Filson Fellowships

By Jennifer Reiss
Public Relations Assistant

Filson Fellowship recipient Samantha Gervase spent a week at The Filson in November to research her dissertation topic, the social and legal contexts of the Mississippi River system. A doctoral candidate from the University of California, Los Angeles, Gervase explained that the riverboat society of the nineteenth century consisted of a wide range of people, including casual travelers as well as temporary and permanent steamboat crews from various racial groups. Her dissertation, "Life and Law in the Lower Mississippi River Valley: Categories and the Expansion of America, 1800-1860," examines the migrations of the diverse people who traveled the river system, illustrating how America's multicultural population interacted on a daily basis to shape new legal and labor norms. 

Gervase's exploration of this subject has taken her to several state and university archives. Louisville's river location led her to The Filson to use diaries, family letters and other sources in the society's collections. These sources provided voyagers' first-hand descriptions of river travel, even comparisons of different steamboats and suggestions of which ones to avoid. "These examples show how steamboat travel was a regular part of life, just like how riding buses is a common form of transportation for us," she commented.

Gervase complimented the organization and cataloging of The Filson's collections, which made her research easier: "Archivists here have asked the same questions that I'm asking. This has been one of the best research experiences I've had thus far." 

The Filson Historical Society
1310 South Third Street - Louisville, KY 40208
Phone: (502) 635-5083 Fax: (502) 635-5086