Believe me when I say I’ve pummeled my brain for the name of this series. I’ve googled, searched e-Bay, and I just can’t identify/find this book series.
We bought it a volume at a time, at the grocery store. It was when I was a child(back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Okay, actually it was the mid-sixties. There were 12? volumes and it was a US history series, geared to young people I think, but still serious. I don’t know how widely it was marketed, but my family was in Kansas.
The series began with the early exploration of the continental US by Europeans, through British colonization, the Revolutionary War. and so on, up to what was then the present day. The last volume included early space shots, but it ended in the mid-60’s so the moon had not been reached.
There were a lot of good illustrations. I recall one of Martha Washington being helped out of a carriage by George. The book had the first mention of the Johnstown Flood that I recall, with an (apochryphal) illustration of a telegraph operator, Hetty Ogle, who supposedly stayed at her post to try and send a warning out.
Maybe I’m being silly for trying to find these books, but I really enjoyed them as a kid, and I’d like to have another look at them, and the SDMB has come through for me before. I’ll tell you what, the Doper who can positively identify these books for me will get a box of cookies for Christmas! How’s that for incentive?
Was it an “I Was There” series? I seem to rember a similar series that I read in elementary school (late 70’s, early 80’s) especially the Pearl Harbor book. It looked like an older book then, so maybe this is what you’re thinking of? A quick google search didn’t turn anything up, and I don’t remember the author, but I remember reading a few of them.
No, I’m sorry, but those books aren’t the ones I knew, although the time period is close. The volumes I knew were all one connected history, with each one covering a given period, or number of years. I don’t remember how many years for each book, although they well could have varied.
Not sure actually. But I think most of the Time-Life series were sold by subscription, not in the bookstores, or in this case, grocery stores. Still, it give me another thing to think about.
I remember getting a set of history encyclopedias from the supermarket circa 1963. The books were called something like the Golden-Young-Peoples’-Illlustrated Encyclopedia of American History.
The foreward contained pictures and quotes from the then four-living American Presidents about the importance of the study of history. I remember photos of Hoover, Eisenhower, Truman and Kennedy at the front of each book. Although Kennedy had been assassinated by then.
I remember quite clearly that there was a mistake in the Civil War/Reconstruction volume. The caption on an illustration about Andrew Johnson’s impeachment was wrong. There was a small strip of paper included in that volume for the reader to paste over the incorrect caption. The problem had to do with the fact that Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives but the Senate failed to convict Johnson by one vote.
The series began with Indians “welcoming” Columbus to the New World and ended right around 1960, with American space exploration.
I’ve been on another message board(insert blushing smiley here) and a poster has identified the series as the Golden Book History of the United States. Here is an eBay listing for the first volume in the series. There were nine in all.
5 time champ, you were so close though, I feel I should send cookies anyway, because with the words you gave I would have found the books with one more Google search.
To clarify: These are books about certain TIMES correct? Not necessarily books about one event at a time? I remember some facinating books aimed towards kids that had a story about the rabies shot in one, a story about Betsy Ross in another, and so on. I wish I could remember what that series was, it was very well written and entertaining for kids. Some of the best illustrations that I remember, as far as children’s books go.
On preview: I see you found yours…off to google mine
Well, I just love chocolate chip cookies. Glad to be of service.
Thanks for bringing back some memories. Those slim volumes of American History were one of the early influences that led to me become a five-time Jeopardy! champ. [Which that Ken Jennings has now so thoroughly diminished with his 74 Jeopardy! wins.]
Personal Name: Miers, Earl Schenck, 1910-1972. Main Title: The golden book history of the United States. / Paintings by Alton S. Tobey. Drawings by Richard P. Kluga. Technical consultants: L. Ethan Ellis and Richard M. Brown. Herbert J. Sanborn, art research. Published: New York, Golden Press [1963- Description: 12 volumes, illustrations (part color), portraits (part color), color maps. 27 cm. Contents: v. 1. The explorers. — v. 2. The Indian wars. — v. 3. The age of revolution. — v. 4. Building the nation. — v. 5. The Civil War. — v. 6. Winning the West. — v. 7. The age of steel. — v. 8. Becoming a world power. — v. 9. The Second World War. — v. 10. The age of the atom. — v. 11. Famous Americans from A to L. — v. 12. Famous Americans from M to Z.
Thank you so much for that website Walloon. I recognized several of the paintings, in particular the one about the assasination of McKinley. I remember reading that his words, after he had been shot, were in reference to his wife “Be careful how you tell her”
I love the SDMB. And isn’t it strange the things that cling in our memory, even after so many years?
