Rensselaer authors

Three stones with plaques commemorate three authors born in Rensselaer who wrote books or music that were widely recognized. They are Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, Edison Marshall, and James F. Hanley. (Click on the name for more information about each.) There are quite a few other people associated with Rensselaer who wrote books that did not achieve the fame that the works of these three did and some of these obscure old books that were largely forgotten are now back in print.

Last year I wrote about Elmer Dwiggins (here and here) and mentioned his sci-fi book, Pharaoh's Broker, which was published under the pen name Ellsworth Douglas.  There seem to be five offerings of this book on Amazon. There are two reasons that obscure and forgotten books like this are back in print: books published in 1923 and earlier have lost copyright protection and the cost of publishing using on-demand printing is extremely low.

Searching Amazon books for the name Elmer Dwiggins reveals another book, White dragons wild, and how to win at ma jong: An advanced study of the world's most wonderful game as adapted to American playing. It was published in 1924 so far no one has yet reprinted it.

This blog has linked to a virtual tour of Weston Cemetery that mentions two authors of books about local history. John Alter wrote stories of Newton and Jasper County in Hoosier Hunting Ground under the pen name Bill Bat. His book was published in 1904 and it has been republished, but not on Amazon.

John S Blue, who wrote tales of pioneer days and about Hoosier wit and wisdom and is the third generation of Blues buried in Weston Cemetery. His books were self-published in the 1980s through the  Jasper County Abstract Company and are available on Amazon. His History and Tales of a Pioneer tells his family's story, which is similar to that of many other early Jasper County families. Many Jasper County families moved here from Pennsylvania and Ohio and some of the next generation moved further West to Kansas (and Nebraska and the Dakotas).

Another person mentioned in the virtual tour (which by the way is in serious need of being updated and maybe someday I will find the time do that) is Isaac Lewis, a professor at the University of Texas who wrote a guide to the trees of Texas. This book is from 1915 so the copyright has expired and there are reprinted copies on Amazon.

I recently found two more people with Rensselaer connections that have recently had books revived via on-demand printing or Kindle. Samuel Sparling grew up just west of Bennett Hall of Saint Joseph's College. (Some people may remember the old White House that burned in 1980.) His grandfather was the first settler on the land that starts at the Banet electrical substation and ends at the softball field. After graduating from the Rensselaer High School, Samuel earned a degree from Indiana University and then became the first person to earn a Ph.D. in the political science department at the University of Wisconsin. He published his Ph.D. dissertation and a bit later a book about business. After a few years teaching at the University of Wisconsin, he returned briefly to Rensselaer and then moved to Alabama, where he spent the rest of his life. (Sparling Avenue is named for this family who lived on that road.)

My other recent discovery is a person who seems never to have lived in Rensselaer but is buried in Weston Cemetery, James Henry Honan. He was born in Delphi, was employed on the Monon Railroad working his way up to being a conductor, then went to veterinary school and became a vet, practiced a couple years, then became a livestock or meat inspector earning good pay, took courses to become an MD, moved to Germany and practiced medicine there for several years, and with the outbreak of WWI, moved to Georgia where be taught at the University of Georgia's medical school. Several of his books have been brought back to life, including A Handbook to Medical Europe and Heart Disease: Its Care, Cure and Prevention. I not sure what audience there would be for century-old medical books. (He seems to be buried in Weston Cemetery because his brother, Edward Honan, was a prominent Rensselaer lawyer in the first two decades of the Twentieth Century.)

Over the years people associated with Saint Joseph's College wrote a variety of books including study guides, test banks, and parts of textbooks. I do not know of any complete list. Here is a link to one of the best,  David Osterfeld's  Prosperity Versus Planning. I mention it because it was published by the Oxford University Press and also because I am mentioned in the book's preface.

There are dozens of fairly recent books by people associated with Rensselear. Examples are here, here, and here.