Tom Swift Convention #1

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

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.