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Ships and Ship Registers: Sources of Information

History of the Shipping Industry

a ship with 11 sails and two masts on the water
Detroit Publishing Co. Ship. c1902. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

This section includes some titles that may help researchers understand the history, development and current situation of shipping. While shipping and trade is international, the geographic coverage is mostly focused on the United States and Great Britain.

This is not a comprehensive list of titles that cover the history, development, and shipping industry. Some older titles, linked in the bibliography below, like Zimmermann on Ocean Shipping (1922) and Ocean and Inland Water Transportation (1909) may be of interest as a way to understand how shipping and travel existed at a particular time and may include the types of details that might not exit in those titles that are historical overviews.

The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.