Book Notes
William McKinley: A Bibliography. By Lewis L. Gould and Craig H. Roell.
(Westport, Connecticut: Meckler
Corporation, 1988. xvi + 238p.; illustration,
chronology, bibliography, indexes.)
Published as part of Meckler's Bibliogra-
phies of the Presidents of the United States 1789-1989,
edited by Carol
Bondhus Fitzgerald, this book represents
the first attempt to assemble a
"comprehensive guide to
writing" on McKinley's life and his years in office.
In this ambitious series, Meckler Corporation
has undertaken publication of
comprehensive bibliographies-each volume
compiled and researched by
leading scholars and following a uniform
format-on every US president from
George Washington through Ronald Reagan.
Each bibliography will include
manuscript and archival resources,
monographs, articles and interviews,
selected newspaper coverage,
dissertations, conference papers, government
documents, illustrations, and extensive
indexes. If Gould and Roell's McKinley
bibliography is any guide, the series
will be an important addition to presiden-
tial scholarship.
Ohio Historical Society Laura Russell
Historic Sites and Markers Along the
Mormon and Other Great Western
Trails. By Stanley B. Kimball. (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1988. xviii
+ 320p.; illustrations, maps, appendix,
bibliography, index.) In this attractive
volume the author catalogs 550 historic
sites along 10,000 miles of emigrant
trails. Fifteen trails and their variants,
spanning the period from 1830-1869, are
described as they pass through fifteen
states from New York to California.
Included are some of the most famous
trails in American history, such as the
950 mile Sante Fe trail, which in 1987
was officially designated as a national
historic trail. The order of description
is based upon importance, geography,
and reader convenience. Because of the
strong interest in Mormon emigrant
history, nearly half of the sites in
Kimball's book refer to Mormons, Utah or
Salt Lake City. Not to be overlooked,
however, are the Mormon trails and
sites located in non-western states such
as New York, Ohio, Indiana, and
Missouri. Available in cloth or paper,
the volume is enhanced by 30 pages of
full-size maps depicting the routes of
the trails along with photographs of
selected markers, trail sites, and
geological landmarks. Examples of the latter
include Chimney Rock in Nebraska and
Picacho Peak in Arizona. Readers
interested in western history and
western migration patterns will find Kimball's
book a handy reference.
Ohio Historical Society Steve Gordon
Lima the history. By Eric Hirsimaki. (Edmonds, Washington: Hundman
Publishing, Inc., 1986. 351p.;
illustrations, roster.) Among railroaders, the
name "Lima" is synonymous with
the Lima Locomotive Works, maker of
distinctive Shay engines and developer
of modern super power steam locomo-
92 OHIO HISTORY
tives. This book was written to be THE
definitive history of the company
which helped put Lima, Ohio, on the
industrial map of the world. This book is
well written and well illustrated, and
it places Lima's corporate developments
and the design of its machinery-which
also included trucks, steam shovels,
and diesel locomotives-in perspective.
Highly recommended for anyone
interested in Ohio, business, or railroad
history.
Ohio Historical Society Richard V. Francaviglia
Summit Hill, The Balloon Route Over
The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton
Railroad. By Scott D. Trostel. (Fletcher, Ohio: Cam-Tech
Publishing, 1987.
54p.; illustrations.) The D T & I
line over Summit Hill was about as close as
one came to "mountain
railroading" in Ohio. This paperback book is unusual
in that it outlines the development and
demise of one relatively obscure,
wreck-plagued section of spectacular
railroad in Pike and Ross counties.
Trostel covers the period from the
line's inception in the 1870s as the
Springfield, Jackson & Pomeroy
(later the Springfield Southern) to its eventual
demise in 1981. This was part of
"Henry Ford's Railroad" in the 20th century.
Maps, historical and recent photographs,
and the recollections of railroad
workers bring life to this scenic but
troublesome piece of railroad. Recom-
mended for rail historians and railroad
enthusiasts.
Ohio Historical Society Richard V. Francaviglia
The Next Station Will Be .... An
Album of Photographs of Railroad Depots
in 1910. Volume IX: Salamanca, NY, to Marion, Ohio. Edited
by Wilson E.
