Tom Swift 100th Anniversary

Follow Us on Twitter and use #TS100 for Tweets!

2010-06-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Convention now has a Twitter feed.

Just follow us at http://www.twitter.com/tomswift100

Also, if you are on Twitter and mention Tom Swift, the Anniversary or the Convention, please use the #TS100 tag to make it easier for people to find your post!

We'll send out Tweets from time to time telling you what we are up to, including during the convention (which is coming up fast!).

Photo Album showing Cafe Press items

2010-05-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

I have a small photo album showing what our first batch of products looked like. We have the second batch of products arriving next week and will put up more pictures then.

Note that if you order by May 31 and use the code MEMORIAL, you will get a %20 discount on orders over $50.

Store

Album

New Designs at Cafe Press

2010-05-24T17:22:00.001-07:00

I just put up a great design showing all 5 series of Tom Swift which existed in the past 100 years. True, there have been some other designs occasionally, but this represents the look of the 5 main series as first published.

I'm pretty happy with it and hope you will be too. Remember, these designs are for a limited time (certainly won't last past this year) because our license with the company is limited.

Get Tom Swift Merchandise while you can. It makes a great Father's Day gift for that science-minded Dad.

Also check out the "Plays with Robots," "Rocket Scientist" and other cool designs.....

Cafe Press Store

Can't Come? How about sending a video?

2010-05-20T10:50:00.001-07:00

If you can't make the Tom Swift Convention in July, I have two things to say to you:

1. Why not? Don't you realize what great stuff you are missing?

2. How about recording a short video with you talking about Tom Swift.

We are soliciting short videos of people talking about:

a. What Tom Swift means to me
b. What start them collecting/reading
c. The best of your collection or the one that got away (tales from the collecting world)

Contact James at for more info.

Register for the Convention (and the Hotel)

2010-05-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

Registration is open for the Tom Swift Convention in July. The current prices last until June 16th and then will go up! Registration at the door will be available (but, again, at higher prices). The Tour and Dinner will close registration about a week before the event, or when seats fill up, whichever is first.

Registration Page

Remember, the bookings for the Sheraton Mission Valley are only available until June 16. We need to fill a certain number of rooms to meet our Convention obligations so be sure to tell them you are coming to the Tom Swift Convention when you book your room (or use our link under Location on the site.

Thanks! Look forward to seeing you there!

P.S.: More merchandise has been added to our CafePress Store

Tom Swift Merchandise Available Now!

2010-05-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

We have designed a number of items for the licensed Tom Swift store (available for a limited time!) and hope you will like them.

More items will go up in the next week or two but please check it out now. You support the Tom Swift 100 Convention effort with your purchases.

CafePress Store

RSVP today for TS100

2010-02-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

The 100th anniversary Tom Swift Convention will be held July 16-18, 2010 at the Sheraton Mission Valley Hotel in San Diego. This is the weekend before ComicCon.

Friday events will include museum tours and possibly tours of the Hotel del Coronado (where Edward Stratemeyer stayed when he visited the 1915 Panama-California Exposition) and a trip to UCSD Geisel Library to see their exhibit of Tom Swift material which is being arranged in conjunction with TS100.

Saturday and Sunday will include sessions with presentations, time to chat, a silent auction, a dinner (Saturday) and a Tom Swift live radio show performance.

We will have space for people to sell series books and related merchandise, including some convention-specific merchandise.

Plan to bring unusual or favorite Tom Swift-related items for a show-and-tell segment which was popular last year in Hammondsport.

Actual registration for the convention will be available soon with options to pay by check or PayPal. Hotel registration is available now. We need to fill 30 room-nights to meet with our agreement to have the convention space on Saturday and Sunday.

As we have more confirmations of speakers and events we will announce them here and on the TS100 web site.

Please RSVP today to let us know you will be coming.

Tom Swift 100 Convention has Fan Table at ConDor SciFi Convention this weekend

2010-02-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

ConDor, San Diego's longest running science fiction and fantasy convention, held annually at the Handlery Hotel in San Diego, runs from Feb 26-28, 2010. The Tom Swift Convention will be represented by a Fan Table displaying photos of Tom Swift covers, flyers for the event, and the steering wheel from the Airship built for the never-completed Twentieth-Century Fox Tom Swift film from the late 1960s. James and Kim Keeline will be promoting the Convention for most of the day on both Saturday and Sunday at their Table. Be sure to stop by if you are attending ConDor.

