries C. Prints
- Subseries D. Publications
Items are arranged numerically by call number and described in the following format:
- Title. Date
- Artist(s) (when known and when applicable). Printer(s). Publisher(s)
Items are housed individually in folders, and are located in flat files or (when noted in
the collection contents list) in one flat-top box.
A number of brief notes made by the donor regarding several items in the collection is
available in Box 1.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Boats and boating -- Pictorial works.
Hunting -- Pictorial works.
Lighthouses -- Pictorial works.
Naval battles -- Pictorial works.
Ships -- Pictorial works.
Shipwrecks -- Pictorial works.
Whales -- Pictorial works.
Whaling -- Pictorial works.
Yachts -- Pictorial works.
Chromolithographs.
Contracts.
Ephemera.
Engravings.
Handbills.
Leaflets (printed works)
Lithographs.
Manuscripts.
Passenger lists.
Paintings.
Periodical illustrations.
Periodicals.
Printed ephemera.
Promotional materials.
Relief prints.