Jones. (Livingston, New Jersey: The
Railroadians of America, 1987. 32p.;
illustrations.) By 1894, the great Erie
Railroad system extended from New
York to Chicago. This paperback book
consists of a series of briefly-captioned
photographs of the stations along a
portion of that line. The twenty-nine Ohio
stations from Youngstown to Marion are
included. The fact that all these
photographs were taken by a company
photographer during rather overcast
midwinter weather explains the rather
forlorn look of many of these station
scenes which depict a wealth of
architectural styles and trackside details. As
Marion was a major junction on this
system, the Ohio depots west (to Chicago)
and south (to Cincinnati) will be
covered in subsequent volumes. Highly
recommended for railroad and
architectural historians.
Ohio Historical Society Richard V. Francaviglia
The Beauty of Railroad Bridges in
North America. Then and Now. By
Richard J. Cook. (San Marino,
California: Golden West Books, 1987. 208p.;
illustrations, bibliography, index.) and
Iron Monuments to Distant Prosperity:
Indiana's Metal Bridges, 1870-1930. By James L. Cooper. (Greencastle,
Indiana: DePauw University, 1987. vii +
212p.; illustrations, notes.) With the
exception of covered wooden bridges,
interest in the history of highway
Book Notes 93
bridges has lagged behind that of
railroad bridges. Model railroaders, with their
all-encompassing fascination in
railroadiana, have ensured at least a small
audience for railroad bridge
engineering. More than thirty years ago a major
article on bridge history and design
appeared in a model railroad magazine.
Recent efforts to upgrade the
"crumbling infastructure" have by necessity
brought attention to historic highway
bridges. Major highway bridge replace-
ment programs have been preceded in
almost 30 states with historic bridge
surveys through the joint efforts of the
Federal Highway Administration, state
departments of transportation and state
historic preservation offices. Two
recent volumes provide an interesting
opportunity to compare the results of
these two divergent sources of bridge
scholarship.
As might be discerned from the title, The
Beauty of Railroad Bridges is a
layman's treatment of the topic, written
by a former photographer and chief of
publications with a railroad union.
Essentially a photographic history, it is
roughly arranged by bridge material and
type. Clearly its strength is the large
and handsomely reproduced photographs,
for the text is oddly organized and
at times too simplistic, in others,
simply inaccurate. Ohioans will be impressed
especially by the multiple views of Ohio
River structures.
A far more scholarly and precise
coverage of the topic is James L. Cooper's
Iron Monuments to Distant Prosperity.
It is the outgrowth of a comprehensive
survey of historic metal bridges in
Indiana sponsored by, among others, the
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
(where the preservation office is
located) and the Federal Highway
Administration. It is roughly divided into
two halves, the first providing an
interpretative context for the actual inventory
that comprises the second portion. The
latter is a comprehensive field guide to
more than 1700 metal spans on the
state's highways, railways and footpaths.
Even though Iron Monuments is
meant for the non-engineer, its level of detail
and tendency towards description will
discourage all but the most dedicated
buffs. Persistence will, nonetheless, be
rewarded since the volume contains a
wealth of information. Buckeyes
especially will be interested in the activities of
Ohio bridge builders discussed here.
The "ideal" bridge book lies
somewhere between these two, a photographic
essay and a fact-laden dissertation. The
visual appeal of Railroad Bridges must
be combined with the intellectual
substance of Iron Monuments.
Ohio Historical Society David A. Simmons
Johann Genning (1818-1898) and his
Descendants: A Toledo Family with
notes on the families of Rust, Gunn,
Kleinhans, Bruning, Holtgrieve, and
Nesper. By William Bart Saxbe, Jr. (Baltimore, Maryland:
Gateway Press,
1988. xi + 291p.; illustrations, index.)
William Bart Saxbe, Jr., says of his
book in the preface, "This book is
an attempt to retrieve from oblivion one
small family, a single drop in the human
tide of immigrants who created our
country. Like most, they were of humble
origin, poor, and illiterate. Like
most, they did well and 'got ahead.'
