River Museum Opens In Ohio

Campus Martius State Memorial Museum, Marietta, Ohio

The first public River Museum in the country will be opened at Campus Martius State Memorial Museum, Marietta, Ohio, on March 16.

The Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen in cooperation with the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society have arranged a display of steamboat models, pictures, and relics representative of one hundred and thirty years of steamboat navigation on western waterways.

The river group which was organized in June, 1939, has a membership which ranges from coast to coast but it is composed largely of rivermen of the states drained by the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers and their tributaries. The purposes of this group are "perpetuation of the memories of pioneer rivermen; establishment of a river museum; preservation of river history; closer association among river folk; and loyalty to the ideals of the river fraternity".

At the annual convention the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen in New Martinsville, West Virginia, Mr. B. D. Richardson of Malta, Ohio, was elected president; Mr. Robert Thomas, Clarington, Ohio, vice-president; Mr. Harry J. Maddy, Gallipolis, Ohio, treasurer; and Miss Elizabeth Litton, Clarington, Ohio, secretary. Captain Mary B. Greene, Cincinnati, only licensed woman pilot on the Ohio River was given the title of honorary president.

The River Museum to be opened at Campus Martius Museum is the latest major development to be completed by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. Mr. Arthur C. Johnson, Sr., is president of the Society, and Mr. H. C. Shetrone is director.