Steamboats Viewed through Archival Collections

Bates, Alan. The Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopoedium, or: American Riverboat Structure & Detail, Salted with Lore, With a Nod to the Maker. Leonia: Hustle Press, 1968.

• • This book provides the measurements and plans required to construct an American steamboat. The book also includes a detailed glossary of steamboat terms.

Berry, Rev. Chester D. Loss of the Sultana and Reminiscences of Survivors. Lansing: Darus D. Thorp, 1892.

• • This book provides a history of the sinking of the Sultana, when over 1,500 souls were lost, most of them exchanged prisoners of war on their way home after the privation and suffering during 1 to 23 months in Cahaba and Andersonville prisons.

Custer, Jack. The Steamer Sprague: This is the Story of Big Mama, the Largest Steam Towboat The World has Known. She now belongs to Vicksburg, Miss. [s.l.: s.n., 196-?].

• • This book provides a detailed history of the steamboat Sprague, a steamboat built for towing on the Mississippi River. On December 5, 1901, the boat was launched on the Mississippi River. Her career included rescue work during the 1927 Flood, defense work during World War II, and a starring role in the 1950 movie Showboat.

Elliott, Joseph Taylor. The Sultana Disaster. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Publications, Vol. V, No. 3, 1913.

• • Former prisoner-of-war Joseph Taylor Elliot’s first-hand account of the sinking of the steamboat Sultana on April 27, 1865.

Ewen, William H. Days of the Steamboats. New York: Parents’ Magazine Press, 1967.

• • General discussion of steamboats, including the history of the steamboat during the early-, mid-, and late-nineteenth century, its venues, including the Hudson River, Long Island Sound, Mississippi River, Sacramento River, and the Great Lakes.

Gould, E. W. Fifty Years on the Mississippi; or, Gould’s History of River Navigation. Saint Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Company, 1889.

• • This book discusses the history of the steamboat, the character of the early navigators, description of the first steamboats, the steamboat New Orleans, Mississippi River floods, and the Mississippi River Commission and its work.

Huber, Leonard V., compiler. Advertisements of the Lower Mississippi River Steamboats, 1812-1920: A Scrapbook with Introduction and Index of Vessels and Lines. West Barrington: The Steamship Historical Society of America, 1959.

• • This book is a collection of steamboat newspaper advertisements found throughout the United States.

Lloyd, James T. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. Cincinnati: James T. Lloyd & Co., 1856.

• • This book examines the history of the first application of steam, the lives of John Fitch and Robert Fulton, Maps of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, Plantations on the Mississippi River, and the Earthquake of 1812.

Potter, Jerry O. The Sultana Tragedy: America’s Greatest Maritime Disaster. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company, 1992.

• • This book examines in detail the sinking of the steamboat Sultana on April 27, 1865, including the construction of the ship, the former prisoners who were her passengers, the disaster itself, and Memphis’ involvement with assisting the survivors.

Quick, Herbert and Edward. Mississippi Steamboatin’: A History of Steamboating on the Mississippi and Its Tributaries. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1926.

• • The authors discuss bandits on the rivers, the steamboat New Orleans, the Ohio-Lower Mississippi River trade route, the upper Mississippi River, the Missouri River, steamboat pilots and engineers, steamboat racing, steamboats during the Civil War, and steamboat disasters.

Rathbone, Perry T. Mississippi Panorama. St. Louis: City Art Museum, 1950.

• • This work documents an exhibit held at the City Art Museum of St. Louis in 1950, including 188 illustrations of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, bank notes, river boat models, and steamboat paraphernalia.

Tippitt, W. H. Steamboats: 1870, 1871, 1872, Volume 1. [s.l.: s.n.], 1967.

• • This work is a compilation of newspaper articles and photographs pertaining to steamboats built in the years 1870, 1871, and 1872, and which sank primarily in the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Traveller’s Register, and River and Road Guide: Containing A New and Correct Map of the Rivers of the Mississippi Valley; Together With the Stage, Steamboat, Canal, and Rail-Road Routes Throughout the Western and South Western States, With the Distances, in Miles, from Place to Place. Cincinnati: Robinson & Jones, 1848.

• • This guide includes an almanac for 1848, memoranda pages, illustrations, and advertisements.

Way, Frederick, Jr. Way’s Directory of Western Rivers’ Steam Towboats, Corrected to June 1953. Sewickley: s.n., 1954.

• • This directory is a registry of tow boats, primarily running on the Mississippi River. It includes the early history of tow boats, dimensions of the ships, their various owners, and the year the ships were built.