About the Project
Nonprofit Organization
The Titanic Archive Project is officially a nonprofit organization! Our goal is to educate people about Titanic's story. Titanic still has much to teach us, and for those of us willing to listen, the wreck is the last vestige of her secrets. Day by day, more of the wreck disappears forever. By digitally preserving Titanic's wreck we hope to bring a better understanding of her story to future generations.
Let's talk more about our goals for education. Throughout the next coming months and likely into next year we plan to add more resources for educations. We want the Titanic Archive Project to be a place for people of all levels of knowledge. We will be adding an "education" tab that will include things like common Q&A's, Titanic's deterioration over time, how Titanic changed Maritime Law, and much more.
The project is forever growing and evolving. While we do have nonprofit status we do not currently have tax exempt status. Our team is working to obtain the tax exempt status in order to provide a nice tax benefit for our donors. In the meantime the donations page will be removed from the Archive Project. As soon as we obtain tax exempt status, 501(c)(3), we will add the donations page back.
As a nonprofit we are here to serve the community. If you have any questions or suggestions for the Titanic Archive Project please feel free to email us at titanicarchiveproject@gmail.com.
Site Contributors
Titanic Connections Group
Matthew Smathers is one of the admins for Titanic Connections, A Belfast based Titanic group who's goal is to connect Titanic fans and historians alike on a platform that is both fun and educational. They have been instrumental in providing several connections and leads on new footage for the Titanic Archive Project.
You can join Titanic Connections on Facebook:
Russian Titanic Society
Special thanks to the Russian Titanic Society for generously contributing their documentary on the submersibles which filmed most of our footage. The documentary, entitled "MIR's on the Titanic" can be found and viewed in its entirety in our "Additional Resources" section.
The Russian Titanic Society, established in 2014, is the first (and largest) Titanic society in Russia. Their primary goals are to further our understanding of the story of RMS Titanic and all who sailed on her. The society promotes topics related to the history of Titanic, her passengers and her crew to a Russian audience, and actively study and popularize other subjects related to the Titanic.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Special thanks to NOAA for providing the 2003 expedition footage, and for providing permission to publish the footage as public domain. Without the assistance of NOAA, this site would likely not have come into existence.
NOAA is an American scientific agency within the US Department of Commerce that studies the condition of the world's oceans, waterways and atmosphere.
Storied Treasures
Storied Treasures was the primary donor of footage from NOAA for the Titanic Archive Project. Its founder Matthew Smathers, seeks to further the public knowledge of history through educational outreach programs, talks, videos, and documentaries pertaining to maritime history. The Titanic Archive Project is a separate entity in itself, but Mr. Smathers was co-founder of this project.
You can follow Storied Treasures on Facebook:
RMS Titanic Inc.
"RMS Titanic, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRXI), is the only entity in the world permitted by law to recover objects from the wreck site of Titanic. We have conducted seven research and recovery expeditions to Titanic since its discovery in 1985. The Company was granted Salvor-in-Possession rights to the wreck of Titanic by a United States federal court in 1994. They have recovered approximately 5,500 artifacts, each of which has undergone a complicated process of conservation to insure their survival for generations to come. We maintain a comprehensive digital archive of these recovered and conserved artifacts, as well as photographic data from the site."
Special Thanks
Blue Star Line
Blue Star Line is a maritime animation channel founded by David McGee in September 2015 and aims to create films and videos about ocean liners in Ilan Papini's ''Vehicle Simulator'' His work has been recognized all over the world.
As a long time friend of the Archive Project team, his support has been fundamental in our ability to spread awareness of our mission and bring Titanic to the public.
Jake Billingham - Britannic Historian for Titanic Connections
Jake Billingham has contributed to the Archive by working with his connections to members of various expeditions to Britannic and Lusitania to secure footage for our Other Wrecks section. Without his efforts, this section would be quite empty if it existed at all. He is a member of the Titanic Connections team and works predominantly as their lead Britannic historian. Below we have included a brief essay written by Jake explaining how his interest in the Olympic Class has developed.
"My fascination with the Olympic class liners began at the age of five when James Cameron’s Titanic movie was released in 1997. As a young boy, I knew so much about the Titanic, but what I didn’t realize was that Titanic had two other sister ships, RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic. Out of the three sisters, the Titanic and Britannic sparked my interest. I have to confess, The Olympic didn’t quite grab my attention as much as Britannic. I’ve gone on to learn so much about HMHS Britannic and those who sailed on her during her final crossing. I’ve also learned so much about why the Great Ship ended up on the Aegean sea floor.
Titanic and Britannic have a way of capturing your imagination in a way that makes it feel like you almost were there walking the decks. It is almost like you build a relationship not only with the ships themselves but also with the people that once sailed on them. Immersing yourself in researching these amazing ships lets you experience the tragic sinking's that these leviathans succumbed to, and my fascination with these ships keeps on growing. Even today, the Britannic wreck is still as beautiful as she once was before she sank. These ships and the people that sailed on them become a part of you. It's almost like your soul becomes one with the souls and the great ships that were so tragically lost."