What kind of books did frontiersmen have?

[Tsalagidave]

I know a lot of people are going to have something to say here because so many carry printed goods as part of their impression.
I've always hated it when someone suddenly puts on a Gomer Pyle drawl and suddenly acts like an illiterate and imbecile to boot in order to be in "first person". According to the 1850 US Census records, roughly 95% of the Americans were literate so I believe that your ability to write and  comprehend the period literature really adds a lot to the realism factor.

I know that a lot of people carry reproduction newspapers, magazines or dime novels produced by various sutlers. One big detail that I think is missing from the average impression is an individual's account book which could be carried in their saddlebag, knapsack or valise. This is used to document travel, noteworthy events, bank & business transactions, etc. (Think 1850's era PDA.) In it, I also carry an 1854-57 almanac.  The other is an original (1852) pocket bible. These were so common in the hands of period travelers and are almost completely unrepresented by  reenactors today. The one I carry was well used so I don't feel bad about it being in my kit. Due to its previous condition, when I do have a period restoration done, it is really not going to help or hurt the price much from a collectors point of view. The last one is an early travel guide, the infamous "Emigrants guide to Oregon and California. The Prairie Traveler is way more informative but post-dates the time I usually portray.

The rest of the stuff are everyday essentials; watch, wallet, matchsafe, smoking kit, flask and loose cash (aka. camp poker chips).

-Dave

-Dave

[Raven]

Dave,

You do great stuff!! Very inspiring! I will post photo's of my gear as I get it together.

I know its a little early as far as time period, but, I've read that Daniel Boone carried a copy of Gullivers Travels that he would read aloud in camp.

Maybe Robinson Crusoe or even Grimms Fairy tales wood be cool for light reading

Raven

[St. George]

There were small, almost vest-pocket-sized books that came as premiums inside such things as Arbuckle's Coffee and I believe some Flours - just like those pieces of Carnival Glass and small pocket pistols did, inside bags of washing soap and flour, much later in time. (If you're old enough to remember 'LUZ' detergent, you'll remember the glassware included in the box.).

Mostly, they were the Classics - Plutarch, Caesar, Shakespeare, et al - and they were avidly sought out and carried in saddlebags.

The ones I have stuck away have green, sort of 'embossed leatherette' bindings, and are about the size of a 3X5 card.

You're right about literacy - these folks 'wanted' to learn and to know - they're most definitely 'not' of the type who'll put on a drawl and spell poorly (and in 'dialect) because they think that they're being true to an era.

Folks like that - the uneducated ones - were looked down upon at the time, and many learned to read and write at much later ages than one'd think - just to rid themselves of the stigma, and to be more knowledgeable and informed.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Tascosa Joe]

I have a small New Testament in my bag.  It is not period, it is courtesy of the US Army and mine is probably one I got in the 70's.  I also have a couple copies of the Prairie Traveler which would be good, as all my weapons are really early (1760) or late 1860 Army and  a Henry.

[St. George]

The little bible I use is the facsimile of the one issued to the employees of Russell, Majors and Waddell - the firm responsible for the Pony Express.

It's dated 1860.

These were beautifully bound, and were designed to be companions to the 'Russell, Majors and Waddell Presentation Model Colt .45 Peacemakers'.

They were made for the 1000 1960 Centennial Reenactment riders, 500 of whom rode West and 500 who rode East, and were serial-numbered to the weapon.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Forty Rod]

Books were heavy and scarce so many carried books worth reading more than once.  The classics were popular among some folks and were traded back and forth all over the west.

[Professor Marvel]

Without doumented evidence, but based upon memory of lectures,  I recall several items as having "been said" to have been popular, because they were commonly carried and sold at many general stores:
- complete bibles
- new testaments, esp pocket sizes
- McGufy's Readers
- Dictionaries
- any of the "Penny Dreadfuls" and "Dime Novels"
- local newspapers, carried, read, re-read, and later put to "other" good use
- papers from major cities that carried important speeches, politics, serialized articles or novels
- any of some of the "common classical plays" by authors such as Shakespear, Faust, etc
    (btw such plays and light operas are well documented as being incredibly popular all over the country, including the Great
    West as seen by playhouse and opera houses built in such varied towns as Tombstone, AZ; Alubuquerque & Santa Fe, NM;
    Cripple Creek, Co; Deadwood, SD;  and  even the tiny town of Cerrios, NM )

