THE VILLAGE READER

September is back-to-school month here in upstate New York, so this week we’re focusing on a book in the collection that was used by educators and students more than 170 years ago. This was back in the days when there were no electronic “gizmos” to rely on—when students recorded their work on slates with that white stuff called chalk,  and primary readers were called primers. Does this bring you a touch of nostalgia? If so, stop by the Bullis Room and ask to take a look at:

The Village Reader: designed for the use of schools

By the compilers of

The Easy Primer, Child’s Guide, and Intelligent Reader

This book, published by G. & C. Merriam in 1841, has 300 pages of reading instruction that includes rules for punctuation, and rules for reading aloud. The daily exercises include tales, short essays, and general instruction as well as grammar drills.

So if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by today’s high-tech world, we suggest you take a break, spend some time with The Village Reader, and for a few minutes experience what school life was like a century and a half ago.

CHECKERS

Sooo - you may be wondering what Bullis volunteers did this week. Well, for one thing. we searched the database for books on the subject of "checkers."

And why would we be interested in that subject? Because we've seen various references to the Richard M. Nixon "Checkers" speech that he made on live television on this date 60 years ago. And we just wondered ... Is there anything in the collection about this political speech? ...  And is there anything else about "checkers?"

No to the first question; yes to the last.  There are two books about the game, and for those of you who play the checkers - or cheer on those who do - here they are for your reading enjoyment:

1. International Match. Complete Record of the (checker) games played between players of Great Britain and the United States, Boston, March 14th to 25th, 1905. This volume was published by Angel Guardian Press in 1906.

2. Complete Record of the Games Played in the First American Tourney: March 18th to 24th, 1907, at Boston, Mass. Angel Guardian Press also published this book in 1907.

We were on a roll, so next we did an internet search on checker tournaments,  to see what was currently going on. Know what? Lots of stuff. So if you're interested in checkers (the game), we suggest you stop by the Bullis Room to take a look at these two books; then find the nearest checker game, choose your color, and play.

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

On this date in 1814 Francis Scott Key was moved to write a poem after witnessing how an American flag flying over Maryland's Fort McHenry withstood a night of British bombardment during the War of 1812.  He wrote the first stanza of this poem "on the back of a letter he had in his pocket,"  author Robert Sears wrote in his book The Pictorial History of the American Revolution; with a sketch of the early history of the country...." (This book, published in 1846 by R. Sears, is in the Bullis Collection for your reference use.) A facsimile of the original manuscript of the first stanza of the "The Star-Spangled Banner" is included in the book.

Key initially titled his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry."  The morning after he wrote the poem, Key showed it to his uncle, who had copies printed and distributed in the Baltimore and Gay streets neighborhood. Later on, the words were set to the tune of a current popular song and (as they say) the rest is history.

Sears also wrote, "The Star-spanged Banner itself...that waved over Fort McHenry during that bombardment, is still in existence. I saw it at the house of Christopher Hughes Armistead (a son of the gallant defender of the fort) in Baltimore during the late Civil War. It had eleven holes in it, made there by the shot of the British during the bombardment."

As we looked through Sears' book this week, our national anthem took on new meaning for us. We hope you have the same experience.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

With less than two months remaining in this presidential election campaign, we searched the collection's data base for books on that subject. Here's one that covers the first 24 elections in our country:

A History of the Presidency, from 1788 to 1897,  written by Edward Stanwood and published in 1912 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

We tried to remember the 24 names of the people who made up that distinguished list, and resorted to an online search titled "presidents of the United States." In case you may have difficulty recalling all of them, here's the list (last names only ...  can you remember all of the first names?):

Washington (1989-1797), Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson,  Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Grant, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland (1893-1897)

The first chapter of this book covers the establishment of the electoral system and we learned some very interesting facts from scanning through those pages. For example, did you know that, in answer to the question "In how many persons should the executive power be vested?", "one voice was raised in favor of three, -- one to be chosen from the North, one from the Middle States, and one from the South." (pages 2-3). And we think our current system is complicated!?! 

So we suggest you stop by and give this book a few minutes of your time. It's informative and thought-provoking -  a good combination.

LOOKING BACK

It's Labor Day weekend once again - the end of summer holidays. For those of you who are feeling a bit of regret that another vacation season has passed, we offer you this photo of Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks as a way of easing that loss a bit.

We also suggest that you look back in this blog to these previous postings: October 23, 2008 and January 22, 2009.  These postings list Bullis books about the Adirondack area.

And please remember - there's always another season to enjoy the outdoors ... and the Bullis books. Volunteers are hoping to see you soon.