About the project
Preserving the Stories of Those Who Worked the Water
The Mariners' Memory Project is a community-driven archive dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing the oral histories, documents, and artefacts of maritime communities across North America.
Our mission
History lives in the people who lived it
For generations, the rhythms of coastal life shaped entire communities — the fishermen who rose before dawn, the navigators who charted unknown waters, the families who waited on the docks. Their stories are irreplaceable.
The Mariners' Memory Project was founded on a simple belief: that history belongs to the people who made it. We work alongside descendants, local historians, and community organisations to ensure these voices are heard, documented, and passed on.
Every logbook, photograph, and recorded memory in our collection was entrusted to us by a family. We take that responsibility seriously.
What guides us
Our principles
Community first
Every decision we make is guided by the communities whose histories we hold. Contributors retain rights to their materials and are credited in all public-facing records.
Rigorous preservation
We follow archival best practices for digitisation, storage, and cataloguing — ensuring materials remain accessible and intact for future generations.
Open access
Our archive is freely searchable by researchers, educators, and the public. We believe access to history should not be gated by institutional affiliation.
Living history
We don't just collect the past — we connect it to the present. Our oral history programme actively records new accounts from living mariners and their descendants.
Institutional partners
Help us preserve what remainsThe
If your family has a connection to the sea, we want to hear from you. Every contribution — however small — adds to a record that will outlast us all.