MORE GOOD READING

July 21, 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run.  Therefore, this past week we continued to look at Bullis books on the subject of the Civil War.  We focused on the four listed below because they represent a variety of view points...youth, men, women, Union, and Confederate. Here they are for your reference...and interesting reading.

1. Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, published by the G.P.O. in 1863.

2. A Youth's History of the Great Civil War in the United States, from 1861 to 1865, (with illustrations) by R. G. Horton, published by Van Evrie, Horton & Co. in 1868.

3. Life in Dixie During the War, 1861-1862-1863-1864-1865, by Mary A. H. Gay, published by The Foote & Davies Co. in 1894.

4. Four Years in Secessia: Adventures within and beyond the Union lines: embracing a great variety of facts, incidents, and romance of the war..., by Junius Henri Browne, published by O.D. Case and Company in 1865. (Dedication: "To the private soldiers of the union, the unrecorded and fameless heroes of the war, who deserve the eternal gratitude of the republic they have preserved, this unpretending volume is admiringly inscribed.")

5. The American Conflict: a history of the great rebellion in the United States of America, 1860-'64;.... 
by Horace Greeley, published by O.D. Case & Company in 1865-66. ("...illustrated by portraits on steel of generals, statesmen, and other eminent men; views of places of historic interest; maps, diagrams of battlefields, naval actions, etc.; from official sources")

6. War Pictures from the South, by Bela Estvan, published by D. Appleton and Co. in 1863.

Most of these books can be accessed on line. As always, you're also invited to stop by the Bullis Room to take a look at the real thing.

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the war between the states, and we volunteers will be devoting a good chunk of time looking at books in the collection that cover this subject.

We'll also review John Lapham Bullis's papers that pertain to his experiences in the Civil War, and we'll post accounts of some of his experiences as well as his personal reactions.

So if you're researching this war, be sure to check this blog regularly for book lists and accounts of a young soldier's experience in this conflict between the states.

BOOKS ABOUT HOUSES

The Bullis Room contains several books about houses and house construction.  A recent visitor called our attention to one of these: Architecture of Country Houses, including Designs for Cottages, Farm Houses and Villas, by A. J Downing (copyright 1850, published by D. Appleton & Co., NY and Philadelphia).

What a neat book! (We're forever grateful to this visitor.) It delivers what the title says: plans for various types of houses that could be ordered in a kit, ready to assemble. The drawings are extraordinary;  the descriptions and instructions, an interesting read.

This is another book in the collection that can be accessed online. (Try books.google.com) Viewing the book this way gives fast, convenient, at-your-leisure access--which we all like in this fast-moving world of ours.

Viewing the book in the Bullis Room gives a period ambience, non-glare reading, and volunteers ready to help in any way. Please stop by sometime.

BOOK REVIEW WINNERS

We will announce the winning contestants from the two categories - "Over 18 years old" and "18 and under" - next Friday, August 27, and post the names on this blog.

We hope that all contestants enjoyed reading and reviewing their book choices. We volunteers had fun choosing the list of books to be included, and we also enjoyed reading (or in come cases, reading again) all of the books that were reviewed. 

So be sure to check our post next week, to see who wrote the winning reviews. (And no, we won't reveal the names ahead of time!)

CONTEST SIGN-UP

We're here in the Bullis Room, waiting for you to stop by and choose your book to read and review for the Bullis Book Review Contest. Wonder what the book choices are. Here are some of the titles you can choose from:

Juvenile: The Adventures of Mr. Mocker; The Cruise of the Snark; Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights; Hans Brinker; The Jungle Book; The Heroism of Hannah Duston.

Adult: The Deer Slayer; The Exile; The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson; Typee; Four Years in the White North; In Darkest Africa; The New ElDorado; Sailing the Seas-The Log of the Tom Darke.

There are complete lists on the contest display by the front desk that you can look through. Or stop by and see us today, 11 AM through 5 PM and tomorrow from 11 to 3 PM (or make an appointment with June Hamell, 315-986-5932, Ext. 119).

