Library and archives

Our book collection covers Norwegian shipping and trading history, boat building, shipbuilding, coastal culture, maritime archaeology, ship preservation, pilot-, port- and rescue corps, maritime art, and seamen's memoirs. In addition, the library tries to cover new releases on the merchant fleet in wartime, Norwegian fishing history and Norwegian polar expeditions. The library subscribes to relevant journals within shipping, boat culture, ship preservation, cultural heritage, archaeology, and local history.

The library's collection includes over 30 000 articles, 24 000 book-titles and about 1400 current periodicals, all registered in the library system Tidemann.

The library is open by appointment only.

The library also contains private archives from ship-owners, shipyards, and marine insurance companies, as well as archive material, manuscripts, charts, and ship diaries. A thematically organized information archive, a personal archive, and printed and electronic shipping registers are widely used sources of information. The museum has an important collection of boat and ship drawings as well as an extensive photo archive.

The library is open to visitors every Wednesday 11 am - 4 pm.