Richard Gebhart was director of the White River Light Station lighthouse museum from 1975 to 1980. He has authored numerous articles of historical interest and essays for journals and newsletters of Great Lakes historical societies, as well as the book Ships and Shipwrecks: Stories from the Great Lakes.

"Richard Gebhart traces the Atlantic-bound voyages of Great Lakes ships, recovering the voices of long-ago ship captains, along with their cargo manifests and itineraries. Drawing on research in old newspapers and maritime archives, he traces the construction of new ships and shipyards, the comings and goings and travails of the lakes' workhorses, and makes a visit to a boneyard where many ships ended their lives. Among many other lost tales, Gebhart brings back to light the rise of oil tankers, marking the great twentieth-century energy transition in shipping"--