Topic starter
04/03/2013 1:23 pm
The Louisville Free Public Library (lfpl.org) now has the Louisville Courier Journal...along with the Cincinnati Enquirer...from the years 1833 to 1920 on line. All you have to do is type in a name or subject and evey article with that name appears. To get to the newspapers you have to click on "research tools".
The other day I put in "Ed J. Howard" and there were many pages of articles in which Ed J. Howard was mentioned, but one of the things I didn't know was that Ed Howard owned and operated the Market Street Mule Car line in Jeffersonville. The line ran from the Howard yards down Market St. to the "carworks"..American Car Foundry..they made railroad cars.
When Howard bought the line, his frachise with the city stated it had to be a mule car line, so by 1903 it was the last mule car line in the Falls City area and quite an attraction in Jeffersonville.
Another article I looked at was the launching of the CITY OF LOUISVILLE. After the boat slipped smoothly in the water and the tug FULTON caught it and was towing it back to shore, the tow line broke and the LOUISVILLE blew into a shanty boat causing considerable damage to the shanty boat. Ed Howard said the shipyard would repair it.
If you go to the library's website be sure to have plenty of time because once you start researching a morning or afternoon flys by.
07/03/2013 10:56 pm
*Other Howard rediscoveries here*
Hi, Jim & Steamboating colleagues,
Thanks, Jim, for the 'heads up' RE; 'Louisiville Courier Journal/Cincinnati Enquirer from those early years. Same has popped up here. The Enquirer papers and 'morgue' are stored at the Cincinnati Historical Society/Cincinnati Museum Center here in the former Union Terminal.
Seems I'd heard something about the Market Street Line some years back, but the teller I can't recall now. You bet those Howard photos of the CITY OF LOUISVILLE being launched, 'caught' by the tug FULTON are interesting.
I've made here somewhat of a chilling rediscovery in the form of the REMINISCENCES, John C. Howard, 1903/1904' in a manuscript lost for now well over 50 years. This document from the memories of John Howard that Mrs. Loretta Howard handed me as a high schooler to transcribe, copy for her and the museum. I questioned Woody Rutter recently and he found one copy I'd done back then I mailed to Capt. Fred Way, Jr. Fred flipped over it saying, "One remarkable manuscript...nails down a lot of facts for me." Fred did exerpt parts for the REFLECTOR way back in the 1970s. Woody mailed that copy and there it was in my original typing, format from those years. Then there were no copiers, scanners. All copy work I did with those infernal legal sized AB DICK gum stencils; then run off with thick, black ink, stapled. I carried a ton of copies along with the original manuscript back to Mrs. Howard. If it still survives at the Howard Museum now following the fire some years later, I know not. I'm talking a good 53 plus years now. In turn, Mrs. Howard handed me a packet of those dandy Howard steamboat photos and a little drawing kit with pens, pencils, stylus from the old yard office across the street. Mrs. Howard then never mentioned any 'restrictions' on the manuscript use. The big pack of photos had no name or museum stamp on the back in those early years.
The manuscript was typed on a kind of thin 'onion skin' paper with no staple, clip or binding. Obviously pages had been lost long before ending on Pg. 29; thus not complete. Mrs. Howard said she couldn't remember. Keith has shown me that fine, vintage typewriter in the 2nd floor Howard office; and I can only wonder if the said manuscript had been typed on that same machine. Was it a 'Remington?'
Jim, you would know about the photos as you worked as a youngster for Mrs. Howard on that photo work, right? I could post the memoirs here if people interested. Mrs. Howard used to say, "I can't understand you young people today interested in all of this old steamboat stuff."
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati
08/03/2013 4:27 pm
It's a beautiful, sunny morning here along the sparkling Ohio River and spring is definitely in the air! Museum business has been brisk the past several days and we are pleased that our visitors are again on the increase after the winter slack time.
Dale, I went into the HSM Collection this morning and pulled a transcribed copy (from the original which is also housed here in a locked library cabinet) of the Reminiscences by Capt. John Clough Howard, brother of James Howard who founded the shipyard in 1834. The indexed copy is contained in a special binder along with many other accompanying documents, including original newspaper clippings concerning his death on November 10, 1905 and telling of his supervision of the construction of the John Howard, second Robt. E. Lee and the Thompson Dean. This material is also housed in the Howard Shipyard Collection of the Lilly Library at Indiana University - Bloomington.
As for the typwriter which resides atop the rolltop desk used by Edmonds Howard in his shipyard office, it was patented on November 22, 1881 by The Hammond Typewriter Company, New York. It has a most unusual curved keyboard and layout of letters and numerals. Visitors often jokingly refer to it as an "early laptop"!
Each new day at the HSM is a fun adventure! Even after being around here for MANY years, I continue making fabulous finds and exciting discoveries in cabinets and closets!
08/03/2013 7:33 pm
*RE: Howard REMINISCENCES*
Hi, Keith,
WOW! You are a wonder with the Howard collection. I knew if anybody could find what was thought to be that long-missing manuscript, you are the one. Puts my mind at rest after all these years that the memoir did survive the bad fire. The early 'Hammond' typewriter you describe--and showed me--is one unusual instrument for sure. John Howard was most descriptive telling of the horrible plagues of cholera then along with the then banks and financial institutions that often experienced 'panics' similar to our 'recessions and depressions' today. Different states, like Kentucky, also had their own currency system and banks with varying monetary values. There was a recent posting on his site mentioning the lack of detailed history of steamboats in the 1850s--even 1840s. It's there if you can dig and find it.
Once I returned the transcribed manuscript, and the many copies I ran off, stapled, for Mrs. Howard, I somewhat forgot about it as my years moved on. John C. Howard was, as you mention, of the 'old, old school' in boat building. He one man I would have loved meeting--if just once. The manuscript abrubtly ended with Pg. 29 and no indication of other pages lost, removed, or the manuscript was just never finished. The Howard Museum and collection reminds me of the marvels found in King Tut's tomb when Howard Carter peeked through the hole seeing, "Wonderful, marvelous things."
I certainly back then had no modern 'laptop' at my convenience. I remember pounding all that out on our old family REMINGTON dated 1904 on the screened in back summer porch with the dog at my feet. Our late Capt. C.W. Stoll had seen/read the above, but later was a bit foggy on its source according to Fred Way and Woody Rutter. Woody is still sorting through, arranging papers and materials at his home in Marietta, Ohio. Again, thanks and three cheers for the Howard Museum!
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati
16/03/2013 6:36 pm
What a fantastic resource! Already my listing of boats carrying calliopes has grown significantly thanks to the search results offered here. Had to laugh out loud upon reading this classified ad in the September 11, 1872 edition of the Courier Journal:
MOONLIGHT EXCURSIONS
Wednesday and Thursday Nights,
By steamers Robert Burns and Champion, affording
the best means of seeing the Great Bridge Illum-
ination. Good music on the Champion and calliope on
the Robert Burns.
29/04/2013 3:57 pm
Remote Access to LFPL
Mr R
I agree. A fantastic research opportunity. This morning, I established a UserID and Password and was returned a library card number. For a short time I too was collecting new info on my old steamboats. I even downloaded a newspaper clip on the str Mollie Ebert.
I logged off. When I returned the LFPL acknowledged neither my UID nor my library card number. I called the library (Tom) for help. I was informed that I had to be local, pick up my card at a local branch, or contact a research assistant with my search requests. They do not support remote access from other states.
Appreciate any advice to gain access.
Fran Nash
10/10/2015 2:19 am
Digitized News
Long time passeth. Today the Lib of Congress announced that it has posted digitized newspapers from 1836-1922.
I can access these papers.