Claire (Koch) Tholl (1926-1995) was a professional naval draftsman, cartographer, architectural historian, and prolific author. She was born 05 March 1926 in Hackensack, New Jersey to Edward Albert (1898-1971) and Lizette J. (Ruchmick) Koch (1900-1980). She married Edward W. Tholl (1921-1967) 10 May 1947 in New York City. The couple had four children: Lisanne, Andrea, Robert, and James.
Educated in engineering and naval designing at Stevens Institute of Technology, she earned an architecture degree from Cooper Union in 1947. She worked as a draftsman during World War II at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida. She was hired as draftsman at Sparkman and Stephens after the war.
She was an early member of the Steamship Historical Society of America to remain connected to her lifelong passion for ship history, particularly the Hudson River Day Line. A passion likely influenced early in life by ocean liner travel with her parents as a child. She sailed March 1936 on the Monarch of Bermuda and in February 1937 on Prince Henry. The U.S.S. Ling Submarine in Hackensack, New Jersey earned a place on the Register of Historic Places in 1978 because of her research.
While raising her family in the 1950's and 60's, she worked freelance, developing skills as a technical illustrator, cartographer, and architectural photographer. The Hackensack, New Jersey local paper The Record featured her in an article titled "Housewife Historian" yet failed to credit her education, professional experience, artistic talent, and drive for historic preservation. Her survey work between 1979 - 1980 ensured the preservation of more than 200 New Jersey stone houses. Bergen County Historical Society created the trustee emeritus title specifically for her. Rockland County recognized her as Woman of the Year for her cartography work.
She described researching the past as "fantastic" and "exciting". If Mrs. Tholl's accomplishments as an architect, cartographer, author, and preservationist didn't illustrate a passion for historic preservation, her final wish certainly did: "In lieu of flowers, please make donations to a Historical Society of your choice".
This collection is available to the public by appointment at the Steamship Historical Society. Materials 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.
Claire (Koch) Tholl Maritime Collection, Steamship Historical Society of America Archives, www.sshsa.org.
This collection comprises transparency slides, photos, clothing, published works, and ephemera related to the history of the Hudson River, New York passenger steamships, collected by Claire (Koch) Tholl. This collection focuses primarily on the Hudson River Day Line, with additional ephemera from the Circle Day Line and Keansburg Steamship Company. A notable piece is a research notebook written by Tholl about the Hudson River Day Line.
Claire (Koch) Tholl's collection of objects range from crew attire to souvenirs celebrating the history of Hudson River steamboat travel, with a heavy focus on the Hudson River Day Line. Ephemera collected by Claire (Koch) Tholl includes photo albums, posters, and general ephemera documenting the history of steamships with a particular focus on the Hudson River Day Line. A collection of over 650 color slides of steamships, maps, bridges, and trips taken by Claire (Koch) Tholl. In addition, the collection was augmented with a purchased 50 color slide presentation "Operation Sail 1976" which depicts the tall ships. The purchased slides are marked OP SAIL '76. The majority of the collection is organized by ship name.
Claire (Koch) Tholl's collection was donated to the SSHSA collection by her son, Robert, after her death. A deed of gift was signed by Mr. Tholl in February 1998.
The Hudson River Maritime Museum holds a collection of her postcards and photos. Digitized images are available on their history blog https://www.hrmm.org/history-blog/claire-k-tholl-hudson-river-collection-on-new-york-heritage-website.
Reprints of her maps are still available for purchase at the Mahwah Museum https://mahwahmuseum.org/product/the-maps-of-claire-k-tholl/.