Guide to the Hudson River Day Line Collection , 1812-1960

(bulk 1860-1930)


Steamship Historical Society of America, Archives
Steamship Historical Society of America
2500 Post Road
Warwick, RI 02886
Tel: 401-463-3570
E-mail: info@sshsa.org

Published in 2023

Collection Overview

Title: Hudson River Day Line Collection
Date range: 1812-1960, (bulk 1860-1930)
Creator: Hudson River Day Line
Extent: 25 linear feet
Abstract: The Hudson River Day Line was a steamboat service operating under various names on the Hudson River beginning in the mid-1800s. The collection contains over 100 years of company records, financial documents, ephemera and correspondence between owners and key stakeholders. In addition, the collection contains steamship logs that document the routes taken by the Hudson River Day Line steamships along the Hudson River.
Language of materials: English
Repository: Steamship Historical Society of America, Archives
Collection number: 1963.01

Scope & content

The Hudson River Day Line began operations in the mid-1800s under the direction of Alfred Van Santvoord who had followed his father into the steamboat business. It operated for nearly 100 years until the late 1940s when the shift to travel by car post-World War II led to a decline in the use of steamboats. The Hudson River Day Line Collection contains information regarding this service, including operational records, maintenance and purchase records for individual ships, balance sheets and annual reports and blueprints. Steamship logs are contained in over 30 binders and capture information about the routes taken by company steamships during the period of 1916-1948 along the Hudson River. Ephemera includes the nearly 40 years of promotional materials printed by the company beginning in the late 1800s, as well as both personal and business correspondence from the 19th century.

Access Points

Subject Names Subject Organizations Subject Topics Subject Topics Document Types

Arrangement

Series 1. Hudson River Day Line Administrative Records

  • This series comprises the administrative records of the Hudson River Day Line. Records include internal and external correspondences, company charters and name change documentation, meeting minutes, documents pertaining to events such as the Hudson Fulton Celebration, legal cases, and more. A standout record from this series is the original 1825 Connecticut charter for the Steam Navigation Company.

Series 2. Hudson River Day Line Financial Records

  • This series comprises the financial records of the Hudson River Day Line. Records include stock and bond certificates, information pertaining to shareholders, dividends, annual reports, earnings statements, ledgers, expenditures, payroll, and more.

Series 3. Hudson River Day Line Property Records

  • This series comprises the property records of the Hudson River Day Line. Records include blueprints, mortgages, leases, deeds and more. Properties represented include Bear Mountain, Indian Point, Desbrosses St. Pier, etc. Please note that records pertaining to the boats of the Hudson River Day Line are arranged in a separate series.

Series 4. Hudson River Day Line Boat Records

  • This series comprises company records pertaining to boats of the Hudson River Day Line. Records include plans and general documents. There is a sub-series for boat logs. Vessels represented in this series include the Albany, Alexander Hamilton, Chauncey Depew, DeWitt Clinton, Hendrick Hudson, Mary Powell, Peter Stuyvesant, Robert Fulton, and Washington Irving.
  • Subseries 4.1: Hudson River Day Line Boat Logs: This subseries comprises boat logs of various vessels of the Hudson River Day Line. Vessels represented in these logs include the Albany, Alexander Hamilton, Chauncey Depew, DeWitt Clinton, Hendrick Hudson, Mary Powell, Peter Stuyvesant, Robert Fulton, and Washington Irving. Log sheets display the routes taken by specific steamships of the Hudson River Day Line. They capture the number of passengers on board at various routes along the Hudson River and also include the year that a particular trip was taken.

Series 5. Hudson River Day Line Ephemera

  • This series comprises brochures, broadsides, timetables, and other promotional material of the Hudson River Day Line.

Series 6. Hudson River Day Line Objects

  • Collection of objects from the Hudson River Day Line. Objects include artifacts from HRDL steamships and copper printing blocks/plates.

Series 7. Hudson River Day Line Photographs

  • This series comprises several folders of loose photographs of individuals and boats associated with the Hudson River Day Line, including the Olcotts.

Biographical/Historical note

Robert Fulton’s steamer, North River Steam Boat (later referred to as the Clermont), first plied the waters of the Hudson River in 1807. With Robert Livingston, Fulton had secured a monopoly on steamboat travel along the Hudson. This monopoly ended with a decision of the Supreme Court in 1824, opening up the trade to others along the line. By the 1840s, a peak number of steamers were running the route under the direction of several companies. Abraham Van Santvoord was the New York agent for one of these - the Steam Navigation Company. In 1845 he helped to organize a steam towing operation, Hudson River Steam Boat Company, and was its first president.

