The Salem Marine Railway records document the activities of this Salem, Massachusetts, railway. The collection includes correspondence, administrative, and financial records for the daily operation of the railway and technical research and estimates for building the ways. It is divided into two series.

Series I. Administration Records includes meeting minutes for the committee involved in the organization of and preparation for building the railway and for the corporation, records of stock and subscribers, legal documents and claim papers, financial reports which include amounts of earnings and expenses, fire insurance and boiler inspection papers, and papers covering the technical research and estimates for building the railway.

Of special note in the legal documents are the claim papers of John L. Ellery for the loss of the Ship Panther. Ellery contended that the vessel was thrown over the ways due to the fault of the Marine Railway. Receipts for damages to other vessels are also filed here. The file of technical research and estimates contains letters between William Denny of Dunbar, Scotland, D.M. Nicol of Liverpool, and Captain John Gardner of Salem regarding the technical aspects of building the railway, information about the pine timber, oak, cast iron, and chains and rods needed for construction, and estimates of its cost.

The papers in Series II. Business Records relate to the day-to-day operations of the railway. The correspondence, account books, and financial papers document the railway's income, expenses, and ordered supplies. Of special note in the series are the returns. They record the amount to be billed to each customer and cover such items as the type of vessel, the tonnage (displacement), day on and day off the ways, owner, and amount due the railway. Included in this series is the account book of Samuel Lewis. In addition to accounts of vessels on the railway from 1851 to 1853 there are notes Lewis made as a deputy surveyor from 1854 to 1856.