137 years of Popular Science FREE

Here's another one of those resources a family historian would never think of searching prior to digitization. The entire archives (137 years) of Popular Science is now accessible and searchable, thanks to technology and scanning from Google.

The search capability is fairly rudimentary; but we are promised that advanced features and browsing are in the works.

I tried it out on "Wiggins" and got a hit for an editorial about Ottawa's charlatan scientist of the 19th century, Ezekiel Stone Wiggins.

A search for "Ottawa" produced many hits, mostly ads related to lumber, and also a report from the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club from December 1886. That item includes mention of a paper "The Canadian Otter" being given by Mr. W.P. Lett, the same William Pittman Lett who was Ottawa's first city clerk, notable for oratory, letters, publishing, poetry, journalism and books. The Friends of the City of Ottawa Archives have proposed that the City name Ottawa’s new Central Archives and Library Materials Centre as the William Pittman Lett Building.

Search the Popular Science archives from www.popsci.com/archives

With information from Resource Shelf