BACK TO SCHOOL

A list of 2009 school supplies may be longer than a list from the early 20th century, but it still includes some standard #2 pencils, which is what 15-year-old Charles R. Bullis probably used when he wrote this essay in 1906. And it also contains an element of that familiar assignment, “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” We hope you enjoy it.

How I tried to make a Steam Engine

Last summer I was much interested in trying to make a little steam engine. I used a baking powder can cover fitted into a shoe blacking box which I intended to solder together for the boiler and a thirty two caliber cartridge in which I filed a hole near each end for the piston cylinder For the steam valve I found some solder which I melted and with much difficulty molde into the proper shape and filed smooth. I used a piece of a bicycle spoke with screwerheads on the end so that two pieces of metal could be screwed up together and hold packind to prevent steam leakage. The plug is the open end of the cartridge through which the piston rod passes I made of two pieces of lead one to screw into the other so as to hold packing. I molded the ballance wheel of lead and filed an exceentric on it but when I melted my remaining solder which I intended should hold the parts in place I fit it into the fire. I then tried babbit metal but it bubbled and was no good for so slender a casting and as I did not have any more time before school commenced I did not finish it. Sometime when I have time I will finish it and see if it will run. It is to have a safety valve but no governor.

Charles R. Bullis, A thursday lesson from page 14 in the rhetoric

Good

PICTURESQUE AMERICA

Windmill, opposite Detroit (page 545)







Open Volume 1 or 2 of PICTURESQUE AMERICA and take a pictorial-text tour of our country through their more than 700 pages.

These volumes are subtitled The Land We Live In, A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, water-falls, shores, canons, valleys, cities, and other picturesque features of our country with illustrations on Steel and Wood, by Eminent American Artists. They were published in New York by D. Appleton & Co. in 1872 and were edited by William Cullen Bryant.

Mr. Bryant wrote in the Preface: “It is the design of this publication entitled “PICTURESQUE AMERICA” to present full descriptions and elaborate pictorial delineations of the scenery characteristic of all the different parts of our country.” Looking through both volumes here in the Bullis Room convinced us that the descriptions truly are full and the pictorial delineations, elaborate.

These volumes are a "must see." We're hoping you'll stop by the next time you're in the library and take their tour.

(If you have thoughts or questions about any of our postings, we'd love to hear from you. Just click "comment" below.)

ANOTHER ART OF COMMUNICATION

Last week we turned our thoughts to written communication; this week, to oral communication.

How often do we take or make time to converse with someone? To have an indepth conversation about a specific topic. Or a rambling talk about this and that. Something more than a “How’s it going? Good. Yeah, things are okay with me, too. See ya” kind of chat. People who lived a century ago would not have been satisfied with that kind of exchange, for conversation was not only a way to communicate; it was a source of entertainment in their world void of radio and television.

Abram Bullis, Nettie’s father, must have been an avid conversationalist. Once his wife Josephine sent Abram to town to buy kerosene. He started talking to people downtown and returned home empty handed. Josephine sent him back and he again returned without the kerosene. He had gotten involved a second time in talking to people and forgotten his task! Now that is true conversation; being so caught up in talking, listening, and thinking about what was said that you put all other thoughts completely out of your mind.

Where did Nettie’s father get this gift of gab? Perhaps it was an inherited trait. Or perhaps he was motivated by books he had read. We’ve found two books on the shelves here in the Bullis Room on that topic. First, there’s THE ART OF EXTEMPORE SPEAKING: hints for the pulpit, the senate and the bar by Louis Bautain. It was published in 1898 and Abram may have purchased and read it. The other book, author William Elder’s PERISCOPICS: or, Current subjects extemporaneously treated, was published in 1854 and has a sticker on the inside front cover that reads, “Library of Abram R. Bullis.” When he read this collection of articles, we surmise that he paid special attention to a section that describes Frederick Douglas’s great speaking skills and took note of Mr. Douglas’s methods.

We’re adding both of these books to our reading list. Perhaps they will motivate us to take time for a real conversation now and then. They are on shelves W-1 and G-3, respectively.

