The Steamship Historical Society of America

As members and friends of the Steamship Historical Society in this, our 75^th Anniversary year, you can see that things are changing. It is important for every kind of organization to periodically review who they are, where they are, and where they are going. In this era of corporations having really rough times surviving, strategic planning can make all the difference. In 2006, the Board of the SSHSA held its second strategic workshop to address the health and current direction of the SSHSA. Led by a nationally recognized facilitator, the session successfully provided us with an accurate, but not pretty picture of where we were, and led us to set objectives as to where we wanted to go.

As an adjunct to that, we asked our financial advisors to analyze our financial future. Their startling report indicated that if we continued as usual, we would be out of business by 2018. We had been living on two or three legacy gifts subsidizing our dues with funds from endowment. That had been going on for some twenty years! We immediately took steps to curtail and redirect spending. We closed our research library saving thousands of dollars, and moved it to storage in Providence. We inventoried our Fine Arts Collection that has been in storage for years in New York, and moved it to fine arts storage in Providence. This move made it more accessible for evaluation, and cut the storage costs in half. Enter the worldwide web, the Internet, 9/11, and the recent nationwide financial meltdown, and the world has changed. Electronic communication and information sharing is replacing books, magazines, and objects. Virtual visits and changing educational goals are hurting traditional maritime museums and institutions. Information people used to be willing to purchase is now available free, through the internet! With all this happening, our 2018 out-of- business date has been moved forward.

However the Board of Directors is not sitting still. In fact, SSHSA is moving forward with such issues as employing professional staff, rebranding our products, putting down permanent roots, digitizing and sharing collections via the internet, and aggressively reaching out to more completely fulfill our mission to “full ahead” mode. We intend to be the national authorities on engine-powered vessels, recognized within the country and specifically the maritime community as the same. 

As part of our strategic planning initiatives, certain collections, gifts, and donations which were acquired from supporters as unrestricted gifts or donated outright for SSHSA fundraising purposes, have been identified as to sell.  Using today’s modern scanning and digitizing technology, we have first and foremost remained true to our mission to document, preserve via electronic imaging, and now have the opportunity to share via the internet and in other emerging markets many more of our collections.  Virtual exhibits can now be mounted in-perpetuity, at very little cost.  We will continue to have maritime memorabilia available for research and will offer unique auctions throughout the year as on-going fundraisers. 

We are already reaping the rewards of the implementation of our strategic plan. We have experienced growth in memberships (nearly 1000 new members since 2007), significant new revenue through publication sales, fundraisers, gifts and grants. With the increase in travel on engine-powered vessels of all kinds, the renewed fascination by the media with all things nautical, and with the evolving technology, we see a bright and exciting future for SSHSA’s next 75 years.  

Most Sincerely, 

Robert C. Cleasby, President