 The society specializes in maritime heritage and history - steam and sail, naval, merchant and yachting, mostly Canada/US and Europe, mostly 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.The collections range from about 11,000 books in the reference library, to paintings and engravings, other artwork and photographs, a very extensive collection of magazines, journals and periodicals, manuscripts, log books, charts, video, film and sound tapes.The society also took over the Canadian Society of Marine Artists in 2003; this has expanded the art holdings quite considerably.