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AC K NOW L E D G M E N TS The idea for this book grew out of a small contract research project with colleagues and fellow archaeologists Nancy O’Malley and Jay Stottman of the University of Kentucky. While conducting an archaeological survey at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate in Lexington, Kentucky, we discovered a feature that appeared to be part of an early lighting system. Undergraduate student Jennie Duwan provided an excellent summary of lighting systems of the period, particularly portable gas lighting units; she and Nancy also helped excavate a brick access shaft that turned out to hold an intact Springfield Gas Machine generator. Nancy O’Malley also performed exemplary documentary research on the property and lighting system, which yielded intriguing clues to the system’s use and configuration. A coauthored article on the system (Linebaugh, O’Malley, and Duwan), published in Historical Archaeology, led to further research on the system and its manufacturers . With this publication, historical sites across the country began to contact me to inquire if they might “have a gas machine.” After several visits to sites with gas systems, including the Alexander Stephens site in Georgia and Sagamore in the Adirondacks of New York, it became apparent that Gilbert and Barker and their Springfield Gas Machine presented an important case study of technological and business development and of the social applications of new technology. The many curators, historians, and preservationists who invited me to visit and explore their sites deserve great thanks for their interest in what initially might have seemed a rather obscure topic. I appreciate their support of my efforts to better understand and interpret this unique lighting system. Both former curator Jeff Meyer and the present curator, Eric Brooks, of Ashland provided extensive research help, locating images and documents that proved critical to the project. At Alexander Stephens State Park in Crawfordville, Georgia, park superintendent Judd Smith was an interested host and helpful researcher and facilitator. He opened the site to me for several days and took me to the Robert Toombs site in Washington, Georgia. Likewise, Russ Boudreau at Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts “caught the bug” and proved to be both a skilled researcher and extremely helpful and genial colleague. Russ found the Springfield generator vault and subsequently provided careful documentation of the system’s removal; he also scoured the records of the college’s Maintenance and Grounds Department for maps and other records of the system. xiv Acknowledgments In the company of Russ Boudreau, I also visited the beautiful Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut. Curator Cynthia Cormier, curatorial assistant Melanie Anderson Bourbeau, and archivist Sandy Wheeler were extremely helpful and allowed me full access to the house to examine the evidence for gas light. As we were leaving, they happened to mention a rolled-up document that “might be of interest.” It turned out to be a plan for the installation of the Springfield system at Hill-Stead, one of only two known to exist. Historians and site managers Michael Wilson and Beverly Bridger of Sagamore , an Adirondack great camp in Raquette Lake, New York, were both marvelous hosts on my research trips there. They graciously accommodated my many requests for documents and photographs. Both shared a great deal about the history and social setting of Adirondack great camps, providing stimulating discussion and helpful references. Another intriguing site was Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont, where Curator of Collections Julie Eldridge Edwards gave me valuable assistance on very short notice. Although she wasn’t familiar with the site’s Springfield system, she quickly uncovered a wealth of pamphlets and catalogs in Shelburne ’s extensive catalog collection. As far as I know, Shelburne holds the only extant copies of these Gilbert and Barker publications. They were tremendously important in understanding the system, the company in general, and the Shelburne site in particular. After my visit, Julie continued her exploration and, with the help of intern Devin Colman, found an undated plan of the Springfield system at Shelburne. Dr. Greg Galer, former curator of the Stonehill Industrial History Center at Stonehill College in North Easton, Massachusetts, has supported this project almost from the start. In particular, he provided introductions to the owners of many Ames family buildings in North Easton and opened the superb collections at the center to me on several occasions. Greg has also talked with me at length about the project, offering many excellent suggestions and pointing me to several very important sources at...

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