- writings of Mark Twain and his contemporaries
- writings of Poets of the Era such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr

Professor Marvel plans to have a few reproductions of McGufy's, a few Dime Novels, Postcards and a facsimile of a newspaper in his peddlars cart, (along with some dry goods, coffee, percussion caps, colt's patent paper cartridges, etc)

Those with specific interests and passions such as the Temperance Movement or Abolitionist Movement would be likely to be carrying pamphlets and publications from movement leaders such as the Grimke sisters (American abolitionists and leaders in the Women's Sufferage Movements).

Altho not likely to be carried by itinerant travelers due to weight consideration, those who have settled with specific skills such as advanced blacksmithing, furniture making,  etc, would be likely to have at least one handbook of esoterics peculiar to their trade; professionals such as watchmakers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, dentist, undertakers, etc would likely have a small trunkfull !

Other specific titles would most certainly depend upon the individual, their past, their travels, and their interests -
Obviously a traveler with a literary interest might collect, carry, and share or resell tomes of interest; further, anyone with access to a railhead and a telegraph office could order out nearly any book from publishers in larger cities, starting with the publishers catalog.  Thus books that one might normally consider the purview of New York or San Francisco could easily end up in
nearly any town. Such collections might be established at a towns Teacher, Preacher, Doctor, Lawyer, Judge, or learned layman such as the fictional Cartwright Clan (ie Bonanza )

Free Public Libraries, of course, were nearly unheard of until the Andrew Carnegie began his Carnegie Library Foundation with the first establishment in 1889 in Braddock, Pennsylvania, home to one of the Carnegie Steel Company's mills.

Also Sheet music was EXTREMELY Popular, anyone that had a piano, or any instrument for that matter,  would certainly be collecting sheet music, and often the "latest tunes" would be delivered by mail.

Hymnals, BTW were in short supply - both because few were published (compared to popular fiction) , but also due to costs involved. As a result a church might be established by a preacher who had one or "a few"  hymnals, and songs were mainly memorized.  This led to an intruiguing movement, close to my heart, called "Shape Note Singing" or "The Sacred Harp".

from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_note
"Shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational and community singing. The notation, introduced in 1801, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the note heads in written music to help singers find pitches within major and minor scales without the use of more complex information found in key signatures on the staff."

at the wiki link one can hear a snip of the basic "fa-so-la" method of teaching the song "Star of the East"

"Shape Note" singing is a unique and marvelous sound  providing a haunting harmony that is oft associated with Appalachian Music - these links can provide more info:
http://fasola.org/
http://www.paperlesshymnal.com/shapnote/shaped.htm
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/harp.html

and some playable song snips:
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/sounds/

yhs
prof marvel

[Raven]

Professor Marvel,

Love your research!!

I think you should look into the Ephrata Cloister in Cocolico PA. It was a Brethren commune established in the 1732 by Conrad Beissel.
You will have to dig.....or I will, to find the references but there is evedence that Beissel introduced shape singing to the choir in the mid 1700's
Wiki say's that he introduced an early form of Serial notation...but information from direct sources suggests that he realy introduced shape singing.
There is a photo of a page from a hymn book that appears to me to show shape notation and not serial.....but what do I know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beissel_Hymnal.jpg

Found this at http://www.giveshare.org/churchhistory/ephrata.html

All three orders of the community came together in Ephrata's choral singing. Conrad Beissel's many musical compositions included two men's parts (high and low bass) along with at least three women's parts. Singers at Ephrata followed a strict diet and wore white robes during lengthy practices and performances, in keeping with Beissel's conviction that the best music was the product of a lifestyle of purity and wholeness.

