About Us

The Coast Guard Historian's Office is charged with capturing, preserving, promoting and commemorating the Coast Guard's history and heritage in all forms, including documentation, official publications and manuals, photographs, oral histories, memoirs, and artifacts, among others.  The Historian's Office mandate also includes preserving the history and heritage of each of its five predecessor agencies as well: the Revenue Cutter Service, the Life-Saving Service, the Lighthouse Service, the Bureau of Navigation, and the Steamboat Inspection Service.

The collection housed in the Historian's Office is made up of material that complements, and to some degree duplicates, the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration.  The Coast Guard's collection consists of art, artifacts, images, publications, manuals, directives, personal papers, diaries, and documents. 

The office also manages the Coast Guard's Curatorial Services Program at the Curatorial Services Program in Forestville, MD, and the Coast Guard Museum on the grounds of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT.

Atkins Hall, on the campus of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, circa 1896.

The Coast Guard Historian's Office is located here.

National Archives photo (RG 418-G-25).