Chicago physician Dr. Frank Blackmarr, a passenger aboard Titanic's rescue ship Carpathia, helped and supported the survivors who were suffering from hypothermia, exposure and shock. He collected a Titanic lifebelt during the voyage as a souvenir. A newspaper article published in the Kane Republican of July 29^th, 1912, documents that Dr. Blackmarr and his wife extended their European trip. After landing in New York they visited Oil City, Pennsylvania, for a visit to his mother-in-law. Following further research it was learned that the Orpheum Theater announced on the 27^th of July that they showed “three good comedies” and also “The Rescue Ship Carpathia, a great Vitagraph picture of the ship that came to the rescue of the Titanic passengers.”

Since it had been some months since the disaster such a presentation seemed quite delayed. Interestingly, the original advertisement for that day did not have any Carpathia reference but simply the titles of the three comedies. It seems that the note mentioning Carpathia was added last minute into the program. Theater managers were traditionally opportunists, and the change would make sense if Blackmarr was taken on stage that night. If Blackmarr was made an appearance that evening as research suggests, it might have been the first public display of this lifebelt. In later years his descendants donated it to the Chicago Historical Society who later donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1982. The overall measurements are given as follows: 23 in x 12 in; 58.42 cm x 30.48 cm.

Photographs on the website of the Smithsonian show the front and inside back. The latter image gives us a nice view of the markings that were inside some lifebelts. Also on the inside, there is a later added inscription mentioning it to be from the Chicago Historical Society.[1]

[1] https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_844465#coa-19520

The Smithsonian offers photographs of the inside back of the lifebelt which also gives a nice view of the inner markings, now rather faded.

Left, the outside front. Right, the inside back.

- Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.