🎨 Ephemera & Design in Passenger Lists: A Voyage Through Cover Art

✨ Introduction

Passenger lists weren’t just rosters of names — they were souvenirs, status symbols, and marketing masterpieces. Steamship companies invested heavily in design, knowing that a striking cover would be carried home, preserved, and shown off, rather than discarded at the dock.

🖌️ The Art of Marketing at Sea

Souvenirs to Keep – Lists were cherished as mementos, ensuring the company’s brand traveled home with passengers.

Corporate Identity – Line emblems, flags, and typography reinforced brand recognition and trust.

Art Movements at Sea – Designs mirrored artistic trends: Victorian flourishes, Edwardian heraldry, Art Nouveau curves, bold Art Deco geometry, and mid-century minimalism.

SS City of Chester – 18 October 1881 (Inman Line)

An ornate graphic masterpiece with framing devices, a 2-funneled, 3-masted ship at sea, and the Inman Line flag inset into a geographic emblem. Typography is elaborate and elegant.

SS La Bretagne – 5 February 1887 (French Line / CGT)

Extraordinary French artistry with ornate typography and striking maritime illustration. Captures the prestige of CGT’s fleet during a fiercely competitive era.

RMS Aurania – 26 February 1887 (Cunard Line)

Illustrated by Waterlow & Sons, this cover features Neptune riding three horses beneath a two-funnel steamer. A superb Victorian design blending myth and modernity.

SS City of Rome – 13 June 1888 (Anchor Line)

Elegant, detailed typography and maritime motifs, reflecting Anchor Line prestige. One of the most striking early souvenir lists.

SS Furnessia – 23 August 1888 (Anchor Line)

Includes Anchor Line logo, US/UK flags, ship vignette, and a New York harbor scene with the Statue of Liberty. Printed by Horn & Connell Litho, Glasgow.

SS La Bretagne - 1 September 1888 (French Line)

Rare landscape design with a night sea, Statue of Liberty beacon, and refined typography.

SS La Champagne - 29 September 1888 (French Line)

Landscape format with a 2-funneled French liner at port; refined French typography and elegant lithography make it a frameable piece of maritime art.

SS Furnessia – 9 July 1889 (Anchor Line)

Intricate emblem design with Anchor Line logo, ship vignette, British and US flags, and floral motif borders. Highly collectible.

SS Furnessia – 16 March 1893 (Anchor Line)

Engraved steamer illustration with bold second-class branding. Poster-like in design and strongly typographic.

SS New York – 3 June 1893 (American Line)

Dramatic cover showing a 3-funneled steamer above allegorical female figures representing US/UK unity. Red banner design emphasizes “American Line.”

1894-07-06 SS State of California – unique “Voyage of Influence” list.

Colorful cover with steamship, steering wheel motif, and a view of Chicago’s Machinery Hall from the 1893 Exhibition.

SS Paris – 7 September 1895 (French Line)

Patriotic red and blue cover featuring ship, allegorical goddess, and elegant banner typography.

RMS Numidian – 17 July 1897 (Allan Line)

Military officers and social elites reflected in the design. Lithographed by Knapp Co., New York.

1899-06-17 RMS Lucania (Cunard Line) – elegant ornate graphics.

Ornate typography paired with memorandum of log space for passengers to track their voyage.

1901-02-19 SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (Norddeutscher Lloyd) – imperial German grandeur.

A collage of ocean travel scenes awaits the passenger with this beautifully graphic piece from Norddetscher Lloyd. Colors are rich and captures the seven scenes which would like make the passenger pause to study the artwork before proceeding to the passengers listed inside.

SS Ethiopia – 18 May 1901 (Anchor Line)

Features a watercolor-like depiction of the ship at sea, with typography that balances modern and traditional. Rare for its painterly, almost postcard-like quality.

1902-08-16 RMS Lucania (Cunard) – second cabin, beautiful artistry.

Beautiful sketched ship docked at Liverpool under and over bannered text elements that are both sophitical and artistic.

SS Anchoria – 4 June 1903 (Anchor Line)

A richly ornate cover design, dominated by flowing script and maritime emblems. Represents the peak of early 20th-century Anchor Line branding. Front Cover contains a very colorful graphic on the Blue Background with a Gold and Red Matt surrounding the graphic. On Top are three Flags: British Red Ensign, Anchor Line Flag, and the US Flag placed on top of a Life Preserver Ring. On the Top of the Ring is a banner "Passenger List." Inside the Ring is a painting of a 3-Funneled, 2-Masted Steamship at sea. At the Bottom is another Banner "Anchor Line U.S. Mail Steamers.

