Dear Conservancy Supporter,

As 2025 comes to a close, the Conservancy is looking forward to continuing to celebrate the extraordinary legacy of the SS United States into next year and beyond. We are deeply grateful for your messages of hope and encouragement, your donations to our curatorial collections, and your financial contributions to our mission of immortalizing the Big U. We can’t thank you enough for your steadfast support.

Our key focus now is advancing the development of our future SS United States Museum and Visitor Experience. This year, the Conservancy preserved many large, charismatic objects from the ship – including her signature towering funnels – to be restored and thoughtfully incorporated into the design of our future museum.

We invite you to visit our website to view initial concepts for the museum’s exterior and gallery spaces. Click HERE to see these early renderings for memorializing America’s Flagship!

Without you, none of this is work possible. With the end of 2025 on the horizon, we hope you will make your year-end tax-deductible gift to support the development of future SS United States Museum and Visitor Experience and our ongoing work to celebrate and commemorate the Big U. To make a year-end contribution please below:

For information about how to make your gift via check, please click HERE.

As our plans continue to unfold, we will be inviting you to share your thoughts and suggestions. What interior spaces should be brought to life in our future museum? What ship artifacts or artwork would be most exciting to see displayed? What broader historical and cultural themes should we explore?  Stay tuned for our supporter survey to follow in the coming months!

With our deep gratitude and our warmest wishes for the holiday season,



The SS United States Conservancy’s Board of Directors

Courtesy of Paul Stipkovich

THE CONSERVANCY'S 2025 HIGHLIGHTS

This year marked many transitions for the SS United States. Over the course of this year, the Conservancy has continued to champion the ship's indominable legacy as we pivoted to our mission of developing an extraordinary museum honoring the Big U.

• In February, the SS United States departed from Philadelphia to travel to Mobile, Alabama to begin remediation as part of her transformation to become the "World's Largest Artificial Reef." This departure garnered garnered global media coverage and many of the ship's supporters followed her journey and captured and shared photographs and video footage of the ship once again in her element.

• Our third digital exhibition, "Food Tastes Better at Sea: Dining Aboard the SS United States" showcasing never before seen items from our curatorial collections, launched in March to great success. If you have not already, click HERE to delve into the fascinating history of food and dining aboard the ship.

• We were thrilled to announce the development of our new feature-length documentary film, “Superliner: The Enduring Legacy of the SS United States,” which will share an unprecedented look at the ship’s riveting history and final journey. For more information, click HERE.

To read more about the Conservancy's work this past year, click HERE.

COLLECTIONS SPOTLIGHT:

SOUVENIRS FROM FORMER PASSENGERS JOIN OUR COLLECTIONS

The Conservancy has been gratefully accepting donations of historical objects from the SS United States from around the world since 2009, and we're honored to be stewards of the world's largest collection items relating to “America’s Flagship.” 

Generously donated by Priscilla Krieg

This year, we received donations from former passengers, crew members and their families, enthusiasts, and fellow maritime museums. Two such donations were charm bracelets, one from Carolyn Bobo and another from Priscilla Krieg. These bracelets were sold onboard in the Novelty Shop, and gifted to children as souvenirs. Both donors were children who traveled with their families to new military deployments.

Generously donated by Carolyn Bobo

Many items from the Conservancy’s collections were highlighted in our most recent digital exhibition, “Food Tastes Better at Sea: Dining Aboard the SS United States.” Released earlier this year, the exhibition has been recently updated with additional historical context and new information about tipping onboard the ship. To visit this digital exhibition, click HERE and consider signing our online guest book.

SHARE YOUR STORY

Courtesy of TJ Scollan

We would love to hear from you! What is your connection to the SS United States? What moved you to support our work preserving the legacy of this incredible icon of American design and engineering? Email info@ssusc.org or leave us a voicemail at (888) 488-7787 to schedule an interview with a member of our team. We are so grateful for your support and thank you for sharing your memories with us.

STAY SNUG WHILE COMMEMORATING AMERICA'S FLAGSHIP

Show off your love of the SS United States with this comfortable sweatshirt! Available in sizes up to 5XL, this high-quality sweatshirt will keep you warm all winter.

Click HERE to purchase.