The Archives of the Merseyside Maritime Museum constitute one of the finest collections of merchant shipping records in the United Kingdom. They include the best run of ship registers, the records of the port of Liverpool - once the second port of the British Empire - local trade associations, shipping companies, merchant houses, port services, charities, shipbuilders, personal and family papers of seafarers plus a wealth of plans, photographs and oral tapes, all linked with an incomparable collection of models, paintings and maritime objects. Every facet of shipping and seaborne trade from the late eighteenth century to the present is covered. While the emphasis is on Liverpool, its ships and seafarers, the coverage is national and international.

The collection dates to 1957 when the shipping department of Liverpool City Museum began a modest Library and Archives with a view to its inclusion in a proposed waterfront maritime museum. In many cases the Archives had a display potential or were part of broader collections of models, pictures and relics. By 1972 the Archives of Brocklebank, Cunard (technical) and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company's Committee had been received. When the new County Council took over the museums in 1974, an Archivist was appointed who, despite limited resources, was able to secure substantial additions and to order the records according to archival principles. In 1978 Council commissioned a study to assess the feasibility of converting part of the historic but derelict Albert Dock warehouses into a maritime museum, and a pilot project was initiated in 1980. The conversion of the main building at Albert Dock began in 1982 under the auspices of the Merseyside Development Corporation; the archival reading room was opened in 1986 along with the first exhibit galleries. In 1981 the archival premises were approved as a repository under the Public Records Act 1958, which enabled it to hold the Liverpool Register of Merchant Ships - perhaps the single most important collection. The re-organisation or transfer of operations of the major Liverpool-based shipping companies brought further important acquisitions. The gift in 1983 of the collections of Ocean Transport and Trading, which included not only Alfred Holt's original Ocean Steam Ship Co.