RMS Titanic Collections - Online Exhibit
Our Extensive Exhibit Covering the White Star liner Titanic, the largest ship ever built. Profusely illustrated topics include Planning, Building, and Launching, Officers, Crew Members, Provisions & Cargo, Manifests & Passenger Lists, Fashions, Anatomy of the Disaster, Victims, Survivors, Aftermath, Book Collection, Ephemera & Reproductions, Magazines & Journals, Movies & Motion Pictures, Collectibles & Memorabilia, Memorials, Documentary Videos, and our Huge Image Library.
The White Star liner Titanic, the largest ship ever built, bound from Liverpool for New York, collided with an iceberg, four hundred miles off the shore of Newfoundland, on the night of April 14th, and about four hours later sank in water two miles deep.
There were nearly 2,200 persons on board, including passengers and a crew of about 800. It was supposed that 1,200 or more of these lost their lives, for when the Carpathia, one of several vessels summoned by wireless, reached the scene of the disaster, she found boats containing only about 850 persons.
Planning, Building, and Launching
The keel of the Titanic was laid on March 31, 1909, and she was launched on May 31, 1911; she passed her trials before the Board of Trade officials on March 31, 1912, at Belfast, arrived at Southampton on April 4, and sailed the following Wednesday, April 10, with 2,208 passengers and crew, on her maiden voyage to New York.
The Titanic's officers were no novices and were well trained in the knowledge of this and all other dangers of the sea. From the Captain down, they were the pick of the best that the White Star Line had in its employ.
Crew Members
The RMS Titanic's crew had a complement of 860, made up of 475 stewards, cooks, etc., 320 engineers, and 65 engaged in her navigation.
Provisions & Cargo
The condition of the food served at sea on the great liner like the Titanic is always prime. Refrigerators that have the capacity for 500 tons of food are freshly filled for each voyage, and they keep everything put Into them in perfect condition.
Manifests & Passenger Lists
Unlike most transatlantic voyages from the early 1900s, the RMS Titanic ended up producing more lists of passengers and crew than perhaps any other journey on record. The plethora of manifests evolved and expanded as researchers, compendiums, encyclopedias, book authors, and others are all seeking to produce a list with some distinction.
Fashions On Board
The Titanic Era fashions were as elegant as you might envision to more simple clothing. Dressing up for dining in either the First or Second Class required more formal attire - tuxedos for men, day or evening dresses for women.
Anatomy of the Disaster
Explore the events, ship, and personalities that made this particular disaster the most written about the marine disaster of all time. From being touted as "Unsinkable" to it chilling dive to the bottom five days into its maiden voyage. After reading these incredible and sometimes incredulous stories, one might wonder if this was a vortex of the Bermuda Triangle.
The RMS Titanic claimed 1,503 lives on 15 April 1912 -- 832 passengers and 685 crew members, representing approximately 68% of the total souls on board of 2,208. The tragic loss of life was all but guaranteed as the Titanic had only 20 lifeboats with a capacity of 1,178.
The survivors were picked up in boats by the Cunard steamer "Carpathia" shortly after the "Titanic" had gone down, and were landed at New York on Thursday night April 18.
Picture, if you will, the World's most renowned ship going to her doom in the darkness of the night, taking with her 1,635 passengers and crew with a mere 705 survivors. Public inquiries and investigations on both sides of the Atlantic culminated in new laws passed making ocean-going travel safer. With the myth of the unsinkable ship debunked, the aftermath of the tragedy of the Titanic will live on for infinity.
Our collection features both hardcover and softcover books devoted to the many topics that comprise the world of the RMS Titanic, the ship, passengers, survivors, findings, movies, and more.
Ephemera and Reproductions
Ocean Liner ephemera, the brochures, tickets, passenger lists, baggage tags, voyage abstract of logs, landing cards, lithographs, postcards, and photographs were often kept as voyage souvenirs and later coveted by collectors. This collection of selected RMS Titanic reproductions are part of the GG Archives.
Our collection features publications that were entirely devoted to the Titanic or had substantive articles about the RMS Titanic, the ship, passengers, survivors, findings, and more.
Movies and Motion Pictures
It seems an impossibility—and is today-to attempt to photograph at depths of one or two miles, and yet what has been accomplished the past month was deemed equally unattainable a few years ago. It is unlikely, but by no means impossible) that children of those who went down in the "Titanic" may live to look upon an actual picture of that great steamship resting on the ocean's floor.
While the actual RMS Titanic ephemera and other collectibles are both scarce and pricey, there are plenty of reproductions available for a reasonable price, suitable for many Titanic aficionados. You'll quickly notice that packaging of the collectibles are often the priority since the product (reproductions of available documents) is essentially the same from all suppliers.
Expressions of tender, heartfelt sympathy for those who were in great grief; sorrow for those who died; glowing words of tribute for the heroism which had thrilled the world and then strong words urging legislation and regulation to prevent a recurrence of the Titanic catastrophe marked the memorial meeting on April 21, 1912. Many memorials were planned and created that documented the heroism displayed during the Titanic Disaster and to recognize the people who died in this tragedy.
Educational, entertaining, documentary videos covering the RMS Titanic provides the visual component in learning through extraordinary films made around the time of the disaster in 1912 to present day, incorporating new discoveries to help viewers understand what really happened.
Image Libary
All our RMS Titanic-related images organized by source, date, and page, used throughout this section to illustrate the numerous articles, essays, and other items in this section.
The ship herself was valued at nearly $8,000,000 and her cargo at $1,600,000. The disaster was the worst in the history of sea travel, and it roused intense and sorrowful interest all over the world.
Many prominent persons were on board the ship, including Colonel John Jacob Astor and wife; Major Archibald Butt, aid to President Taft; Charles M. Hayes, president of the Grand Trunk Railway ; William B. Stead; F. E. Millet, the noted artist; Isidor Straus; J. Thayer, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Benjamin Guggenheim; Henry B. Harris, theatrical manager, and Norman C. Craig, M. P. Several of these were reported lost.
Most of those saved were women and children, who were given the first chance to enter the lifeboats. Captain E. J. Smith, who commanded the Titanic, went down with his ship. Those rescued from the boats had spent a night of suffering and terror.
It is believed by many that the Titanic struck a partially submerged iceberg so that her bulkheads were torn out or collapsed. The Titanic's dimensions were: Length, 882 feet 6 inches; breadth, 92 feet 6 inches; height, 105 feet 7 inches. She had eleven steel decks and fifteen water-tight bulkheads. Her registered tonnage was 45,000, and she had accommodations for 2,600 passengers.
Twelve days from her builders' yard to the bottom of the Atlantic with the most considerable loss of life and property on record for a single wreck, was the meteoric career of the great White Star Line steamship "Titanic," the largest and most exceptional vessel ever constructed. This is her story.
Ocean Travel | GG Archives
Ocean Travel Topics A-Z
Boutique Shops & Ship's Stores
Brochures, Vintage Steamship & Ocean Liner
Correspondence, Shipboard
Immigrant Ships Ephemera, History, Photographs
Interesting Fun Facts and Factoids
Journeys, Ancestrial
Port of Call, Steamships & Ocean Liner
Provisioning Ocean Liners
Publications, Onboard
Shipboard Affairs
Steamship Captains
Steamship Crew
Stowaways Onboard
Titanic Royal Mail Steamship (RMS)
Transatlantic Voyages
Vintage Ocean Liner Menus
Maritime Books
Updates and Social Media
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