What accounts we have suggest that those who heard Ephrata's choral music were profoundly moved by the experience. For example, Reverend Jacob Duch�, an Anglican minister from Philadelphia who later became chaplain to the Continental Congress, gave the following description after a visit to Ephrata in 1771 (quoted in [1, p. 115]):

' The music had little or no air or melody; but consisted of simple, long notes, combined in the richest harmony....The performers sat with their heads reclined, their countenances solemn and dejected, their faces pale and emaciated from their manner of living, their clothing exceedingly white and quite picturesque, and their music such as thrilled to the very soul. I almost began to think myself in the world of spirits, and the objects before me were ethereal. In short, the impression this scene made upon my mind continued strong for many days, and I believe, will never be wholly obliterated. '


Raven

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi,

I had a book I picked up at an estate sale in Rapid City IA ... it was the size of a large Family Bible ... but was called the "Universal Educator" and was supposedly all one needed to know when it was printed ... it had chpters on everything from Phrenology to ready-made houses ... I remember things like the rules to card games and how to escort a woman on horseback ... but I gave it to the Sacramento Museum 'cause I didn't have a constant-temperature/constant humidity room to store it in ... which is what it needed ....

This would have been late in the era ... probably printed and first sold just before the turn of the 20th century ...

[Tsalagidave]

A lot of period literature that gets overlooked are the paperback print items. They were generally cheap and easily transported. There are people who reproduce the dime novels so I did not feature them here. What I am showing is a collection of various almanacs that  covers the period from 1852 to 1861. The Family Christian Almanacs included faith-based and moral advice in addition to the various social, medical and climate-based information. The Farmer's Almanac is the most common. The youngest one I have is the Ayer's Medicine almanac which has the same useful information as other almanacs but also doubles as a advertorial-packed catalog for the company. 
Each Almanac has.

• Daily sunrise-sunset cycles that you could set your watch to to coordinate your time more easily for various tasks.
  Useful medical and scientific advice
  Information on various social organizations, (eg. broken banknotes, population stats, Politicians, government offices etc.)
  Interesting short articles to pass time at rest.

[Tsalagidave]

Newspapers were also common. Aside from local prints, there were also Regional and nationally circulated publications. I really like the aesthetics of the illustrated newspapers and here were a few that were widely distributed in the mid 1800s. In the photo are copies of Harper's Weekly (1859), The Rural New Yorker (1856), Frank Leslie's Illustrated news (1852, 1857), Gleason's Pictorial (1852), Ballou's Pictorial (1856), The Illustrated London News (1853, 1856).

-Dave

[Tsalagidave]

Paperback Magazines were quite common. I have an  1861 edition of Vanity Fair along with an 1856 edition of Harper's New Monthly. The articles are every bit as interesting now as they were then.

[Tsalagidave]

Lastly are some period (and reproduction books) that have been great historical references. Attached is my well-used repro copy of the Prairie Traveller which has served me well over the years. Next is a pocket sized cookbook "The Kentucky Housewife 1830" which is also a repro. The 1854 repro cook book is a replica of an American book that I got from a friend in England. Lastly, this is an original book on anatomy and hygiene from 1850 that was made "For Grammar Schools and Families". It has a lot of useful information in regards to period cleanliness and honestly gives a better sense of human anatomy than the average bloke today can recall.

[Darto]

This is off topic, but post civil war, about 1865, according to I think it was Wikipedia, the 2 books most likely for a citizen to posses were the Bible, and Kane's book about his recent polar exploration trip. Elijah Kent Kane. He died soon after on another trip up to the arctic.

[Major 2]

Intriguing, I should put a photo together ... I have a period Veterinary book (Horses) , a leather Journal , that same Flask (or very similar)
Compass, Coins , wallet, Silver Collapsible cup, maybe my 49 Pocket Model.

[The Elderly Kid]

One of the unsung triumphs of the young Republic was universal education, a thing unheard of elsewhere (education was unnecessary for "peasants," after all). Early on, it was determined that all children should be educated at least to grammar school level. This included, above all, strict enforcement of truancy laws. See "Tom Sawyer" for details. For the Revolutionary War we have only a single memoir by an enlisted soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin's "Private Yankee Doodle." For the Civil War, less than 90 years later, we have thousands, along with abundant letters and diaries.
Dickens was the greatest bestseller of the century, as popular in America as in England. People would flock to the docks to get the latest installment of his stories (published chapter-by-chapter in newspapers in those days) fresh off the ship. Copies would have made their way quickly to the frontiers.
"Niles' Register" was the digest magazine of the time, collecting stories from newspapers around the country.

[Caleb Hobbs]

Some great additions to the subject. Thanks, everyone.