Choose American Line!

International Mercantile Marine Company, American Line, ca. 1906, Back cover

The On
the Water Exhibit at the National Museum of American History illustrates
the important role ships have had in the past and in the present. Before airplanes, ships were the main mode of trans-Atlantic transportation. Why not choose American Line as your transport choice for traveling into the
past?

American Line “has been specially arranged to accommodate
those passengers who want good food and service, moderate speed and to have the
best accommodation the steamers afford at moderate cost.”   Based in
Philadelphia, American Line typically ran a Philadelphia-Queenstown-Liverpool
shipping and travel service to and from Europe. This turn-of-the-century
American Line brochure can be found in the Smithsonian Libraries'
Trade Literature Collection. Within its twenty-eight pages, the
brochure gives advice for travel with American Line and travel beyond the sea—points of interest, rail and alternative ship companies further east, and a
foreign money exchange rate chart. A picture of either an English tourist
landmark or one of the five company steamer ships features on the top of each
page. Although once a part of the International Mercantile Marine
Company, American Line ceased to exist after 1925.—Mary Jinglewski, with assistance from Jim Roan