SS St. Paul – 10 December 1904 (American Line)

A patriotic cover emphasizing American identity, with flag motifs and classic typography. Highly collectible for U.S. steamship history enthusiasts.

SS Furnessia – 2 July 1904 (Anchor Line)

Classic Edwardian typography paired with maritime insignias. A clean, restrained example of turn-of-the-century graphic design. The Front Cover is a collage with a top banner reading "Anchor Line" a centerpiece photo of the SS Columbia, Other images included Inverness Cathedral and Castle from the Ness, Princess Dock Greenock, End of Loch Katrine, Ben Nevis from Corpach, and a horse pulling a two-wheel buggy. Front Cover Design by James Kepster Print, New York.

SS Furnessia – 25 August 1904 (Anchor Line)

One of the most colorful and detailed Furnessia covers, with intricate borderwork and clear branding. A collector favorite. Front Cover shows a graphic designed by Andrew Reid & Co., Ltd, Newcastle-on-Tyne with a 3-funneled 2-masted steamship being the focus. Other elements include the Three Flags (British Ensign, Anchor Line, USA) in addition to the text "Anchor Line U.S. Mail Steamers Saloon Passenger List."

1905-09-14 SS Hamburg (HAPAG) – German chromolithographic pride.

A three part series of illistration make up this cover design by the Hamburg-American Line. The top third contains the HAPAG Flag and "Hamburg-Amerika Linie." The middle third featrures a 2-funneled, 2-masted steamship at sea. the Bottom third is a view from the shoreline with a lifeguard like stand and a person sitting in the stand looking out at the ocean.

1908-04-11 RMS Mauretania (Cunard) – record-breaking ship with striking cover.

The near left side contains the graphical elements of this cover almost like a signpost holding a masaic of a 4-funneled, 2-masted steamship. To the right of that are two flags - one Cunard, the other a British Flag. Textual elements keep the cover uncluttered but elegantly organized.

SS New York – 27 August 1910 (Hamburg-American Line)

Sleek, modern artwork reflecting early 20th-century German design innovation. Strikingly different from British or American styles of the time. With a Green Back Ground and White matting at the edges, the American Line moved to a more modern design featured a colored painting of a 2-funneled, 2-masted steamship surrounded by small sailing vesels and a tugboat. Encircled like a round mirror you have an inset of a night view of he same ship at sea. Textual elements fill up the remaining part in this cleverly arraged cover deisgn.

1911-04-22 SS Carmania (Cunard) – richly designed saloon passenger list.

This cover exudes understated elegance with a finely written Cunard Line with an underline on the top. a 4-funneled, 2-masted stemship with a view of the shoreline entitled "Cunarder at Fishguard: In the Lower RIght Quadrant, you have and elegantly written Europe [over] America with the small e in europe connected to the Capital A in America.

1914-07-29 SS Carmania (Cunard) – final pre-WWI flourish with elaborate detailing.

This cover will certainly catch your attention with its massive artistic elements that almost look like the Arc de Triomphe with a huge Center Circle containing "Cunard Line Europe America." The Beautifully ornate Logo of the Cunard Steamship Company with the Lion King. On top of the graphic structure are two men, one hold an ocean liner in one hand, the other holding a sludge hammer, both leaning agains a circular ornamental "A" with leaves surrounding the centerpiece.

1924-08-05 SS Leviathan (United States Lines) – Art Deco powerhouse.

The Famous Ship was provided with a very colorful cover design by USL standards. It shows the SS Leviathn at Sea in a painting signed by the Illustrator. A Green Matting surround the painting.

RMS Alaunia – 21 August 1925 (Cunard Line)

Cabin passenger list with a crisp, understated design, favoring clarity over ornament. Reflects Cunard’s shift toward modern branding. The Center Graphic contains many sybolisms with the Union Jack, Standing Lion, Kings Crown, Walking Lion, three Fleur de Lis on Blue background, a gray horse with golden fleese hooked to a golden chain. Fancy Latin Bannerized text on the bottom with some floral elements complete the centerpiece. The modern Cunard Canadian Service with a Bar above and below above the centerpiece, and Passenger List with a bar above and below, set near the bottom of the cover. Both textural elements stretching side to side.

SS Melita – 30 June 1926 (Canadian Pacific Line)

Showcases Canadian Pacific’s signature graphic style — clean, bold, and nationalistic. An outstanding example of how steamship lines tied branding to identity.

