- Shop
- [Archive of Material on Early Automobile Endurance Drives Through Alaska and Mexico]
[Archive of Material on Early Automobile Endurance Drives Through Alaska and Mexico]
[Archive of Material on Early Automobile Endurance Drives Through Alaska and Mexico]
Group-level text inventory of contents.
A substantial archive of material compiled by a George D. Brown (1887-1951) documenting his 1911 time as a riding mechanic with a Dr. Charles G. Percival, on an approximately 50,000 mile publicity endurance drive for the Abbott-Detroit Motor Car Company through The United States, Canada, The Alaska and Yukon Territories, and Mexico in the luxury touring car they named “Bull-Dog.”
Their journey was recorded in the circa-1912 book Percival published on their journey titled THE TRAIL OF THE “BULL-DOG”: A 50,000 Mile Journey by Motor Car Through the United States, Canada, Mexico, B.C., Alaska, and the Klondike.
The archive consists of 16 original photographs, several pieces of compelling original correspondence and ephemeral articles, dozens of newspaper clippings, dozens of typed photo captions, etc… providing a valuable primary glimpse at a well-publicized and heralded early automotive journey.
A majority of the photographs are well notated and document locations in The United States and Mexico (chiefly Mexico and the Southwest and Western U.S.) during the spring and summer of 1911. Most of the printed and typed ephemera is from their Fall 1911 trip through Alaska and the Yukon where he and Percival became the first people to substantially traverse those Territories in an automobile, journeying from Skagway to the Yukon River over the White Pass (ending in Carmacks, Y.T.), a perilous journey of more than 200 miles over largely uncharted and exceedingly rough terrain.
The extensive typed captions included here were likely created to accompany or help lay out Percival’s book (the cover of which stated, “Illustrated with 300 Photos by the Author”). The archive unfortunately lacks a copy of the book and it appears to be a genuine rarity with WorldCat noting a couple dozen microform holdings but only two original print copies in member libraries (LOC, and CUNY).
Group-level text inventory of contents.
A substantial archive of material compiled by a George D. Brown (1887-1951) documenting his 1911 time as a riding mechanic with a Dr. Charles G. Percival, on an approximately 50,000 mile publicity endurance drive for the Abbott-Detroit Motor Car Company through The United States, Canada, The Alaska and Yukon Territories, and Mexico in the luxury touring car they named “Bull-Dog.”
Their journey was recorded in the circa-1912 book Percival published on their journey titled THE TRAIL OF THE “BULL-DOG”: A 50,000 Mile Journey by Motor Car Through the United States, Canada, Mexico, B.C., Alaska, and the Klondike.
The archive consists of 16 original photographs, several pieces of compelling original correspondence and ephemeral articles, dozens of newspaper clippings, dozens of typed photo captions, etc… providing a valuable primary glimpse at a well-publicized and heralded early automotive journey.
A majority of the photographs are well notated and document locations in The United States and Mexico (chiefly Mexico and the Southwest and Western U.S.) during the spring and summer of 1911. Most of the printed and typed ephemera is from their Fall 1911 trip through Alaska and the Yukon where he and Percival became the first people to substantially traverse those Territories in an automobile, journeying from Skagway to the Yukon River over the White Pass (ending in Carmacks, Y.T.), a perilous journey of more than 200 miles over largely uncharted and exceedingly rough terrain.
The extensive typed captions included here were likely created to accompany or help lay out Percival’s book (the cover of which stated, “Illustrated with 300 Photos by the Author”). The archive unfortunately lacks a copy of the book and it appears to be a genuine rarity with WorldCat noting a couple dozen microform holdings but only two original print copies in member libraries (LOC, and CUNY).