Steamboats Come True: American Inventors in Action by James Thomas FlexnerReview by: Carl W. MitmanThe American Historical Review, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jan., 1945), pp. 351-352Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1842390 .

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Flexner: Steamboats Come True 351

reader who may find the critical examination of the texts a bit heavy going, the summaries at the end of each chapter will prove most helpful, as will the intro- ductory and concluding chapters. To the reviewer it seems that the study might have analyzed somewhat more fully the debt of the clerical school to the political and economic thought of Northeastern Federalism. As to the failure of the school to take a more vigorous stand on slavery, was it not due in some measure to confusion in the clerical mind over Biblical support of the institution?

Dartmouth College W. R. WATERMAN

STEAMBOATS COME TRUE: AMERICAN INVENTORS IN ACTION. By James Thomas Flexner. (New York: Viking Press. I944. PP. X, 406. $3.50.)

THIS work is a good narrative of the lives and activities of three early Ameri- cans-John Fitch, James Rumsey, and Robert Fulton-and of their pioneer work on the steamboat. It is based principally on Fitch's autobiography and on the several biographies, letters, and other papers of Rumsey and Fulton. Worked into their stories are accurate factual accounts of the efforts made by other men both before and during their times to apply steam power to the propulsion of a vessel, so that the entire story of the development of the steamboat is covered rather com- pletely. As page follows page there is portrayed in considerable detail the back- ground, early environment, traits, and characteristics of the three men and their pre-steamboat interests and occupations. The author then develops each man's in- dependent and unique idea of the steamboat and recounts in detail the ways and means-mechanical, financial, and political-used by each one to bring his idea to fruition. Two appendixes contain an annotated bibliography and additional notes to the text, respectively.

The book is considerably more than a compilation of scattered historical and biographical facts. The author is in search of a clearer understanding of the nature of invention as it may be revealed by a study of three contemporary in- ventors at work on the same idea. The search is prompted by a belief that, in the light of modern history, the concept and definition of invention such as is held generally by historians, sociologists, and technologists, is narrow and limited. The author feels that the effect of an invention on society is too often overlooked in evaluating a new and useful thing. Also that the acquisition of a patent does not necessarily make the acquisitor an inventor. With these extended views of in- vention in mind the author examines his three subjects in detail to determine what constitutes an inventor and an invention. He concludes that, insofar as the steamboat is concerned, new definitions are in order. He writes, in part, "The term inventor then has a meaning only if taken in the sense of a man who was slightly in advance of the procession at the crucial moment when his civilization was already on the verge of the discovery he was about to make.... The inven- tor is not necessarily the most original. . . . The inventor's eminence may be more

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352 Reviews of Books

a trick of chronology.... According to this definition, popular history is correct: Robert Fulton was the inventor of the steamboat."

Washington, D. C. CARL W. MITMAN

AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, 1790-I860. By Leslie W. Dunlap, As- sistant Librarian, University of Wisconsin. (Madison: privately printed. 1944.

Pp. iX, 238. $3.50.)

DR. Dunlap's study shows that before the Civil War 65 historical societies

were formed in the United States, compared to 833 listed in the I944 edition of Historical Societies in the United States and Canada: A Handbook (excluding supplementary lists). The figures then and now (omitting national and general organizations) are New England, I6 and I36; middle Atlantic states, ii and 159;

Old Northwest, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri, 2I and 269; the South (including the District of Columbia but excluding Missouri), i6 and I05; and the remainder of the country, I and 127. That is, before I86i, New England, the middle Atlantic states, and the Old Northwest, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri accounted for 48 of a total of 65 societies, or 74 per cent. Today the same states contain 564 of 796 societies (excluding national and general ones), or 70 per cent. Then as now the South and Far West lagged far behind. In the earlier period the three leading states were Ohio (9 societies), Massachusetts (7), and New York (7). Today Pennsylvania leads (77), followed by Massachusetts (7I), and New York (59), while Ohio ranks seventh with 32.

These early societies were similar in most respects to those of our own day. They were formed usually by lawyers, ministers of the gospel, and other leaders of their communities. Private societies like those of Massachusetts and New York were the rule in the East, while in the Middle West the state historical society, partly supported by state funds, was already taking shape-as in Iowa and Minnesota. (The third type of historical agency, the state department or com- mission, had not yre come into existence.) Some societies were strong, while others were weak; the former by i86i had already begun to build up sizable endow- ments and several already occupied their own buildings. From the beginning the chief function of all of them was clearly seen as the collection and preservation of historical source materials, and several brought together valuable accumulations. Most of the societies issued publications of one type or another, and their col- lections were beginning to be used by historians as the basis of their writings.

The present study is divided into two parts. The first (I33 pages) describes topically the founding, problems, and activities of the societies, while the second

(85 pages) gives a sketch of each of them. Based upon the various societies' publi-

cations and the manuscript files of several, the work is well planned, thorough,

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