SS Empress of France – 18 August 1928 (Canadian Pacific Line)

Large, colorful cover featuring the ship in motion. Embodies the interwar period’s optimism in transatlantic travel. The Front Cover is acutally half of a continuios graphic that adorns the back and front cover. It is a scene of the promenade showing passengers resting on deck chairs, a young couple interacting with a child pulling a small ship on wheels. Designed by U-Bond.

SS Arabic - 16 August 1929 (Red Star Line)

A Tourist Third Cabin List Showing a Young Couple Getting Ready to Board the Impressive Large Ocean Liner in the Background. Simplistic, but Elegant Pier Scene will pull at your heart strings.

RMS Aurania – 20 June 1930 (Cunard Line)

Cabin and Tourist Third Cabin cover using the Enlarged Lion Cunard Emplem streamlined, modern design. Illustrates Cunard’s adaptation to mass-market travel.

TSS California – 20 August 1930 (Anchor Line)

Bold, poster-style illustration of the US Capital in Washington DC, set against a dramatic nightscape view. Exemplifies 1930s commercial art for ocean liners.

SS Duchess of York – 28 March 1931 (Canadian Pacific Line)

A modernist design with clean lines and minimal ornamentation, reflecting the Art Deco influences of the era. The sceen conveyed on the cover is the ship approaching the shoreline viewing what could be a castle in the background. Many passengers are interacting with one another with a steward looking on with his back towards the viewer.

1932-10-01 SS Kungsholm (Swedish American Line) – Scandinavian modernism.

The SAL Went with a Graphic of the T.M.S. Kungsholm near a port with three tugboats in view. The ship's painting is surrunded in Blue with stark white lettering mostly in Swedish.

1936-08-05 RMS Queen Mary (Cunard) – iconic cover for an iconic liner.

A very special embossed cover iwth the QM embossed in Gold on the top half with an elegant typography of R.M.S. Queen Mary on the Lower Half. The Top and Bottom Borders are very unique graphical elements in Gold and White design.

1936-07-09 SS Bremen (Norddeutscher Lloyd) – German Bauhaus/Art Deco energy.

NDL effectively used a photograph of a scene on sailing day, with many cars lined up next to the pier, people stainding on the boat deck waiving to their friends and relatives still on the pier. The NDL flag is shown on top of the image with Norddeutshcer Llloyd Bremen along the very top and Passagier-Liste in two different fonts set below the photograph.

🌍 Why These Covers Matter

Collectors - Among the most sought-after ephemera of ocean travel.

Historians - Reveal how companies competed for cultural influence.

Genealogists - Provide visual context to family migration stories..

📜 Contemporary Commentary

Cunard Line (1929) – “Passenger lists, menus, etc., form a most valuable as well as attractive form of publicity, owing to the fact that so many of them are treasured by passengers as permanent souvenirs of a pleasant crossing or cruise.” (Commercial Art, Vol. VI)

Inman & Guion Lines (1892) – Passenger lists were printed in sufficient number for every cabin passenger, distributed in the saloon, and even at the gangplank so friends could carry away a token of the journey. (Ocean Steamships, Gould et al.)

Inman and Guion Lines Passenger Lists

Every traveler may have at least one interesting souvenir of the voyage across the Atlantic. The names of the passengers, and in some cases their home addresses, are neatly printed upon folios along with a blank chart for recording the progress of the voyage, and more or less information about the company, the vessel, and the fleet of which it is a member.

A sufficient number of these passenger lists are printed to assure one at least for every cabin passenger, and the lists are usually distributed in the saloon soon after the vessel leaves her dock. They are not only prized as souvenirs, but they are invaluable in assisting one to make acquaintances—or avoid them, for that matter.

It is the custom of the Inman and Guion lines to distribute passenger lists at the gangplank just previous to the sailing of the vessel, so that friends of passengers may carry away a token of the great journey,and speculate as to how companionable this or another person will prove to the party in which they are especially interested.

Gould, John H. et al, "Devices for the Comfort of Passengers," in Ocean Steamshps: A Popular Account of Their Constuction Development, Management, and Appliances, 1892.

🔗 Related Pages & Resources

📚 Passenger List Collections
– Learn how GG Archives organizes over 2,000 lists spanning 1880s–1960s.

📅 Browse Passenger Lists by Year
– Access our transcribed lists, organized chronologically.

🛳️ Browse Passenger Lists by Ship
– See all voyages grouped by individual vessel.

❓ Passenger Lists FAQ
– Answers to common questions about passenger list history and use.

🖼️ Souvenir Ephemera in Ocean Travel
– Discover menus, programs, and other collectibles saved by passengers.

📝 Information Included in Passenger Lists
– What details you can expect inside (from names to track charts).