David C. Garre collection of Eugene G. Blackford papers

The Ichthyophagous Club was a dinner club which was established in the City of New York in 1880. The group organized dinners which featured seafood which was not typically prepared for 19th century meals, such as shark, octopus, skate, and other sea animals. Dinners were held at several locations between 1880 and 1887, including the Murray Hill Hotel, J.H. Starin's Glen Island, Havermeyer's Point, the Hotel Brighton, the Manhattan Beach Hotel, the Hotel Buckingham, and the Palisade Mountain House.

The Mariners' Guide and Wanderers' Aid Society of the City of New York was organized by members of the First Baptist Mariners' Church, along with other Manhattan and Brooklyn based Baptist church members, in 1866. According to the preamble of the organization's constitution and by-laws, the group was formed, "for the purpose of guarding and protecting the mariners who enter the port of New York and giving comfort to the desponding wanderers." The group operated mission rooms at the Mariners' Temple, located at Oliver Street and Henry Street, in Manhattan. Members conducted missionary visits to ships, distributed bibles, and offered religious services to sailors and other travelers.

Eugene G. Blackford was born in Morristown, New Jersey, on August 8, 1839. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and would later establish himself as a prominent businessman and naturalist. He was the president of the Brooklyn Bank, trustee of the People's Trust Company, and director of the Hide and Leather Bank in New York. From 1879 to 1892, he was Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries of the State of New York. He published numerous scientific papers on fish and fisheries during this time. He was also a charter member of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and helped establish the biological laboratories at Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Blackford died on December 29, 1904, and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.