Historical Reading

Oh, what to post on today - walked into the Bullis Room, pulled a book off the shelf and said - - yes.
This little book is titled The historical reader designed for the use of schools and families on a new plan by Rev. J. L. Blake.  The quote on the title page is "History serves to amuse the imagination; to interest the passions; to improve the understanding; and to strengthen the sentiments of virtue and piety."  This was a book owned by A. R. Bullis and probably used in the late 1800's, possibly early 1900's.  It was published in 1825 originally with this copy being printed in 1832.  This book covers Biblical history, Greek and Roman history, Islamic history, European history and U.S. History.  Each page has questions at the bottom of it - What was the character of Cleopatra?; What did Luther do with this bull of excommunication?; What anecdote is related of Edward the black prince, to illustrate the advantages of chivalry?; Who promoted the courts of Inquisition in Spain?; By whom, and for what reason did Providence receive its name?; When was the Battle of Erie?; What was the motto on Commodore Perry's union jack?; When did Bonaparte enter Moscow?; and the list goes on.  I would expect that the answers to these questions would stimulate our imaginations, interest us in learning more, improve our understanding and help us to see what is right and what is wrong.  It's an intriguing book - one that I would rather read than peruse. 

War of 1812

Yesterday we received notice of a Bicentennial Symposium on the War of 1812 in Oswego NY .  And we started wondering what materials we might have in the Bullis Book Collection that were on that topic.  To our surprise there were several.  They will be on display in our Bullis display case.  One of them includes the transcript of Major-General James Wilkinson's trial on charges of neglect of duty and unofficer-like conduct.  He has included that in his 3 volume Memoirs of my own times.  Another is Thomas Wilson's The Biography of American Military and Naval Heroes.  In this little two volume set you will find the biography of the "Hero of Lake Erie", Captain Oliver Hazard Perry.  Theodore Roosevelt has written two volumes titled The Naval War of 1812.  Willis J. Abbot has a wonderful book titled The Naval History of the United States with 150 illustrations.  The above photo is from that book. Lieut.-General Winfield Scott had a long military career which is written about in Mansfield's The Life and Military Services of Lieut.-General Winfield Scot.  There's a great drawing of him tearing down the British flag at Fort George.  In Lossing's A Centennial Edition of the History of the United States(1876) we have an engraving of Perry on Lake Erie.  In another of Lossing's books, The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812 (1868), we find more info on Major-General James Wilkinson , lots of engravings, and good information.  In another book, Mastery Units in American History (1936) by Maurice B. Rovner, we find a really concise explanation of the War of 1812.  We also found that the student who owned this book had class on Monday morning and that "Washington said to stay out of all permanent alliances" (a pencil notation on the title page.)  A tourism book by Silliman, A Gallop Among American Scenery (1881), takes us to the Battle of Lundy's Lane.  It appears that General Scott was there.
 So if you would care to visit these will all be on display, along with the invitation to the Symposium and "The War of 1812: A Bicentennial Resource List" by Preston Pierce, the Regional Archivist for the Rochester (NY) Regional Library Council.