"As Much as the Water: How Steamboats Shaped Arkansas" began as a discussion between the UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture (CAHC) and The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC). The two organizations wanted to create a small archival exhibit featuring materials used in a 1983 exhibition of Frederick T. Anderson's art. As planning progressed, we began to see connections to other areas of study in the university, and as we talked with other scholars at UALR, it was clear that steamboats held a mythos for people that surpassed what could be presented in a small exhibit.
The exhibit presented here offers a broad range of content and perspectives from a variety of disciplines. The scholars whose work is featured here offer a critical perspective on the impact steamboats had on Arkansas and its culture. That impact shaped the state in indelible ways, truly as much as the rivers these boats traversed did.