ABSTRACT: Five scrapbooks of early steamboat photographs.
SCOPE: These scrapbooks contain hundreds of photographs of riverboats operating on the Mississippi River from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many pages include captions, newspaper clippings, and information about the vessels including where they were built, cost of construction, and significant events in the boat's history.
EXTENT: Five bound scrapbooks, approximately 650 photographs.
HISTORY: This collection of scrapbooks was acquired from the estate of Dorothy Jane Mahaffey Carpenter Moore. Dorothy and her family have been prominent St. Louis philanthropists for generations. It is unknown who created the scrapbooks. Most of the photographs appear to come from the Marine Photo Company, which was owned and operated by Sam Smith. Some of the photographs are also marked J. Mack Moore. Smith was an ardent copy photographer and Moore spent over 60 years photographing river steamers and views of Vicksburg. Both men built some of the most magnificent river photography collections ever to have existed. These scrapbooks preserve some of their incredible work.
ACCESS: Due to the fragile nature of this collection, physical access may be restricted. Please contact the library for further information. Information on conducting research with the archival collections of the Library, including current building hours and reading room policies, can be found on our Research page. The St. Louis Mercantile Library is located on levels one and two of the Thomas Jefferson Library building on the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ north campus. The entire collection is available for remote & online viewing on the UMSL Digital Library as the P-085 Carpenter-Moore Family Riverboat Scrapbooks.
Preferred Citation note: The preferred citation for this collection is "From the collections of the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library at the University of Missouri - St. Louis.”
