The Timeline Archive Ross Blouin Collection
This latest collection represents another first for the Timeline. I'm being provided with material gathered on an ongoing basis by a very generous benefactor. Ross Blouin has very kindly become my “Source from the USA”. It means that items that were once beyond my reach, for example from sellers who no longer offer postage to the UK, now become available for addition to my archive.
For the first several years of building the Timeline I was able to buy fairly frequently from sellers in the USA, although the postage was occasionally a bit of a killer. When eBay introduced their “Global Shipping Program”, that more or less killed access to that side of the Atlantic stone dead!
All of a sudden there were “import charges” levied when none were required. The whole scheme made purchases so expensive that I could be fleeced a whole month of purchase budget on a solitary item. That was never going to be sustainable. Luckily, until recently, I've had plenty of uncatalogued material held in reserve.
Ross Blouin is a seasoned nautical traveller, collector, historian and benefactor. His adventures at sea began as a young passenger exploring the vastness of the RMS Queen Elizabeth back in 1965. I'll let Ross describe his passion in his own words.
Ross has written… 5 February 2021
As an ocean liner historian I started collecting liner memorabilia when I was 16 years old and have never
stopped. Last year I gave my entire collection to a maritime museum. I might add that I had some great
pieces from Caronia from the 1950s and ’60s.
My first memories are of looking up at the QE berthed in NY Harbour at 11:00 on a warm July night. She was lit up like a wedding cake. A sight that I'll never forget. It was a case of love at first sight.
My own experiences on the QE are indelible. Stepping aboard that night I well remember that first sight of long shining passageways, the smell of flowers and furniture wax… How all that wood shone!
1967 Great