Their children and their children's children
married other families' children, so
that the thread of their story is now woven
into the common fabric of the
Republic." This comprehensive study traces
Johann Genning from his native Germany to America,
details his story within
the context of local and national
history, and then documents his family
94 OHIO HISTORY
through seven generations. It also
devotes a chapter each to the Rust, Gunn,
Kleinhans, Bruning, Holtgrieve, and
Nesper families, tracing their direct lines
from an immigrant ancestor to the
individual who married a Johann Genning
descendant. The volume is well
documented and indexed, and such details as
generational numbers and
cross-references in the index, captions, and text help
the reader to trace the many branches of
the Genning family tree. In addition,
Johann Genning (1818-1898) and his
Descendants contains interesting maps,
diagrams, and family photographs, which
add considerably to the personal,
social, and national histories being
detailed. Extremely thorough and clear,
Johann Genning (1818-1898) and his
Descendants is well done and is a
welcome addition to the genealogical
library.
Ohio Historical Society Laura A. Russell
Kinsmen Through Time: An Annotated
Bibliography of Potawatomi History.
By R. David Edmunds. (Metuchen, New
Jersey: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1987.
xviii + 217p.; index.) This annotated
bibliography represents the first extend-
ed bibliography focusing upon the Potawatomi
indian tribe. Compiled by R.
David Edmunds in his capacity as
honorary tribal historian for the Citizen
Band Potawatomis of Oklahoma, Kinsmen
Through Time contains most of the
recorded Potawatomis documents, leaving
out only the unrecorded stories of
oral tradition. This book should be an
invaluable guide to historians research-
ing the tribe's history as well as that
of the Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio,
Kentucky, Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri,
Kansas, and Oklahoma frontier.
Ohio Historical Society Laura A. Russell
The Young Mill-Wright and Miller's
Guide. By Oliver Evans. (Salem, New
Hampshire: Ayer Company, Publishers,
Inc., 1984. viii + 435p.; notes, tables,
illustrations, appendix.) Oliver Evans'
"improvements on the art of manufac-
turing grain into flour," developed
in the late-eighteenth century, were, more
than any other invention, responsible
for defining early American grist mill
technology. Happily, for modern students
of milling history, Evans published
his ideas in The Young Mill-Wright
and Miller's Guide" in 1795. It quickly
became the "bible" for millers
throughout the nation and went through
numerous editions well into the
nineteenth century. This is a reprint of the 1850
Lea & Blanchard edition which
included some editing by Thomas P. Jones, a
professor at the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia, and an additional descrip-
tion of "an improved merchant
flour-mill" by Evans and his son. The great
importance of this volume to
understanding the history of American milling
makes it a welcome complement to the
Ayer Company technology and society
series. One wishes, however, that the
reproduction quality of the numerous
plates of mill cross-sections and equipment
could have been better.
Ohio Historical Society David A. Simmons
Book Notes 95
Banners in the Air: The Eighth Ohio
Volunteers and the Spanish-American
War. By Curtis V. Hard. Edited by Robert H. Ferrell. (Kent,
Ohio: The Kent
State University Press, 1988. x + 147p.;
maps, illustrations, notes, index.)
This is an excellent, if brief, unit history written by
a man with a fine eye for
detail. Curtis V. Hard, colonel of the
Eighth Ohio Volunteer Regiment,
recounts the unit's experiences in our
Cuban adventure, from its mustering in
to mustering out. Day-to-day accounts of
events include encounters with
persons of renown such as Generals
William Shafter and Nelson Miles and
Ohio's own Charles Dick, and the
regiment's stay in Cuba which featured a
constant fight against unsanitary
conditions, malaria, and other illnesses.
Ohio Historical Society Robert L. Daugherty
New Providence: A Changing Cityscape.
