This collection includes documents from the 19th century pertaining to commerce of ships on the Hudson River including a list of ships, bills of sale of ships and bills and receipts for money lending and goods. Also included are handwritten letters and poems and pages from “The Life and Adventures of Captain Thomas Adams” apparently written by Captain Thomas Adams. There are also a number of Graphic materials depicting the various vessels.
The Hudson River Ships and Commerce Collection were given to the Marist College Library by the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.
There is a rich history of nautical travel along the Hudson River by the means of steamboats, sloops, and barges. This collection chronicles some of the many vessels that made their way up and down the Hudson River during the 1800s and the business transactions related to them. The invention of the steamboat in 1807 made such travel fast and affordable and by 1850 approximately 150 were making regular voyages on the river (For more information: http://www.hudsonriver.com/hudson-river-history). Ships such as the Albany ran from New York City to Poughkeepsie, a distance of 75 miles, in little over three hours and had the capacity to carry as many as 4,500 passengers. The Peoples-Citizens lines, organized in the 1870s included floating palaces like the Adirondack and CW Morse which included as many as 400 state rooms as well as parlors and private baths. The collection also includes the many sloops of the Hudson River. A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig, one mast and a single jib. The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is an example of a modern replica. Appreciation of the beauty of the Hudson River inspired poems and songs that are included in this collection as well as the writings and letters pertaining to traveling the river.
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