HISTORY: Dorothy Heckmann Shrader was a Missouri River historian, who came by her love of steamboating and river lore naturally. She was born and raised in Hermann, Missouri, which was the busiest port on the Missouri River. As a youth, she spent summers tramping up and down the Missouri River aboard her father's excursion boat, the steamer John Heckmann. The large Heckmann Family, through the Herman Ferry and Packet Company, owned and worked on the last privately owned steamboats on the Missouri River.

Str. PEERLESS, built at Hermann, MO, 1893, owned by the Hermann Ferry & Packet Co., ran on the Missouri River until 1905. (Dorothy Heckmann Shrader Collection)
Str. PEERLESS, built at Hermann, MO, 1893, owned by the Hermann Ferry & Packet Co., ran on the Missouri River until 1905. (Dorothy Heckmann Shrader Collection)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Shrader, Dorothy Heckmann. The City of Herman: Missouri Presents Hermann 1836, a Dream in Philadelphia, 1986, a Town in Missouri.(Hermann, MO: Graf Printing Co., 1986)

---. Steamboat Kid: Memories of a Missouri River Childhood. (Hermann, MO: Wein Press, 1993).

---. Steamboat Legacy: the Life and Times of a Steamboat Family. (Hermann, MO: Wein Press, 1993).

---. Steamboat Treasures: the Inadvertent Autobiography of a Steamboatman. (Hermann, MO: 1997).

Captain Edward Heckmann

SCOPE: This collection continues to be added to, and at present contains:

Series 1 - Diaries of Mrs. Shrader's grandmother, Mary Louise Miller Heckmann (wife of Capt. William L. Heckmann, Sr.), who kept a daily diary from the age of 13 until her death at age 62;

Series 2 - Papers of Capt. Edward Heckmann, Mrs Shrader's father, and the Heckmann Packet Co.;

Series 3 - Photographs of Missouri River vessels, river men, and other river and ocean vessels;

Series 4 - Steamboat Bill columns from The Waterways Journal, written by her uncle, Steamboat Bill Heckmann, who has been dubbed the Mark Twain of the Missouri River, and clippings from the Advertiser Courier;

Series 5 - This series consists of one item, a diary, written by Capt. Edward Heckmann from 1875 to 1885.

HOLDINGS:This is Special Collection P-5. Approximately 9 linear feet. Manuscripts, archival records, and photographs.

ACCESS: Some of the collection may be photocopied, digitally scanned, or photographed, depending on condition and restrictions.There is a published finding aid of this collection available for download.

Portions of the collection are available for remote & online viewing on the UMSL Digital Library as the P-005: Dorothy Heckman Shrader Collection.

Dorothy Heckmann Shrader Finding Aid (.pdf)