Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey

Scope and Content Board of Managers records consist of meeting minutes, agendas, correspondence and materials related to various committees. Minutes document meetings held from 1834-1843 by the Institute’s founding members, meetings of the Committee of the Floating Church of Our Saviour (1843-1874) and minutes from the Board of Managers (1854-1950) of which Franklin D. Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan were members. Of particular note are discussions detailing the initial formation of a mission for seamen in...

Scope and Content

Includes correspondence, blue prints, contracts and minutes related to SCI’s buildings and art and artifacts collection. Of particular note are materials related to the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, once displayed on the roof of 25 South Street and now at the Titanic Memorial Park in the South Street Seaport.

Scope and Content

Chapels and Chaplain’s Files include correspondence, registers, journals and visitors’ books related to SCI’s missionary and pastoral services.

Scope and Content Includes materials related to SCI’s Christmas at Sea knitting program and its predecessors, the Women’s Council and the Seamen’s Benefit Society. Of particular note in this series are knitting patterns issued by the Red Cross during both World Wars with instructions for knitting items specifically for soldiers and seamen at war. Also of note are letters seafarers sent back to the Institute expressing their gratitude for receiving packages while at sea. Additionally, the early reports of the...

Scope and Content

Development files include correspondence and reports related to SCI's fundraising and special events activities.

Scope and Content Director’s / Superintendent’s Files consist of correspondence and reports related to the offices of the Superintendent of the Institute (1897-1933) and the Director of the Institute (1934-1992). The change in title corresponds with the death and end of service of Rev. Archibald R. Mansfield, who served as Superintendent from 1898-1934. Also included in this series are the records of Rev. Harold H. Kelley, Director from 1934-1948; Rev. Raymond S. Hall, Director from 1948-1960; Rev. John M....

Scope and Content

Includes correspondence, reports, ledgers and invoices related to the operation of SCI’s Accounting and Ways and Means departments. Of particular note are early financial records dating back to 1833.

Scope and Content Includes minutes, correspondence, and reports related to SCI’s work as an advocate for seafarers’ rights, as well as materials related to waterfront labor activism and tensions in the Port of New York. Of particular note is correspondence between J. Augustus Johnson and Rev. Archibald R. Mansfield with the Department of Commerce and Labor, the War Department of the U. S. Navy and various Senators and Representatives regarding seafarers’ rights legislation. Also of note is correspondence...

Scope and Content The collection consists of the records of the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York from 1849-2008. Records include LSBA’s acts of incorporation, charter, and by-laws. Materials also include correspondence, financial ledgers, meeting minutes, and a subscriber list. Much of the material consists of lists of LSBA award winners that document maritime rescues, as well as the amount of LSBA awards. Other records include LSBA Annual Statements, historical pamphlets, and...

Scope and Content Includes materials related to SCI’s Merchant Marine School and its predecessors, the Navigational and Marine Engineering School and the Navigational School. Of particular note are registrar materials, correspondence related to the J. Hooker Hamersley and correspondence from the War years of the Navigational and Marine Engineering School, including a letter addressed to Rev. Archibald R. Mansfield from then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, thanking SCI for providing...