Published: New York, 1890 The dream of building a canal across the Central American isthmus dates almost to the moment when Europeans first spotted that narrow piece of land.  Construction of the Nicaragua Canal was abandoned for lack of funds in 1893, but not before the U.S. government had stockpiled the equipment and established the infrastructure necessary to complete a mile of the canal itself. Just over a decade later, construction of the Panama Canal would begin. With the Panama Canal now subject to traffic jams, and too small to accommodate some of today’s massive ships, talk of building a […]

Published: Paris, 1889 The 1880s witnessed a surge of pivotal and enduring electrical innovations: domestic-use light bulbs, alternating current motors and transformers, power stations, hydroelectricity, electric elevators, streetcars, dishwashers, and ovens. By decade’s end, plenty of electrical appliances for the home existed. However, due to a variety of factors—most of all a lack of uniform power distribution in Europe and the U.S. (see 1885’s entry on the Schuyler Electric Light Company)—such things remained, for the time being, the domain of the academy and the rich. L’électricité a la Maison was out to change that. Neither a cash-in on the electricity […]

Published: London, 1888 In the year of this book’s publication, Lewis Mills Norton established MIT’s first chemical engineering program.  It’s not hard to imagine this young group of chemical engineers perhaps using their labs after hours, carefully following the authors’ directions for preparing both the silver solution and the albumenized paper necessary for producing silver prints. But the authors’ preface suggests that not every photographer believed in their espoused process.  “The one defect of silver printing,” they write, “is the possibility of its results fading; but surely it is better to be beautiful, if fading, than permanent and ugly. It […]

Published: Bethlehem, Pa., 1887 2 volumes Francis Wolle lived a fairly quiet life. His father was a merchant, and before leaving home to pursue a career, Wolle assisted with the family business for a few years. He became a preparatory school teacher, and later ran a large school for young ladies in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It was only when he retired at the age of 64 that he was able to concentrate fully on his first love: “natural history.” His first book wasn’t published until he was 67 years old, but Wolle would publish a total of four substantial scientific works, […]

Published: 1886 Featured here is our bound first volume of The Street Railway Gazette, a readable and entertaining publication that was produced for a professional audience. MIT owns several years of this title, which is one of a number of similar journals held by the Libraries, such as The Street Railway Bulletin, The Street Railway Journal, and The Street Railway Review. The street railway was the heart of public transportation during the last quarter of the 19th century, and its technology was continually updated and improved. Various methods for powering street railways were in use or in development in 1886. […]

New York, 1885 In 1885, electric lighting was still novel. The electric power upon which it depended was largely unavailable: uniform standards for the distribution of electricity were still years away. Vast numbers of Americans had never beheld any form of electric illumination. Elaborate displays of commercial and architectural lighting at expositions and in major cities seemed to turn night into actual day, eliciting gasps of wonderment. Essentially a sales catalog, this 32 page document provides a fascinating ground-level look at a period of transformative technological innovation. The Schuyler Company’s business model was born of necessity, but today it would […]

London, 1884 “A work of art, be it never so humble, is long-lived; we never tire of it; as long as a scrap hangs together it is valuable and instructive to each new generation.  All works of art have the property of becoming venerable amidst decay.” – William Morris, Art and Socialism, p. 17. If one were to settle on a principal theme of the work of William Morris, it would very likely be permanence and, more specifically, the predominance of durability over ephemerality.  Morris’ many writings on art, often published by his own Kelmscott Press, promote the inherent integrity […]

Published: New York, 1883 “Of the many worthless devices employed for the protection of buildings, etc., from lightning,” the author writes, “that suggested by Mr. J.C. Chambers, of Newport, Ky., and recently introduced in the Western States, is the most unscientific and absurd.”  Chambers’ “worthless” system is pictured here.  The lightning was supposed to enter one end of the rod and be spewed out the other, dissipated into the air. Spang quotes a number of “prominent electricians” who have likewise reviewed this system: “It is a scientific humbug.”  “It is absolutely useless.”  “Worse than useless.”  And from Edison: “I do […]

Published: Boston, 1882 Ellen Swallow Richards, the first woman admitted to MIT, is one of the Institute’s historical celebrities. Her name graces a prestigious professorship for women faculty as well as a busy lobby in Building 4, complete with a portrait, relief sculpture, and exhibit. As MIT’s first female degree recipient and an instructor and researcher at the Institute for almost forty years, she surely deserves the stature. Richards was a pioneer for women not only at MIT, but in all of science. Richards received her S.B. from MIT in 1873 (her second—the first was from Vassar in 1870). She […]

Published: New York, 1881-1882 2 volumes If this publication didn’t exist, the women who edited it – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage – would still be famous historical figures. All three were important 19th century champions of women’s rights, particularly the right to vote.  But each was also a unique individual; in fact they were very different from one another in important ways. This landmark work serves as a moving testament to what intelligent, courageous, and committed individuals can accomplish when they join together despite differences, disenfranchisement, and a society’s determination to disempower them. History […]