AMERICAN INVENTORS

Two hundred five years ago today, Robert Fulton's steamboat arrived in Albany, two days after leaving New York.  You can read more about Mr. Fulton's world-changing invention (and many more) in a book in this collection titled Inventors. Philip Gengembre Hubert wrote this book which was published in 1893 by C. Scribner's Sons as part of a Men of Achievement series. Its 299 pages contain illustrations, plates, and interesting information about  these American inventors:

Robert Fulton, Benjamin Franklin, Eli Whitney, Elias Howe, Samuel F. B. Morse, Charles Goodyear, John Ericsson, Cyrus Hall McCormick, Thomas A. Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell.

To further tempt you to take a look at this Bullis book, here's an excerpt that documents Robert Fulton's account of his voyage:

"My steamboat voyage to Albany and back, has turned out rather more favorable than I had calculated. The distance from New York to Albany is one hundred and fifty miles; I ran it up in thirty-two hours, and down in thirty. I had a light breeze against me the whole way, both going and coming, and the voyage has been performed wholly by the power of the steam engine. I overtook many sloops and schooners beating to windward, and parted with them as if they had been at anchor. The power of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved. The morning I left New York there were not, perhaps, thirty persons in the city who believed that the boat would even move one mile an hour, or be of the least utility; and while we were putting off from the wharf, which was crowded with spectators, I heard a number of sarcastic remarks. This is the way in which ignorant men comment what they call philosophers and projectors. Having employed much time, money, and zeal, in accomplishing this work, it gives me, as it will you, great pleasure to see it fully answer my expectations. It will give a cheap and quick conveyance to the merchandise on the Mississippi, Missouri, and other great rivers, which are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of our countrymen; and although the prospect of personal emolument has been some inducement to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleasure in reflecting on the immense advantage that my country will derive from the invention." (pp. 60-61)

This book is on our "to read" list - we suggest you consider putting it on yours.

CARS, CARS, and CARS

Our July 20 post focused on a Bullis book published in 1903 that chronicled a car trip through a portion of western United States. This week we dug around some more and came up with three more books about cars, and if you haven't stopped by the Bulis Room to take a closer look at The West from a Car Window, we hope that these other books will lure you in.

First, we found The Car That Went Abroad, Motoring Through the Golden Age,  written by Albert Bigelow Paine, illustrated from drawings by Walter Hale, and published in 1921 by Harper. "Abroad" means France, and looking at the list of places that automobile visited, it's tires barely had a chance to cool down from one side trip before it was on to the next.

Second, this book popped up on our search: By Camel and Car to the Peacock Throne by E. Alexander Powell, published in 1923 by Garden City Publishing Co.  What makes this book especially interesting to those of us in Upstate New York is that Mr. Powell was a native of Syracuse. He was born there in 1879 and was on the Syracuse Journal staff from 1898-1899.  At the beginning of World War I he was a war correspondent, and due to his neutral position was allowed on both sides of the battle lines. When the US entered the war in 1917, he was commissioned as a captain in US military intelligence. Following the war through1954, he had a successful career as an adventure and travel writer. This book is one of the 20 he wrote during that time. (Wikipedia, "E. Alexander Powell")

The third book we found is from a second-world-war timeframe: The Automobile User's Guide (with wartime suggestions on how to get the most out of your car and make it last longer : a practical operating manual for automobile owners and their families. General Motors Corporation authored and published this book in 1940. Although times and cars have changed in the last 72 years, there are still some good, practical ideas and lots of nostalgia between the covers of this book. 

There's still time for car trips this summer, and in between your travels, we hope you'll stop by and let us show you these interesting (and fun-to-read) books.

REACHING OUT

This week volunteers worked on reaching out to the local area in another way ... with an ad in the 30th annual Macedon Center Community Lumberjack Festival's booklet.  On September 8 (9 Am to 5 PM) and September 9 (11 AM to 5 PM), both professional and amateur lumberjacks will compete for prizes in a series of events that include log chopping, chain sawing, log rolling, tree felling, and greased pole climbing.

When festival goers open their ad booklets, they will find our announcement that tells them this collection has over 6000 items "to help you explore the World, the Sciences, the Past, and the Faiths from the perspective of Victoria era authors." Readers will also be encouraged to schedule a visit by calling the library at 315-986-5932 option 3.  We hope that many of them will do just that.

We've also included a reminder of the Bullis Room open house on November 10, 2012, from Noon to 3 PM, when area residents can bring their old photos of Macedon to scan into the Town Historian's digital archive of Macedon.

Our purpose in posting this information now is to get you to mark you calendars for the November 10 open house. But please don't wait until then to stop by the Bullis Room. Just call the number above and we'll gladly schedule some time for you to come in, peruse the shelves, choose some volumes to leisurely look through, and bask in the aroma and atmosphere of old books. (For free!)