Bruce,
Yes, they do have an impressive collection--I've looked at their website--The Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library (est. 1985) is a special library within the St. Louis Mercantile Library. Not only do they have a wealth of information on the boats, but also on the officers and others who worked aboard them. That makes it particularly interesting and useful for genealogists as well as historians. They also maintain files of the weekly "Waterways Journal" which has many interesting and well-written articles about Missouri River boats. I should stress that their collections are NOT strictly Missouri River stuff, but include much about the Mississippi and Ohio R. boats.

So far I haven't had the time to get over there--especially since I KNOW it would take a few days at least to get through it all, and once I'm there, I won't want to leave until I go through EVERYTHING! They have all the old registration lists, licenses, etc., along with some boat "logs" (records of their trips) which give much detail. Hopefully, one of these days, when I RETIRE I can spend some time there, as well as the Western Historical Manuscript Collection in both Columbia (at MU's Ellis Library) and in Kansas City (main downtown library--Missouri River room).

An interesting side-light, and to keep this in line with Civil War topics: During the Civil War, every boat owner, captain and crew member who continued to work the Missouri River was required to take the "oath of loyalty". Many boat owners with Southern sympathies took their boats to rivers in the South to keep them from being comandeered for service by the Union military. Boats and cargoes were confiscated by both sides, and numerous boats were burned to keep them from falling into enemy hands. Commerce on the rivers was totally disrupted, and most of the steamers operating on the lower Missouri were either transporting troops or supplies for the Government. In 1862, gold was discovered in the upper Missouri area, and provided a boom for traffic to Fort Benton, Montana, the head of navigation on the Missouri. Fort Benton prides itself on being the "world's innermost port", roughly 3,000 miles by water from the Gulf of Mexico.

One source of boat info you haven't mentioned is a website administered by a gentleman in Kansas City-- www.riverboatdaves.com
There is a lot of information on that site, but a word of caution, I've found errors. Still, it is worthy of mention because of the amount of work it has taken to put it together. www.steamboats.com is a website administered by a lady in Arizona (of all places!) whose father was associated with the Delta Queen. She has put together a list of links to other steamboat sites.

Thanks for the help.
Maggie
steamboatgranny@yahoo.com