Cruise books are a pictorial history documenting the daily life and voyages of a ship's crew. The Navy Department Library (NDL) has a large collection of cruise books from the Spanish American War to the present. These books, as well as yearbooks from training stations, Seabee units, ROTC units and other navy groups and activities, total more than 8,000 volumes. To determine if the Library has a particular ship's cruise book, you may review our list of holdings and/or search the catalog (in the library). These booksare not available for purchase.
Borrowing Conditions and ReproductionServices
Most cruise book in the Navy Department Library may be reproduced. Researchers are encouraged to bring a digital camera to the library, or contact the Naval Historical Foundation concerning purchasing a reproduction. In some cases, photocopying or scanning by visitors and the Naval Historical Foundation will not be permitted when a volume is too fragile. World War II cruise books are not available for interlibrary loan. Duplicate copies of post-World War II cruise books may be loaned to your local library for "in library use" only, if your library agrees to return the books via a commercial courier service such as UPS or FedEx rather than the US Post Office.
Donations
The Navy Department Library accepts donations of cruise booksfrom all time periods. Please check the list above to determinewhether the Library already has a copy. If it does not, pleasecontact the Library prior to sending your donation: (202) 433-4132.
Cruise books, usually similar in general content and format to high school or college yearbooks, are not official publications. They are compiled by the officers and enlisted personnel of a ship, unit, or station for private distribution. Like school yearbooks, they are usually paid for by subscription from crewmembers or from proceeds of the ship's store. The Navy does not stock or sell copies of cruise books.
A ship, unit, or station may frequently keep a set of its own cruise books. For a list of World War II cruise books, and libraries that they can be examined at, see: Mawdsley, Dean L. Cruise Books of the United States Navy in World War II: A Bibliography, Washington: Naval Historical Center, 1993. Other collections of Navy cruise books can be found at the New York Public Library and the library of the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
The NDL World War II Cruise Book Collection is only available for research use inside of the Library. While Reference Librarians can confirm whether we hold a cruise book in our collection and provide limited photocopying of portions of a book for personal use, cruise books are copyrighted works, and the Library is unable to duplicate entire works.
A cruise book is a yearbook-style publication often produced by ships of the United States Navy upon completion of a long deployment (typically six months or more). The books typically contain photos of all the people who were aboard during the cruise, usually grouped by their division or department. There are often candid photos as well, showing the people at work aboard the ship. Often there is a map or a description of the ship's travels during the cruise, and there are pictures taken at the various ports of call.[1]
On large ships, the books are produced on board by the ship's Morale, Welfare and Recreation department and Public Affairs staff, later they are printed ashore by printing companies that specialize in such services. The cruise book of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier typically reaches over 600 pages in length, as it includes portraits of the more than 5,000 sailors and U.S. Marines assigned to the ship's company and embarked carrier air wing.
USMC units also have a long-standing tradition of doing cruise books for deployments. Many units do so remotely from their deployed location, allowing them to proof the books prior to final printing. This is usually done by allowing the publisher to maintain a website where the pages are displayed to be viewed by anyone in the unit and then giving feedback.
5. NavyDepartment Library - telephone (202) 433-4132 The Library maintains an extensive collection of cruise books for individual ships. Duplicate post-World War II cruise books can be used at the Library or borrowed through interlibrary loan channels for in-library use only. Due to possible copyright violations, often fragile book conditions and a small staff, the Navy Department Library does not provide photocopies of entire cruise books. See New York Public Library entry as an alternate source for cruise books.
Our collection includes a collection of over 10,000 items. The major holdings are in naval aviation, aircraft carriers, and World War II in the Pacific. The library has 1,500 cruise books including 600 aircraft carrier cruise books. Click here to access the USS Midway Museum Library Online Catalog sorted by title.
We are combing through muster rolls, cruise books, and newsletters to create a database of the men who served on the USS Midway. Currently, there are approximately 85,000 names on the list, with more added every day.
In a joint project with the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI), we have volunteers reading every article in the Proceedings back to 1874. These volunteers catalog and summarize all important articles from each issue. The volunteer team compiling summaries for the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) Proceedings Database cruised into its eighth year of work recently in what appears to be a 10-year project. The searchable database, which will eventually be accessible via the USS Midway Museum and USNI websites, will provide interested parties with a valuable research tool heretofore unavailable. Over 10,000 summaries have been completed of a target set of over 13,000 main articles covering the period 1874 to date. As part of the joint project, USNI has digitized its entire Proceedings collection and it is available on their website.
I found that the Ancestry and Navy Department collections included the majority of the yearbooks and cruise books I had; I donated the ones not represented in those collections, and found homes for the rest in historical and heritage societies.
Can I check out materials from the Maritime Research Center?
Full borrowing privileges are extended to NPS staff only; limited privileges are extended to volunteers, interns, and Park Association staff. Most Stack materials can be borrowed through interlibrary loan service, for in-library use in your local library. Rare library materials, archival materials, and audio-visual collections are not available through interlibrary loan, and must be used in the Maritime Research Center.
Requests for reproductions from library and archival collections may be available, depending on the item's condition. Please refer to the Park's Duplication Services for information on reproductions and pricing; reproductions are provided on a cost recovery charge-back basis in accordance with 43 U.S. Code 1460 and National Park Service (NPS) policy. Fees recovered from the delivery of reproductions are used to support the use and preservation of the Park's collections. All copies are produced by Park staff only. Payment is accepted with a credit card or checking account via our Pay.gov site, and must be received in advance before an order can be processed.
My relative was a sailor--can you help me find information on him or her? My relative served on a Navy ship--can you help me?
If you contact us with the name of the ship on which they served, we may be able to locate resources such as a picture of the vessel; we have some information on crews as well. We also have a fairly large collection of cruise books, the "year book" or "memory book" of a crew's voyage. See Genealogy Research at SF Maritime NHP for more information on our resources and those in other collections.
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