George Van Winkle Kelly began working for the Hudson River Day Line as a teenager, probably starting when he was 14-16 years old. He worked as a coat room boy/man on the ALBANY for the 1926 and 1927 seasons, and either the ROBERT FULTON or ALEXANDER HAMILTON for the 1932 and 1933 seasons (accounts differ). After the Hudson River Day Line dissolved in 1948, Kelly became the Chairman of the Hudson River Day Line Alumni Association and helped plan alumni outings on the ALEXANDER HAMILTON, which was now operated by the Hudson River Day Line, Inc., in the 1960s. Kelly also served as a Trustee of the Steamer Alexander Hamilton Society, which was formed to save the former HRDL steamboat from sinking at the Navy pier in Sandy Hook Bay. In addition to staying active with the HRDL community, Kelly also got involved with the Steamship Historical Society of America, serving as the Advertising Manager of the society’s quarterly publication, Steamboat Bill, throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Kelly passed away in 1987.
This collection is available to the public by appointment at the Steamship Historical Society. Objects that are fragile, significant, or require additional tools to access may require archivist assistance.
Use, reproduction, and/or publication of archival material is prohibited without prior approval of the Steamship Historical Society. Fees and/or restrictions may apply. Please contact the SSHSA archivist, Astrid Drew, at adrew@sshsa.org for more information.
George Kelly Collection, Steamship Historical Society of America Archives, www.sshsa.org.
The George Kelly Collection comprises manuscripts, correspondences, photographs, and objects, primarily from Kelly's association with the Hudson River Day Line. This association included employment for the Day Line and further involvement with the company through the Hudson River Day Line Alumni group and the Steamer Alexander Hamilton Society. Notable items from the collection include two scrapbooks of clippings and photographs of Day Line crew and boats, meeting minutes from the Steamer Alexander Hamilton Society, correspondences about Kelly's publication Day Line Memories, and a variety of objects from Hudson River Day Line boats including the original emergency steam whistle from the WASHINGTON IRVING.
This collection is arranged in four main series.
This collection was originally partially accessioned by Astrid Drew in 2015 with an accession number 2015.01. In 2023, the SSHSA discovered donor paperwork that indicated that Kelly’s step-daughter had begun donating Kelly’s collection in 1991. A subsequent donation was made in 1994. The accession number for the George Kelly Collection has been updated to 1991.05.