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.

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!)