Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a born collector. America’s 32nd president spent a lifetime collecting everything from stamps and coins to Hudson River art and Dutch tiles.

One of FDR’s greatest passions was his enormous naval and maritime collection. Begun during his youth and patiently developed over decades, this rich collection reflects the President’s deep, lifelong love of the sea.

An expert sailor, Roosevelt was America’s greatest seafaring president. Whether piloting a sailboat along the New England coast, racing his ice yacht on the Hudson River, fishing aboard pleasure craft, or crossing oceans on naval vessels, he relished time on the water. The sea offered adventure, exercise, and camaraderie. In his later years, it also provided an escape from the pressures of public life. The popular image of FDR as a sailor, guiding the ship of state through rough waters, endures to this day. 

This exhibition—a joint effort of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum and the South Street Seaport Museum—presents treasures from FDR’s naval and maritime collection and explores what they tell us about Roosevelt’s connections to ships and the sea.