SOCIAL HISTORY

Horseracing was popular on liners and cruise ships during the 20th Century. The following is from a young man’s diary who sailed with his parents First Class from San Francisco to London via the Suez on board the RMS Oransay in the 1960s. A NIGHT AT THE RACES Tonight, there ... Read More »

During the 1930s – businessmen and tourists sailed to Europe from the USA. There were almost daily sailings from New York. French Line offered Cabin Service on the SS Champlain, SS Lafayette, SS De Grasse, and SS Rochambeau. The above schedule and rates give a great indication of what it ... Read More »

The Delta Line was cruising to South America from New Orleans in the 1950s. The steamship company introduced three revolutionary passenger-cargo ships to its South American services in the post-war years of the 1940s. In keeping with the trade name of the company, “Delta Line”, the three vessels were given ... Read More »

First as the trans-Pacific record holder liner, then serving during World War 2, followed by being renamed the Empress of Scotland on the trans-Atlantic run and then finally sailing under the German flag. It was ironic, the allied ship used during WW 2 to fight the Nazis, was sold to ... Read More »

The USA Olympic Team sailed aboard the SS America to England in 1948. The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, England, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were ... Read More »

Social History: Los Angeles icon novelist John Rechy, a first-generation Mexican American who has chronicled gay life in America, received the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement at a gala ceremony at the University of Southern California last month. John Rechy, like Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal shares ... Read More »

She’s the largest luxury cruise liner ever built in the United States using all American products and by American workers: Meet “America’s Flagship,” the S.S. United States. Cruise industry executive and philanthropist Jim Pollin, owner of the Pollin Group and winner of the SS United States Conservancy’s National Flagship Champion ... Read More »

Monday, May 7th marks the 101st anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Lusitania. The Liverpool-built passenger ship whose destruction sparked the United States’ decision to enter World War I in 1917. “Enlist” (mother and child drowning), by Fred Spear, June 1915. WWI recruitment poster published by the Boston Committee ... Read More »

“Elvis who?” Photographer Alfred Wertheimer recalls uttering that very question in early 1956. A publicist from RCA Victor Records had contacted him, asking if he was available to photograph a young singer named Elvis Presley. “I’d never heard of the man,” Wertheimer told TIME Magazine in an article 40 years ... Read More »