“Motoring West: Pioneering Auto Travelers in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1900-1920”
Dr. Peter Blodgett
Speaker – Dr. Peter Blodgett, Curator, Huntington Library
This illustrated lecture will discuss the evolution of automobile-borne tourist travel in the American West during the early years of the twentieth century. In doing so, it will demonstrate the significant impact of the motor car upon the economic, social, cultural and technological history of the region during the era of America’s widespread adoption of the automobile. Dr. Blodgett is a New Englander; he received his B.S. in American history from Bowdoin College and M.S. and Ph.D. from Yale University. Since joining the Huntington’s Manuscripts Department in 1985, he has been responsible for the acquisition, processing, exhibition and reference service of the library’s rare original documents concerning the history of the trans-Mississippi West across the past two centuries. Active in a variety of professional organizations including the Society of California Archivists, the Society of American Archivists and the Western History Association, he has spoken and written widely on national parks, tourism and recreation as well as the management of manuscripts and archives. Among his publications are Motoring West: Volume 1 Automobile Pioneers, 1900-1909 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2015), the first in a four-volume set that will follow the development of motor touring in the American West up to America’s entrance into World War II.
Introduction: Donna Bernard
Fellowship: Anne Sonner
Greeters: Pat Kelly, Art Parker