ConDor Convention

SciFi Magazine's April 2010 Issue Covers Tom Swift 100th Anniversary Convention

2010-02-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

SciFi Magazine, available today in major bookstores, has a full-page column devoted to the Tom Swift Centennial, written by Jeff Berkwits. As Berkwits writes, "For scifi fans of a certain age, the name Tom Swift brings back fond memories of rollicking adventures, futuristic contraptions, and, believe it or not, droll adverbs." The article goes on to discuss both the original and Junior series with photos of the covers of Tom Swift and his Airship and Tom Swift and the Visitor of Planet X, plus a brief discussion of the phenomenon of Tom Swifties. Get your copy today and make sure to join us for the San Diego convention in July.

Sci Fi Magazine
100th Anniversary Tom Swift Convention

Hammondsport Convention -- part 2

2009-11-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

After lunch the group attending the first-ever Tom Swift convention traveled to the Glenn H. Curtiss Aviation Museum. This was greatly expanded since the time when I first saw it in 1990, possibly in another location.

A most Tom Swift fans know, the career of Glenn Hammond Curtiss has parallels to the fictional career of Tom Swift. Curtiss was a motorcycle racing and aviation pioneer who did many of his experiments in Hammondsport, New York, or on the adjacent Keuka Lake. Hence, this town and lake are thought to be the inspiration for Shopton and Lake Carlopa.

The Curtiss-Tom Swift connection was first written up in detail by Dr. John T. Dizer, Jr. and published as "Shopton: Home of the Swifts" in Dime Novel Round-Up #449 (Feb 1970). It was reprinted in a "Leo Edwards" fan magazine called the Tutter Bugle (Oct 1973) and in his book Tom Swift & Company (McFarland, 1982).

In the article Jack Dizer looked at all of the location references in the Tom Swift and Tom Swift Jr. series and trying to fix the location of Shopton and Lake Carlopa based on these descriptions. He included references to distances to major cities and even consulted some old railroad timetables.

The Curtiss Aviation Museum has examples of the motorcycles and aircraft that were either the versions he worked on or were similar vintage examples or recreations. When looking at some of these motorcycles and motorized bicycles it is easy to imagine one that would be similar to the machine that Tom purchased from his eccentric friend, Mr. Wakefield Damon.

There was even a store window mock up with a motorcycle in the window which resembles a photo of a 1915-vintage bookstore window with a motorcycle surrounded by Tom Swift and other Grosset & Dunlap series books. I don't know if the museum folks knew of the rare vintage photo that was published in an internal trade magazine called Grosset & Dunlap's Business Promoter but it was at least a happy coincidence. Of course the museum display did not have piles of vintage books. There was one Tom Swift book in another display.

Curtiss was contacted by people who wanted light weight yet powerful gasoline engines for use in lighter-than-air dirigibles and heavier-than-air airplanes. Although the museum could not hold a dirigible, they had one display of the portion of the gondola with a Curtiss-type engine.

Curtiss joined an aviation experimental group headed by Alexander Graham Bell. With them Curtiss built a few biplanes which forged new methods for aerial control that did not use the Wright Brothers' patented wing warping system. Most aircraft today uses a variation of Curtiss' method rather than that of the Orville and Wilbur Wright.

He took one of these planes to an air show in Rheems, France, which resembles the air show that is described in Tom Swift and His Sky Racer (Grosset & Dunlap, 1911).

Curtiss also experimented with aircraft which could land on and take off from the surface of a lake. These became some of the first seaplanes. Much later there was Tom Swift and His Flying Boat (Grosset & Dunlap, 1923).

One of the more interesting Tom Swift inventions was his House on Wheels (1929). Today we would consider this to be a motor home or recreational vehicle. There were some examples of custom vehicles like this which could have served as an inspiration to the story. Curtiss had an "Aerocar" which was a streamlined trailer with all of the comforts of home. One of these was on display in the museum.

We were given a chance to view the restoration workshop during our tour. We had a dinner catered in the museum. Afterward we had our keynote presentation by Jack Dizer called "How Tom Swift Invented Everything" which reprised a talk he first gave to a science group several years ago. This was accompanied by several dozen interesting slides.

