Robert Emmett McDowell Research Collection, 1950-1975
Collection held by the Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Creator: McDowell, Robert Emmett, 1914-1975
Title: Research Collection, 1950-1975
Rights: To the extent that they own copyright, the donor transferred their copyright in the collection to the Filson Historical Society. Copyright in other materials in the collection may be held by their creator, or the creator’s heirs or assigns. Contact the Collections Department at gro.l1763524580aciro1763524580tsihn1763524580oslif1763524580@hcra1763524580eser1763524580 for more information.
Size of Collection: 3 cubic feet
Locator Number Mss. A M138c
Finding aid created by: Filson Staff and updated by Jennie Cole
Date finding aid last updated: October 2025
Scope and Content Note
Robert Emmett McDowell’s research collection on Daniel Boone includes primary and secondary sources regarding Boone’s life in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky. Primary sources consist of photocopies and photographic copies from institutions such as the Canadian Archive, the Huntington Library, the Southern Historical Society, The Filson Club Historical Society, and various university libraries and research collections throughout Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Missouri. Secondary sources include copies of scholarly articles, newspaper and magazine stories, and other miscellaneous publications.
Collection also includes McDowell’s correspondence with various research institutions regarding material they may have on Daniel Boone; and a small filing cabinet with his note made from court records, other primary sources, and secondary sources. Two additional filing drawers include notes from his research on salt licks and salt works in Bullitt and Jefferson counties in Kentucky. Two additional boxes of note cards include notes made from the Draper Manuscripts, specifically from the George Michael Bedinger Papers (Series A), Draper’s Life of Boone (Series B) and the Daniel Boone Papers (Series C), and additional notes on depositions from the Clark County Courthouse in Winchester, Kentucky.
Biographical Note
From the Filson Club History Quarterly, April 1975: Robert Emmett McDowell, Sr., Editor of the Filson, died Saturday, March 29, 1975 in Louisville. Born in Sentinel, Oklahoma, April 5, 1914, the son of Robert Chester McDowell and Alice Lucile McDowell, Mr. McDowell’s roots lay deep in Kentucky. His great, great, great grandfather, John McDowell, was a pioneer settler of Bullitt County and married a daughter of John Burks, a settler at Floyd’s Station in Jefferson County. Their son, John McDowell, Jr., married Matilda Standiford, and was the father of James Burks McDowell, who served in the 1st Kentucky Cavalry, C.S.A. This background, tied so closely to Kentucky’s past, provided Bob McDowell with a natural interest in the pioneer and Civil War history of the Commonwealth. Robert E. McDowell was educated at du Pont Manual High School and the University of Louisville. During World War II he served in the Merchant Marine, seeing much of Europe and North Africa in the process. It was at this time that he sold his first short story and upon completion of his military duty he became a free lance writer.
During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, he devoted himself to writing short stories and brief novels for national magazines. In the next decade he wrote many mystery novels, several of which were issued in foreign translations. In 1964, Tidewater Sprig, an historical novel set at the Bullitt’s Lick Saltworks, appeared and proved popular. During the years 1963 through 1965 his outdoor drama Home is the Hunter was produced in Harrodsburg, stimulating much discussion on the life of Daniel Boone. Mr. McDowell’s contributions to state history include City of Conflict, a history of Louisville in the Civil War, printed in 1962; Rediscovering Kentucky, a tour guide issued by the Kentucky Department of Parks in 1971; his excellent article on “Bullitt’s Lick, The Related Saltworks and Settlements,” in the July 1956 issue of The Filson Club History Quarterly, and his lead article in the 1974 Kentucky issue of Antiques Magazine.
In addition, he was a frequent contributor to the Courier-Journal Magazine and to the Louisville Magazine. Robert E. McDowell became a Filson member in May 1956. He served on the Board of Directors of the Club from 1962 to 1964 and again from 1968 to 1970. In 1971 he was named Managing Editor of The Filson Club History Quarterly, becoming Editor of Publications in 1973. As Editor he carried out several improvements in the Quarterly and increased its scholarly standing.
McDowell was married to Audrea Adams and had a son, Robert Emmett McDowell III.
Folder Listing
Folder 1: Daniel Boone Sources – Huntington library, San Marino, California
Folder 2: Boone Material – Excerpts
Folder 3: Boone Family Research Associa1ion of Missouri
Folder 4: Daniel Boone Sources – Davie Co. Public library, Mocksville, North Carolina
Folder 5: Daniel Boone Sources – Virginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia
Folder 6: Boone Prospectus and Sources
Folder 7: Boone Prospectus
Folder 8: Daniel Boone Sources – Filson Club Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Folder 9: Daniel Boone Sources – Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Folder 10: Daniel Boone – Correspondence with universities and historical societies
Folder 1. Daniel Boone – Miscellaneous Data
Folder 12: Daniel Boone Sources – Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky
Folder 13: Daniel Boone Article – Harpers 1862
Folder 14: Daniel Boone Biography – Working
Folder 15: Squire Boone -Miscellaneous Data
Folder 16: Daniel Boone Sources – Frankfort, Kentucky
Folder 17: Boone Family Association of Washington (state)
Folder 18: Daniel Boone – Miscellaneous Data
Folder 19: Daniel Boone Sources – Bourbon County, Kentucky
Folder 20: Daniel Boone – Miscellaneous Data
Folder 21: Daniel Boone Sources – Washington and Lee College, Lexington, Virginia
Folder 22: Daniel Boone Sources – West Virginia
Folder 23: Daniel Boone – Portraits and illustrations
Folder 24: Kent Ladd Steckmesser “The Hero of the American West in History and Legend”
Folder 25: Daniel Boone Sources – Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Folder 26: Daniel Boone – Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
Folder 27: Daniel Boone – Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
Folder 28: Daniel Boone Sources – University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Folder 29: Daniel Boone References -Filson Club Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Folder 30: Daniel Boone Sources – Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri
Folder 31: Kentucky Pioneer Ecology
Folder 32: Daniel Boone Sources – Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts
Folder 33: Daniel Boone Sources – Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky
Folder 34: Daniel Boone Sources – Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky
Folder 35: Daniel Boone Sources – North Carolina State Archive, Raleigh, North Carolina
Folder 36: Daniel Boone Sources – Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania
Folder 37: Daniel Boone Sources – Salisbury, North Carolina
Folder 38: Daniel Boone Sources – New York Public Library
Folder 39: Daniel Boone Sources – University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Folder 40: Bullitt County, Kentucky – Salt Works and Roads
Folder 41: Book Review: Jane Clemens by Rachel Varble
Folder 42: Edward Pendergast Application for Pension
Folder 43: Depositions of Benjamin Johnston
Folder 44: Colonel John Floyd
Folder 45: McDowell Correspondence with C. H. Hudson
Folder 46: Long Run
Folder 47: Eight Mile House, Shelbyville Road
Folder 48: Richard Chenoweth
Folder 49: James Francis Moore
Folder 50: William Christian
Folder 51: SKIPPED
Drawer 52: Notes on Bullitt County and Jefferson County, Stations, Saltworks, etc.
Drawer 53: Biographical notes on various pioneers, arranged by surname
Drawer 54: Notes on Daniel Boone
Drawer 55: Notes on Daniel Boone, John Floyd, and George Rogers Clark
File Box 56: Notes on Draper Manuscripts
File Box 57: Notes on Draper Manuscripts and Clark County, Kentucky Court house depositions