Louis C. Hunter (1898 – 1984) was a professor of economic history at American University. His most famous work, Steamboats on the Western Rivers, an Economic and Technological History, was published in 1949.^[1]

Hunter grew up in a steamboat culture as he spent his first eighteen years living on the banks of the Ohio River, at Wellsburg, West Virginia, and the Mississippi River, at Moline, Illinois.^[2] After studying engineering and economic history at Harvard University, he received a doctorate in 1928.^[2] For the next twenty years, Hunter was engaged in research for Steamboats on the Western Rivers.^[2] In 1952, his scholarship was acknowledged when he was awarded the Dunning Prize by the American Historical Association.^[2]

In 1937, Hunter joined the faculty of American University where he was a professor of history until his retirement in 1966.^[2][3] In 1979, the first volume of his trilogy, A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1780-1930, was published.^[2] In 1983, Dr. Hunter was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Medal by the Society of History of Technology.^[2]

Hunter was married and the father of two daughters.^[2] Louis C. Hunter died on March 22, 1984.^[2]