Research Library / Archives

Morro Bay Maritime Museum is proud to develop our research library.  Our library collection includes historical videos, photographs, and local oral histories.  This collection is a valuable resource for students, historians, journalists, and others for their primary and secondary source needs. Our goal is to assist researchers in preserving our maritime history for future generations.  Additional collections will be added as we expand.

Oral histories offer a unique insight into the human condition because the impressions, words, thoughts, and emotions come directly through the lens of the individual experience. Oral histories help future historians avoid sweeping generalizations that stereotype people, engender prejudice, and overlook important variables in the historical context. Unaltered, unedited, with no interpretation, oral history is the gold standard for historians, the primary source.  

We hope you enjoy perusing these interviews and other materials in our archive. If you are a historian or journalist and would like greater access to MBMM archival resources please contact us through our website HERE.

No portion of this collection may be copied, downloaded, or used for commercial purposes without the Morro Bay Maritime Museum Board of Trustees’ written permission.