The Lou Smith Library and Marion Clayton Link Archives are home to a vast collection of material relating to boating, boat building, engines and motors, and regional history. Some of the highlights include:
- Magazine collections spanning the late 1800s to present day including near complete catalogs of Yachting, and Motor Boating, among many other titles
- The preeminent Gar Wood archival collection including catalogs, shipping records, photographs, and original interviews with the legendary Gar Wood
- Legacy research on Gold Cup Racing and other topics
- Information on boat builders ranging from Acme Folding Boat Company to Zodiac and many others in between.
- Nearly 10,000 historic and modern photographs related to boating, Annual Boat Shows, the Thousand Islands and boats in use in a wide variety of situations and scenes
To view our new online collections database, please click here.
The Lou Smith Library and Marion Clayton Link Archives are open to researchers:
- Thursdays 9am to 12 noon
- Fridays 1pm to 4pm
- And other times by appointment.
- To make an appointment for library and archive research, or to inquire further about the Museum’s holdings, please contact Claire Wakefield, Curator, cwakefield@abm.org, 315.686.4104 x231. Please review our Reading Room Rules before your visit.
To submit a research request, complete a Research Request Form and fax, mail, or email it to the Museum’s Library and Archives, 750 Mary Street, Clayton, NY 13624, cwakefield@abm.org.
Museum Staff will contact you when the material has been located to review your options for receiving the information. Your request may take several weeks to complete. Payment must be received before the material will be shipped. Fees apply whether you submit a research request by mail/email or in person. Proceeds received from research fees help defray the costs associated with maintaining the Museum’s archival and library collections.
Gar Wood Certificates
Since the 1970’s the Gar Wood Society has been issuing Gar Wood Production Verification Certificates. The information is collected directly from original factory documents of the Gar Wood Boat Division of Gar Wood Industries. The data on these documents are taken from the most authentic sources available and should be considered factual in every way. In 2010 the factory documents from the Gar Wood Boat Division were donated to the Antique Boat Museum by Gar Wood author historian, and Antique Boat Museum Trustee Anthony S. Mollica, Jr.. The Antique Boat Museum continues to provide research on Gar Wood Boats as well as issuing Gar Wood Certificates. To request a Gar Wood certificate, please submit the Gar Wood Production Verification Certificate Request Form. For all other Gar Wood inquiries, please visit garwood.com. For assistance locating your Gar Wood identification numbers, please refer to this form.
Matthews Company research requests
The Antique Boat Museum recently acquired the Matthews Company archive, the most complete boat company collection known in the United States. For any interested parties or Matthews owners that would like to find out more about their boat, please fill out a Research Request Form and return it to Claire Wakefield, Curator, cwakefield@abm.org.