Abraham’s son, Alfred, followed him into the trade, becoming the Albany agent for the Hudson River Steam Boat Company. Alfred acquired his own ship, the Alida, in 1855 and began running her in 1856. He continued to acquire boats and by the early 1860s was operating day line services with his partner John McB. Davidson. Their stationary read, “Office of the Day Line of Steamers on the Hudson” - the first iteration of what later became known as the Hudson River Day Line. Steamers making round trips between Albany and New York included the Chauncey Vibbard, Daniel Drew, Armenia and the Mary Powell. In 1879, Van Santvoord and Davidson formally incorporated the “Hudson River Line.” The Line acquired three ships from the two men and several others, including Alfred’s son, Charles Townsend Van Santvoord, and Clarence R van Bethuysen became shareholders.

After the death of Davidson in 1887, the Van Santvoords acquired his shares and took control of the Day Line. It continued to carry over 100,000 passengers each year and became known for its fine appointments, excellent food and scenic views as ships travelled up the Hudson. In 1895, Charles T. Van Santvoord died at 41, and Alfred appointed his son-in-law, Eben Erskine Olcott (E.E. Olcott). In 1899, Olcott spearheaded the renaming of the company to at last be the Hudson River Day Line. He also presided over the commissioning of two new ships, the Hendrick Hudson (1906) and Robert Fulton (1909). Passenger service continued to grow, with hundreds of thousands of passengers carried each season. In 1925, the Day Line reached its peak with almost 2 million passengers using the service. Many travelers were destined for the Day Line’s recreational park, Indian Point. The park, south of Peekskill, was a 300-acre former farm that was turned into an amusement park featuring a beer hall, rides, baseball diamonds, picnic tables and miniature golf. Church and company groups would take charter trips departing New York at dawn, spending the day at Indian Point and returning late in the evening.

A short 5 years later, in 1930, the company was feeling the effects of the Great Depression and passenger travel dropped significantly, with only a million passengers carried in 1938. There was a brief resurgence of passenger travel in the early 1940s as World War II gas rationing brought travelers back. By 1948 it was apparent that the Day Line could no longer take the losses. The Robert Fulton and Alexander Hamilton made their last sailings in the fall of 1948.

The Day Line sold four steamers to George Sanders and his associates and the Day Line shareholders retained rights to the real estate holdings, incorporating under the name “Indian Point Corporation.” The Sanders group filed for and began using the name “Hudson River Day Line, Inc.” This new company modified the steamers to include more casual dining rooms and refreshment stands as well as liquor and beer bars. Sightseeing and special trip service was run for nearly ten years until the company and remaining assets were purchased by the New York City-based Circle Line.

Access & Use

Access to the collection: This collection is available to the public by appointment at the Steamship Historical Society. Objects that are fragile, significant, or require additional tools to access may require archivist assistance.
Use of the materials: Use, reproduction, and/or publication of archival material is prohibited without prior approval of the Steamship Historical Society. Fees and/or restrictions may apply. Please contact the SSHSA archivist, Astrid Drew, at adrew@sshsa.org for more information.
Preferred citation: Hudson River Day Line Collection, Steamship Historical Society of America Archives, www.sshsa.org.
Contact information: Steamship Historical Society of America, Archives
Steamship Historical Society of America
2500 Post Road
Warwick, RI 02886
Tel: 401-463-3570
E-mail: info@sshsa.org

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition: This collection was donated in March of 1963 by Mrs. Alfred (Ruth Purves) V.S. Olcott, widow of Alfred V.S. Olcott, the former President of the Hudson River Day Line. A letter approving the conditions of the donation was signed by former SSHSA President, Jim Wilson.
Processing information: Although Mrs. Olcott donated the HRDL records in 1963, the collection was originally processed (possibly at the University of Baltimore) from roughly 2000-2005. A partial finding aid/inventory was developed, but no note is included as to who initially processed or described the collection. This collection was freshly surveyed, organized and described by Emily Schubin and Michaela Sheerar, with assistance from SSHSA archivist Astrid Drew, in December, 2016. In 2022-2023, Assistant Archivist Tessa Mediano revisited the collection and updated the arrangement and inventory. The HRDL Collection was accessioned with the number 1963.01.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by Emily Schubin, Michaela Sheerar, Astrid Drew, and Tessa Mediano.
Encoding: Finding aid encoded by Tessa Mediano 2023 April 12
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Related material:

Inventory