ABSTRACT: Captain Donald T. Wright was a riverboat captain as well as a well-known editor and publisher for the Waterways Journal between 1921 and 1965. This collection offers insight into the earlier years of his career and contains primarily correspondence, as well as some additional personal materials detailed below.
SCOPE: The Wright Collection contains correspondence between Wright and various associates ranging from 1910 to 1917. Additionally, there are photographs, writing, and relia related to his river-centered career, as well as personal materials, including a diary. The letters have been organized at item level, and the other materials at folder level.
EXTENT: Two boxes
HISTORY: Capt. Donald T. Wright's time as editor and publisher of the Waterways Journal has been commemorated by the Captain Donald T. Wright Award in Maritime Journalism, presented initially by Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and currently by the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library every other year.
Existing since 1887, The Waterways Journal is America's oldest continuously published inland waterways trade magazine. Current issues reflect today's barge and towing industry. Tracing the history and development of river transportation, it has long been known as "The Riverman's Bible." For more information, see P-001 The Waterways Journal Collections.
The Waterways Journal collections include editorial research files dating from the 1890s, and cover a broad array of waterway topics such as national water use and transportation policy, competition with other forms of transportation, port development, and environmental concerns. Government agencies, establishing policy and regulating waterways; and private organizations, lobbying on behalf of waterway development, influence the course of the rivers. Their interaction and influence are well documented.
ACCESS: This is collection P-026. This collection is available for on-site use only in the Rare Book and Manuscripts Reading Room. Some of the collection may be photocopied, digitally scanned or photographed, depending on condition. Researchers are advised to call ahead concerning changes in hours due to University intersessions and holidays. The St. Louis Mercantile Library is located on levels one and two of the Thomas Jefferson Library building. More information about conducting research with the archival collections of the Library, including current building hours and reading room policies, can be found on our Research page.
A finding aid is available for download below.
Preferred Citation note: The preferred citation for this collection is "From the Collections of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.”
Capt. Donald T. Wright Correspondence Finding Aid (PDF)
Capt. Donald T. Wright and Sam Smith
(From the Capt. Donald T. Wright Collection, P-26)
