Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Collection

(15,000 Documents and Objects)

In March 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez, ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound. 11.2 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the ocean, spreading southwest with the ocean currents. The media coverage, and later the clean-up, were based in Valdez.

This collection, including newspaper clippings, U.S. Coast Guard Reports, field notes from the Prince William Sound Conservation Alliance, letters from school children in the Lower 48 States, and hundreds of photographs reflect the tenor and gravity of those difficult months. Residents and outsiders alike expressed their feelings about Exxon, the oil industry, and the situation in graphic, heart-breaking, or sometimes humorous ways on T-shirts and posters, in songs and poetry, and through art. Many of these pieces were collected and preserved in our collection. The collection also includes numerous oil samples from Prince William Sound beaches, oil boom (used to contain oil), and documentation from the Valdez bird rescue center.