The Naval Institute is home to a special library, housing multiple resources in the areas of interest for naval enthusiasts, naval historians, authors and students. In addition to over 6000 books, we house complete sets of Naval Institute Proceedings magazine, Naval History magazine and the only known complete collection of Our Navy magazine which was purchased from James Fahey when he discontinued publishing.
Within our library, the Naval Institute Archives features two priceless, highly popular resources:
Oral History Program
The Naval Institute Oral History program preserves a wealth of primary source material accumulated through decades of personal interviews conducted and vetted by naval historians. This engaging collection includes written transcripts and audio clips that bring these first person narratives to life.
Photographic Collection
Our vast Historic Photograph Collection is a rich assembly of images that engage our eyes, hearts and minds in the stories they tell of our naval and national heritage.
An oral history with Ms. Patty Maddocks recalling the history of the photo archive was recorded in 2001 and can be read below:
Since 2001, the staff has focused on collecting new holdings while digitizing, cataloguing and highlighting our existing holdings. Our digital archive is continually growing and it allows the Naval Institute to expand and expedite the availability of it resources to a worldwide audience.