The archives of the Maritime Museum contain documents related to shipping or leisure craft in one way or another. A major category is drawings of various ships and boats. The museum is also the holder of the archives of the famous Swedish 18th century shipbuilder F. H. af Chapman, with both written documents and drawings.
The archives also contain drawings and written documents on shipbuilding from several Swedish shipyards. Among the bigger collections are those from Bergsunds mekaniska verkstad (Bergsund's Engineering Workshops) and Södra varvet (the Southern Shipyard) in Stockholm. These collections contain mainly drawings, but some shipyard collections also include other documents such as building contracts and accounts.
Leisure craft
The collections to do with leisure craft have usually come from boat builders, boat yards or sailing clubs. Among the well-known boat builders represented are C. G. Pettersson, Gustav Estlander, Knud H. Reimers and Olle Enderlein. The documents include correspondence about designs, advertising material, and contracts and accounts.
From diaries to timetables
The Maritime Museum also holds archives from private individuals who were active within shipping or shipbuilding. These contain sailors' diaries and letters written when they were at sea. There are also private collections on a specific subject, which might be anything from sea shanties to timetables from passenger ships or documents about channels and wrecks.
Documentation
Ever since the 1930s, the Maritime Museum has documented Swedish shipping and shipbuilding. This work has consisted of surveys, ethnological field studies or archaeological documentation which has generated reports, field diaries, audio recordings, transcribed interviews and photographs. The archives also contain documentation about earlier exhibitions, both at the Vasa Museum and at the Maritime Museum.
The Maritime Museum's Collections online on DigitaltMuseum enables you to search among 35,000 drawings. Of these originals, about 10,000 have digitised.
Search DigitaltMuseum (external website)
Contact & orders
Copies of drawings can be ordered in various formats.
For more information and orders, please contact the Archives.
- Telephone: +46-8-519 549 48
- Email: registrator@maritima.se
Opening hours
The Archive is open to public Tuesdays and Wednesdays 12-16.
