Published: July 03, 2008 02:43 pm            

ERIE CANAL DISCOVERY: Floating libraries along the Erie

The Erie Canal brought with it many new ideas, and sometimes, even new books. We know that the “people-mover” of the 1800s, the packet boat; was often equipped with an elaborate reading library for the enjoyment of its passengers. Travelers would travel by packets on trips that lasted anywhere from one day to a week, depending on destination and travel conditions. The individual boat-lines tried to out-do each other in their quest to beat the competing companies in quantity and quality of luxuries and amenities. The magnificent style of some of the craft seem impossible considering the day and age. The passenger cabins were bedecked in finery and most included a sizeable selection of books to help passengers pass the time more agreeably. Packet travelers could expect to find books of biography, travel, adventure, science, history, Bibles, dictionaries and books of foreign language, and a liberal dose of the Classics.

The Erie Canal also served as a conduit for the exchange of information. In addition to boats, new ideas flowed within the ditch. One new concept that sprung up within the banks of the Erie was a most unusual boat, with the interesting name, the “Encyclopedia of Albany.” This ship was operated by the Wilcox family of Albany and was said to contain about 2,000 books for sale. This traveling bookstore was equipped with a billboard on its side that read “E. & E. Wilcox, Bookstore and Lottery Office.” They advertised “gifts of fortune” as well as “the riches of science,” readily available to the discerning canal traveler. The boat stopped at every port-of-call along the old Erie and would also loan their books for a small fee. Customers could rent the books and return them when the boat made its next trip.

Another early entrepreneur was Mr. Elihu Phinney who began his book printing business in 1795. With little more than a printing press and a covered wagon, Phinney was able to establish the third newspaper to locate west of Albany in Cooperstown. There he founded a book and stationery store that expanded to one of the most important businesses in the interior of the country. To assist his growing publishing empire, Phinney taught the printing business to a young protégé, James Fenimore Cooper. Phinney devised large wagons that were pulled by horses to distribute books to communication starved settlers in distant villages. After the completion of the Erie Canal, it was a natural progression for the Phinney book business to add floating bookstores to their commercial enterprise. Their “bookboats” stopped at canal towns for a few hours or a few days, depending on traffic and interest. They would rent their titles for two cents an hour or ten cents per day. During the winter, they would anchor their bookboat and send their books overland once again by wagon. In addition to his printing empire, Phinney also found his place in history by hosting some of the earliest games of baseball played by its presumed inventor, Abner Doubleday. In fact, the Phinney farm went on to become Doubleday Field, site of the annual Baseball Hall of Fame Games.

Library boats floated along the Erie Canal and were widely used for 20 years or more. However, like all else, change was inevitable. As more and more towns became cities, they soon supported their own free public libraries on terra-firma which made the floating variety obsolete.

Doug Farley is director of the Erie Canal Discovery Center. Contact him at 434-7433. The Discovery Center is open for the season.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.