author

Hazel Yearsley Shaw

A historian of the early American West, she is known for a close-grained study of how the Ohio River shaped movement, trade, and town growth. Her work turns boats, cargo, and river travel into a vivid picture of a changing frontier.

1 Audiobook

The Ohio River Trade, 1788-1830

The Ohio River Trade, 1788-1830

by Hazel Yearsley Shaw

About the author

Hazel Yearsley Shaw is known for The Ohio River Trade, 1788-1830, a study of commerce and migration in the Ohio Valley. The surviving records found here identify it as a master's thesis submitted to the University of Illinois in 1908, and later made widely available through Project Gutenberg.

Her book focuses on the Ohio River as a main route of immigration and trade in the early American West. It traces the shift from canoes and pirogues to flatboats, barges, and steamboats, showing a strong interest in the practical details of transport as well as the bigger story of regional growth.

A few later University of Illinois sources also suggest Shaw was connected with the university beyond her thesis years: one text thanks “Miss Hazel Yearsley Shaw” for help with references, and a 1944 university library handbook lists a Miss Hazel Yearsley Shaw as librarian of the Sociology Reading Room. I can't confirm from the sources here that these references all point to the same person, but they suggest a continuing academic and library-world connection.