After his presentation, Jack was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize his five decades of research and writing about series books like Tom Swift. The plaque was laser engraved on wood and represented both the natural materials that Tom Sr. would have used on some of his early inventions as well as a CO2 laser that Tom Jr. could have invented.

The next morning the group reassembled at the museum again to see my presentation called "Tom Swift on the Silver Screen" which recounted details about the history of attempts to put Tom Swift on film or television. The earliest of these goes back to 1914. The most extensive project was in the 1960s when Twentieth Century Fox was trying to make a film based on the first series. I gave a brief version of this topic about 10 years ago at the Popular Culture Association conference. However, so much new material has been uncovered over the years that it was time to revisit it.

After the presentation, attendees were given a wooden keychain fob to commemorate the convention which was laser engraved in the same manner as Jack's plaque.

Since it was Sunday, several people wanted to get on the road so we each went our separate ways. Kim and I drove around Hammondsport to take in the antique stores and otherwise enjoy the area. That evening we went to Avoca, NY, to spend the night at the Caboose Motel before we started to head back to Newark, NJ.

George Dombi and Stephen Disney did a great job organizing this Tom Swift convention on a short timeline. The people who attended all had a good time and I'm sure everyone learned something.

Hammondsport Convention -- part 1

2009-10-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

The first-ever Tom Swift convention was held in Hammondsport, New York, this past July. The three-day event was organized by George Dombi and Stephen Disney and was considered a success by all who attended.

It began with the group meeting at the Microtel in Bath, NY. After checking in, we went as a group to a nearby diner and became acquainted since many had not met in person before. After dinner we went back to the Microtel for the first convention activities.

George rented a suite and this was used for some presentations on Friday evening. Bill Gowen of Chicago spoke about how his collecting of Tom Swift began and some of the people he met along the way and how things are different today, both in terms of what can be found and prices, of course. He described taking out ads in antique magazines to buy virtually any Tom Swift that came to hand. He also drove many miles to visit bookstores, book barns, and individuals' homes to find books. Early on it was very difficult to find Tom Swift Sr. books in jacket and few people had built sets before Yellowback Library became a major exchange medium.

Jim Towey from Connecticut showed examples of his efforts to reprint scarce series books and dust jackets. He described how he selected titles to publish, obtained rights, and some of the difficulties in getting them published in small quantities in an acceptable format. He showed the variety of bindings he has tried over the years, noting which ones were more successful than others.

On Saturday morning we had something of a show-and-tell session from the collectors who brought something interesting from home. Neil Morrison brought some scarce items, including the radio audition recording which contained two episodes of a Tom Swift radio show. Only episodes one and seven were recorded on a trial basis and placed on this disc. Neil told something of the story about how he was told about the item and obtained it. Aside from a similar disc that the Stratemeyer Syndicate had that is now at NYPL, this is the only known copy of a Tom Swift record. The scripts for these two episodes, along with summaries of the other installments are part of the Stratemeyer Syndicate Records Collection at NYPL.

Since most of us were traveling by plane, we could not bring anything especially large to show. We brought another apparently unique item. Neil and I each have pairs of "Tom Swift"-brand children's shoes. They are of a different design so there may be several types which were produced but few survive. It seems as if there should be others out there but thus far these two pair are the only ones of which I am aware.

However, instead of bringing our pair (I thought Neil might bring his), I decided to bring a related find which probably is unique in terms of extant copies -- a Tom Swift Shoes-branded Brannock device for measuring children's feet. It has a red and silver metal plate riveted to it with the Tom Swift Shoes logo.

Although Tom Swift Shoes appeared on the market in 1954 and for several years afterward, they do not seem to be connected with either series of books based on the shoe ads found in newspapers from the time.

After our show-and-tell we ate lunch at a restaurant called Chat-a-Whyle in the downtown area. Since it is near Hammondsport and Keuka Lake (Shopton and Lake Carlopa for Tom Swift fans), there were several images on the walls and etched in the glass to commemorate some of his achievements on land, water, and in the air. It proved to be a very appropriate place for us to meet and eat.

We all enjoyed our meal and several of us wore Tom Swift shirts which Neil has offered from time to time over the years.

Our next stop for the day was the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum for a tour and our keynote presentation.

