Isaiah Larabee was a ship master from the Penobscot region of Maine. Between 1855 and 1878 he commanded the Bark AMANDA (captured by the Confederate raider C.S.S. ALABAMA), the Bark MONITOR, and the Brigs EUGENIA, CAROLINE EDDY, and HARRY STEWART. Most of the vessels found in this collection were built in Maine and registered at Bangor. Many were owned or managed by firms like Thomas J. Stewart, Albion P. Veazie & Co., or A. Littlefield & Co., and they are prominently represented in Larabee's papers.

These vessels sailed from ports in Maine as well as Boston, New York and Philadelphia; and traded at cities like Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, Cardiff, London, Kingston, Jamaica, Mayaguez, Palermo, Messina, and Genoa, Italy.

Internal evidence suggests that Larabee may have built a house or "farm" at Winterport, Maine in 1869, too which he retired ten years later. His wife, Mary died in 1878, and Isaiah probably died in 1886, leaving children Mary E., Alice, and Isaiah L. Larabee. Papers for other Larabee family members make up the remainder of this collection, ca. 1886-1940.