This collection has been rediscovered within the Special Collections after sitting idle for a period. The maps include historical civil war battles and plans as well as information on other minor operations and miscellaneous items. The dates of the maps and the battles that they accompany range from 1861 to 1865, some only reproductions from field reports and firsthand accounts in 1867. The collection is a proven testament to the extensive effort put into the preservation of this moment of United States history.
The West Indies photograph album, circa 1920, contains forty-two photographs taken on a cruise to the West Indies aboard the S.S. Megantic. The album features scenes from Havana, Cuba; Venezuela; Jamaica; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Port of Spain, Trinidad; St. Thomas; Saint-Pierre, Martinique; Cristóbal; Panama; and Chimborazo, Barbados. There are photographs of the S.S. Megantic, El Templete in Havana, Cuba; Castillo del Morro in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba; and the Gatún Locks, Pedro Miguel Locks, Miraflores Locks; and the Culebra Cut taken while traveling through the Panama Canal. The S.S. Megantic launched in 1908. The ship provided service between Liverpool and Quebec City, Canada from 1909 until 1914, when it was briefly put on the Liverpool-New York City service. The Megantic served as a troop ship from 1917 until the end of World War I. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, the Megantic was used in the winter for cruising from New York to the Caribbean. The Megantic was taken out of service in 1931 and sold to shipbreakers in Osaka, Japan to be scrapped in 1933.
