Rolf Klep was one of the most eccentric and interesting people to live in 20th-Century Astoria. So was Joe Dyer. Their drawings and papers reside within the Ted M. Natt Maritime Library of the Columbia River Maritime Museum. So do an array of shipping records that date to 1764, and many other treasures.

After years of wanting to see this specialized library, I visited it last week. Librarian Arline LaMear and museum Associate Curator Jeff Smith were my guides.

The museum library is a brightly lighted space at the east end of the building. Formerly in a much smaller space, this new home was part of the 2001 museum expansion.

Very few museum visitors know the library exists. But it is one of the institution’s most remarkable assets. By LaMear’s estimation, it is one of the top 10 maritime libraries in the nation.

My tour began with the collection of Lloyd’s Register, a compendium of all ships insured by Lloyd’s of London. Supplementing the Lloyds books, which began in 1764, is the museum’s collection of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. and the Record of the American Bureau of Shipping.

The library’s most consulted item is the three-volume Marine History of the Pacific Northwest.

Other notable collections within the museum library are the records of Union Fish Cooperative and the Columbia River Packers Association.The Ted M. Natt Maritime Library is greater than the sum of its parts. Another nugget is the Encyclopedia Brittanica that was aboard the Battleship Oregon. Other important compendiums are logs of Columbia River Bar Pilots and lists of canneries that dotted the Columbia River. One researcher, bar pilot Thron Riggs, is using the library’s records to compile a list of all Columbia River bar pilots.

The library’s photo archive contains more than 19,000 images. And it houses an extensive collection of plans from which ships were built. These include Joe Dyer’s drawings. Dyer was founder of Astoria Marine Construction Co. and a prolific marine architect. During World War II, Dyer employed some 1,000 workers to build minesweepers for the U.S. Navy.

Manuscripts are the library’s big piece of unfinished business. LaMear said 300 boxes of manuscripts await cataloguing.

When LaMear took the job in 1997, none of the library’s holdings had been catalogued. She used the Library of Congress table of organization.

All museums begin as someone’s treasure trove. The Columbia River Maritime Museum began as Rolf Klep’s attic. Klep made his fortune as a commercial artist, and the products of that professional life as an artist are part of the collection.

Three major maritime book collectors have helped build the holdings of the Natt library. Dr. Bernard Berenson of Portland gave some 300 volumes. William H. Bishop and Niels Nielsen, both of Portland, have been significant donors.

The maritime library packs all of these goods into a relatively small space. Such efficiency is achieved with space-saver shelving that runs on tracks,

The rare book room is a library within a library. Without quoting the specifics that Jeff Smith recited, it is safe to say that if Astoria were to burn or flood, the rare book room would remain intact and undisturbed. It is a tank of a room.

A library such as the Natt is greater than the sum of its parts. The books, photos and manuscripts amount to a major component of our region’s collective memory.

– S.A.F.