Skip to main content

Potomac Boat Club Digital Collection

 Digital Collection
Identifier: dcpl_pby102

Dates

  • Creation: 1869 - 1973

Creator

Summary

The Potomac Boat Club Photograph Collection documents competitive and social events at the Georgetown rowing club from its 1869 founding through the late-20th century.

Please note: The Potomac Boat Club collection includes images of individuals in blackface. These images are Halloween Dance (dcpl_pby102_0027) and Potomac Boat Club Halloween dance (dcpl_pby102_0030). We welcome your feedback if you encounter language or images in The People's Archive that you find offensive or harmful. Please email us at peoples.archive@dc.gov or call The People's Archive reference desk at 202-727-1213.

Language of Materials

English

Biographical / Historical

The collection is composed primarily of photographs that include images of winning crew teams, practices and races on the Potomac River, celebrations such as annual oyster roasts, and images of the club’s two boat houses on the Georgetown waterfront (at 3141 and 3550 Water Street NW), as well as and a set of early 20th century architectural drawings of its current location. Also included are a selection of panoramic photographs of attendees at the club's annual social gatherings. Notable events documented in the collection include the burning of Dempsey's Boathouse in 1961, a 1936 flood of the Georgetown waterfront, and the sinking of the "Recreation" at the Club's annual regatta on August 14, 1904, which resulted in 10 deaths.

Custodial History

The collection was donated to the George Peabody Room Collection at Georgetown Neighborhood Library in 2015 and was digitized in its entirety and made available online in 2017.

Repository Details

Part of the The Peabody Room at Georgetown Neighborhood Library Repository

Contact:
3620 R Street NW
3rd Floor
Washington DC 20007
202-727-0233