VOLUNTEERING

Ever wonder what it takes to keep a collection of unique books organized, usable, and available? Lots of stuff.
Here's some of the things that happen during a typical week here in the Bullis Room:

dusting
organizing files and documents
shelf reading
cataloging materials
maintaining the database
repairing books and materials
planning outreach
maintaining display case
researching
interpreting materials
planning publicity
transcribing account books and diaries
evaluating materials
numbering documents
cross-referencing ephemera in books and on data base

AND (equally important)

sitting at the round table or in one of these soft chairs, enjoying a book or some of the fascinating maps, diaries, and other documents that make up this collection.

The Bullis Collection cannot be maintained without the dedicated volunteers who donate their time and talents to its well-being. Come to think of it, that's true for our community...and country...and this world in which we live. Thank you, Volunteers, everywhere, for all you do and for just being there.

IN MEMORY OF...

...THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR US.

In Flanders Fields
by Lt. Col. John McCrae (1872-1918)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)



Local folks often recall the lush poppies Charlie Bullis grew in his garden. As he planted and tended these red symbols of sacrifice, could he have been remembering his comrades who died in World War I? We'll never know Charlie's reason for his choice of flowers, but it seems appropriate to us today.

When we make our traditional poppy purchases this weekend, let's remember Charlie Bullis, his WWI comrades and all those before and after who made that supreme sacrifice.

MIDWINTER WISH BOOKS

As the snow drifts grew higher in January and mid-February, visions of summer's blossoms danced in our heads. The colorful flower illustrations found in those wish books that arrived after the first of the year reassured us that warm days would come again, melt away the snow, and awaken dormant plants from their long winter's nap.

Nettie and her brother Charles, who saved some of their gardening catalogs, must have carefully poured over each page, looking at the new cultivars offered each year and then sending orders off to Burpee, Lovett or Vaughan. Dates on these catalogs in the collection indicate that this horticulture fascination went back to earlier members of the Bullis family as well, even before Nettie and Charlie were old enough to wield a hoe and shovel.

For example, from 1896 there are copies of DREER'S AUTUMN CATALOGUE and LOVETT'S GUIDE TO HORTICULTURE. Vaughan's colorful 1933 GARDENING ILLUSTRATED is preserved in our file along with copies of Peter Henderson & Company's 1896, 1916, and 1933 publications, which offered "seeds, bulbs, plants, roots, implements, sundries," all illustrated in black and white as well as color. Burpee's 1917 publication offered similar stock to the public and even enclosed in their catalog an "Application for Domestic Money Order" for the customer's convenience in remitting the amount due.

Those of you who enjoyed Charlie's garden on Canandaigua Road for many, many years were privileged to see the results of his catalog purchases as well as his expertise in producing his own cultivars. Today, it's our responsibility to carry on the local tradition, started by the Bullis family and other Macedon pioneering families, of leafing through garden catalogs (or scanning online versions) and placing orders (using credit cards instead of money orders). Then, like Charlie and Nettie, we sit back and wait for Memorial Day weekend to begin the process of turning our wishes into reality.

BOOK REPAIR

This week several Bullis Room volunteers met to repair books with missing or loose boards(aka "covers"). To accomplish this, here's what we did:

1. We arranged for an expert in book repair to instruct and guide us. This is essential, unless you are knowledgeable and experienced in this area.

2. Next, we assembled the supplies and materials needed: white glue, scissors, cork-backed rulers, pencils, sharp knife, wax paper, paper towels, binder's board, crash (a stiff cheesecloth material), craft paper, head bands, cloth or leather for covering the new boards, and paper for end sheets. These items can be purchased at art and discount stores or book binding supply houses.

3. Prior to our session, we measured the books to be repaired and cut the replacement parts out of the new materials.

4. With books and supplies organized on a large work table, we then carefully listened to and followed the expert's instructions, as she patiently guided us through the process. (Please take note of the word "patiently.")

The results were books with new endsheets and boards, securely bound together with the text block. Hurray! We hope to give this same TLC to other books in the collection that are showing signs of aging.


Note: if you're interested in repairing your own books, we suggest you contact your local book-repair expert or use your favorite search engine to locate illustrated instructions on the web. Good Luck.