To be continued ....

Image Galleries for the 2009 Tom Swift Convention in Hammondsport, NY, may be seen at these links:

Friday, July 24, 2009

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Tom Swift Convention #1

2009-07-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

When Earl Swift wrote an article about Tom Swift for American Heritage of Invention and Technology called "The Perfect Inventor," there were two tiny errors. One caption identified the Whitman Better Little Books as "dime novels" and the other was the statement that collectors "line their bookshelves with Tom Swifts and exchange volumes and trivia at occasional Tom Swift conventions." However, to that point and even to today there has not been a convention devoted to Tom Swift.

There have been other series book conferences and conventions, of course. Nancy Drew has had several major conferences. The La Crosse, WI, and Corning, NY, series book conventions were legendary for the guests which included several series book authors. The 1994 Series Book Collectors in Earthquake Land in Los Angeles, CA was another good one. Smaller regional gatherings of collectors have also been held.

The Society of Phantom Friends holds annual gatherings for enthusiasts of all girls' series books. The Horatio Alger Society also has annual conventions, usually in May.

The Popular Culture Association has an annual conference, usually in the Wednesday through Saturday before Easter. The Mar 31-Apr 3, 2010 conference will be held in St. Louis. I have been participating in that conference annually since 1992 and presented papers each year except for 1993 and 1994.

But no Tom Swift convention. Realizing that 2010 would be the 100th anniversary, I mentioned my intent to host a Tom Swift 100th Anniversary convention in my home town of San Diego, CA, to a Tom Swift Yahoo Group (Tom-Swift).

The idea was welcomed and some were enthusiastic enough that they said "why wait?" and begun plans for a smaller convention in Hammondsport, NY, from Friday July 24 through Sunday July 26.

Why Hammondsport? That was the home town for Glenn Hammond Curtiss, the motorcycle and aviation pioneer who is considered by many to be an inspiration for Tom Swift. Many of the things he did are similar to those described in the early stories. He did many of his experiments in Hammondsport on Keuka Lake. These are therefore models for Shopton, NY, and Lake Carlopa of the stories.

At least part of the event will be held at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport.

We expect a small gathering at this year's event, perhaps a dozen of the most enthusiastic Tom Swift fans. If someone reading this wants to attend, there should still be some room.

In the coming week before the convention, I'll write a bit more about it and of course I will have some photos and summaries of the convention afterward.

Tom Swift series begins

2009-07-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

The Tom Swift series is a group of juvenile adventure stories by "Victor Appleton" which featured a young inventor. Many of the inventions described were vehicles, both in a literal and literary context, to take Tom and his friends to distant lands in search of adventure.

The series began in 1910 with five volumes:

1. Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle
2. Tom Swift and His Motor Boat
3. Tom Swift and His Airship
4. Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat
5. Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout

In the first adventure Tom buys a second-hand motorcycle from his eccentric new friend, Mr. Wakefield Damon. Mr. Damon has a verbal tick of "blessing" just about every part of his anatomy or objects around him when he is excited. In some of the books Mr. Damon is said to live in Waterfield, NY, while others use Waterford, NY.

Tom improves the motorcycle slightly and has an adventure related to patent thieves who have stolen a model of one of his father's, Barton Swift's, inventions.

In Motor Boat, Tom wins a boat in an auction and has adventures on Lake Carlopa. Here, too, he does not invent the boat but simply makes a few improvements.

In the third volume, a man who was saved from a burning balloon at the end of the second book, Mr. John Sharp, revealed that he had plans to build an airship of a novel design. This used characteristics of a dirigible as well as an aeroplane. Tom and Mr. Sharp build the airship and name it the Red Cloud after the color of the aluminum gas envelope. They go on a long trip down the Atlantic coast and are pursued because the local Shopton bank has been robbed and their novel departure seems suspicious.

Although the submarine boat is called Tom's in the title, it was actually the invention of his father Barton. The boat uses a unique propulsion system with charged electrical plates.

Tom's first real invention appears in Electric Runabout. The main invention here is an alkaline-based battery-motor system with gears. He seems to build the car but it is not the primary emphasis of the story. Incidentally, 1910 is also the year when Edward Stratemeyer got his own first automobile, a 1910 Cadillac touring car, and wrote his Automobile Boys of Lakeport.