H. Graham Wood manuscript collection

H. Graham Wood (1910-1998) was a steamboat enthusiast who was devoted to documenting those that operated on the Chesapeake Bay. Wood was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland and lived in the Roland Park neighborhood almost his entire life. He attended the Gilman School and Johns Hopkins University. After he completed his law degree at the University of Maryland, he went to work as a trust officer at the First National Bank of Maryland, where he worked until his retirement in 1975. He married Clara Gertrude Beecher in 1939 and had two children, Robert G. Wood and Virginia Wood (Delauney). After the death of Gertrude, he married Florence Tottle Frey in 1977.

In his spare time, Wood studied steamboats. He had become interested in their history and mechanics after witnessing the burning of the “Three Rivers” as a teenager in 1924 from aboard the “Middlesex,” which helped rescue passengers from the burning boat. His passion led him to join the Steamship Historical Society of America, for which he served as treasurer from 1951 to 1999, and the Maritime Committee of the Maryland Historical Society. He also helped found the Roland Park Little League in 1952 and played baseball, softball, and basketball into his 50’s. He was also involved with the Johns Hopkins and Elkridge Clubs.