This collection forms part of the John Haskell Kemble maritime collection compiled by American maritime historian John Haskell Kemble (1912-1990). The collection contains 125 artworks pertaining to and/or depicting maritime vessels, including both commercial and military ships.

John Haskell Kemble (1912-1990), Jack to his family and friends, was born June 17, 1912, in Marshalltown, Iowa. He was the only child of Ira Oscar Kemble and Caroline Haskell Kemble. His father owned and operated several greenhouses which grew flowers for the florist trade. In the late teens, Jack's father sold most of his greenhouses and in 1921, the family moved to California. The Kemble family first lived in Eagle Rock, then Pasadena. Jack graduated from Pasadena High School in 1930, and went to Pasadena Junior College in 1931, before transferring to Stanford, where he earned his B.A. in 1933. He then crossed the Bay and studied under Prof. Herbert Eugene Bolton at the University of California, Berkeley, earning his M.A. in 1934, and his Ph.D. in 1937. Through the contacts made by Bolton and Henry Wagner, Kemble joined the Pomona College faculty in 1936 as a Professor of History. He retired from Pomona 41 years later, in 1977. During World War II Kemble served in the U.S. Navy, from 1942-1946, in the Office of Chief of Naval Operations and on the Staff of Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas. In October 1945 he received a Commendation Ribbon from Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz during a ceremony at Pearl Harbor. Kemble rose from Ensign to Lieutenant Commander during the war, remained active in the US Naval Reserve after the war, and retired as Commander, USNR, in 1960.

125 items

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