Edward O. Clark Collection (1993.02)

Biographical note

Edward O. Clark was born in June of 1918 in New York, but would spend most of his life in Chalfont, Pennsylvania. He spent the summer of 1939 working on a ferry on Narragansett Bay, which may have been the start of his lifelong love of ships. In 1940, upon graduating from Princeton University with a degree in mechanical engineering, Clark joined the newly established Steamship Historical Society of America. At this time, he considered his favorite steam vessels to be those from the Long Island Sound and Hudson River, such as the Robert Fulton, the New Yorker and the Conanticut, which had once been owned by the Jamestown & Newport Ferry Company that he had worked for the previous summer. Shortly after joining SSHSA, Clark served in WWII. When he returned, he began increasing his collection of 35mm slides, documenting the ships he encountered during his travels. The time he spent photographing tugs, ferries, and passenger and cargo steamers on the Delaware River and in New York Harbor as well as other waterways has preserved an abundance of maritime history. Clark served as editor-in-chief of Steamboat Bill from 1955-1960 and wrote two articles on the City Ice Boat No. 2, a sidewheel ice-breaker, his favorite steamboat of the time. Clark passed away in 1994.