Stephen Phillips Memorial Library
Research library at Penobscot Marine MuseumThe Stephen Phillips Memorial Library serves as the museum’s research center, providing access to books, manuscripts, photographs, nautical charts, maps, and boat plans. In addition to our strong collections in maritime history, with an emphasis on mid-coast Maine, we also have important collections in Maine history and genealogy.
Our library is at 9 Church Street in Searsport. The library does not lend materials; all research is conducted in the reading room, which is handicapped-accessible.
To check the Phillips Library’s catalogued holdings, you may search the Catalog database. We are one of two libraries in the database from Waldo County.
Research Inquiries
By appointment only, Monday through Friday 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.
Closed all major U.S. holidays.
Please be sure to schedule your visit in advance by calling 207-548-2529.
Online Research Inquiries
Quick Search
For research requests that take less than one hour of dedicated staff time*.
- Pricing: Free. (If requesting source material scans, see pricing below.)
- Output: Staff write-up, bibliography, and relevant scans.
In-Depth Research
For research requests that take an hour or more of dedicated staff time*.
- Pricing: $50/hour (maximum of 4 hours). PMM Members receive a 10% discount. Includes up to 10 pages of source material scans for research only. (For additional scans or to obtain publication or licensing permission, please see pricing below.)
- Output: Staff write-up, bibliography, and relevant scans.
Reference Reproduction Request
Reproductions are done at the discretion of the Collections Staff. Certain materials, due to their age, condition, or size, may not be scanned.
Reproduction processing times are subject to staff availability. In alignment with our goal to digitize our collections and provide online access, our funded digitization projects take precedence.
Reproduction services will conform to United States copyright law.
Reproductions for research use only. For publication permissions or licensing requests, please visit our Copyright and Use page.
No more than 20% of any item or collection shall be reproduced.
Pricing:
- Unbound materials of good condition and legal-sized or smaller: First 10 pages free. For 11 pages or more: $50/hour*. PMM members receive a 10% discount.
- Fragile items, bound manuscripts, or items larger than legal size: $50/hour*
- For hard copy requests, postage rates will be charged.
Output:
- Reference quality (200 dpi), color PDF scans or paper copies are provided for research purposes only.
- For higher quality reproduction requests, please visit our Digital Services page.