Conceived by Renata von
Tscharner and Ronald Lee Fleming. (New
York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich,
1987. 31p.; illustrations.) This
delightful book is unusual in that it visually
portrays the landscape changes that
occur in the downtown area of a
hypothetical ("fictional". . .
but "truly authentic") small American city
dubbed New Providence in six time
sequences: 1910, 1935, 1955, 1970, 1980,
and 1987. All of the buildings and
objects illustrated are real, and a few are
from Ohio. The excellent, two-page
panorama color illustrations are reminis-
cent, in style, of those in the
wonderful Golden Books of childhood; each is
accompanied by a very brief text section
outlining the major changes charac-
terizing American townscapes in this
century. This book, by the Townscape
Institute, concludes on a positive note,
recognizing the contributions of
historic preservation and a growing
appreciation of smaller urban environ-
ments. New Providence provides
good lessons for children and adults who are
learning to see the American landscape.
Ohio Historical Society Richard V. Francaviglia
Several books recently received by Ohio
History which might be of interest
to our readers include:
Civil War Eyewitnesses: An Annotated
Bibliography of Books and Articles,
1955-1986. By Garold L. Cole. (Columbia: University of South
Carolina
Press, 1988. viii + 351p.; index.)
Hearth and Knapsack: The Ladley
Letters, 1857-1880. Edited by Carl M.
Becker and Ritchie Thomas. (Athens: Ohio
University Press/Swallow Press,
1988. xxiii + 414p.; maps,
illustrations, notes, appendices, index.)
Pathways to the Old Northwest: An
Observance of the Bicentennial of the
Northwest Ordinance. Proceedings of a
conference held at Franklin College
of Indiana July 10-11, 1987. (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1988.
xvi + 93p.; notes, index.)
The U.S.S. Wisconsin: A History of
Two Battleships. By Richard H.
Zeitlin.
(Madison: The State Historical Society
of Wisconsin, 1988. 55p.; illustra-
tions, notes.)
96 OHIO HISTORY
Keeping the Promise: A Pictorial
History of the Miami Conservancy District.
By Carl M. Becker and Patrick B. Nolan.
(Dayton, Ohio: Landfall Press,
1988. 208p.; illustrations, figures,
appendices.)
The First Description of Cincinnati
and Other Ohio Settlements: The Travel
Report of Johann Heckewelder (1792). Edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann.
(Lanham, Maryland: University Press of
America, 1988. vii + 71p.; notes.)
The Country Railroad Station in
America. By H. Roger Grant and Charles
W.
Bohi. (Sioux Falls, South Dakota: The
Center for Western Studies, 1988. iv
+ 192p.; illustrations, additional
reading list, index.) REPRINT EDITION.
Indiana's Favorite Sons, 1840-1940. By Ralph D. Gray. (Indianapolis: Indiana
Historical Society, 1988. 40p.;
illustrations, biographical sketches.)
The Streetcars and Interurbans of Old
Sandusky. By Glenn D. Everett.
(Rutland, Vermont: Academy Books, 1988.
95p.; illustrations.)
The Public Papers of Governor Simeon
Willis: 1943-1947. Edited by James C.
Klotter. (Lexington: The University
Press of Kentucky, 1988. xx + 403p.;
notes, appendix, index.)
Gateway to the WEST. Volume 1. Compiled by Ruth Bowers and Anita Short.
(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical
Publishing Co., Inc., 1989. xv + 972p.;
Adams-Licking county records, index.)
Gateway to the WEST. Volume 2. Compiled by Ruth Bowers and Anita Short.
(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical
Publishing Co., Inc., 1989. xiii + 999p.;
Logan-Wood county records, index.)
Challenges of the HOMESTEAD: Peace
River Letters of Clyde and Myrle
Campbell, 1919-1924. Edited by J. Gordon Moyles. (Alberta, Canada:
Historical Society of Alberta, 1988.
xiii + 337p.; illustrations, notes, index.)
Pioneering A Theology of Evolution:
Washington Gladden and Pierre Teilhard
De Chardin. By C. George Fry and Jon Paul Fry. (Lanham, Maryland:
University Press of America, 1989. viii
+ 26p.; references, index.)
Congregationalists and Evolution: Asa
Gray and Louis Agassiz. By C. George
Fry and Jon Paul Fry. (Lanham, Maryland:
University Press of America,
1989. vii + 23p.; notes, index.)