Linda Simon

(Dr. Linda Simon conducted research at The Bakken in June, 2000)

The research that I conducted at the Bakken has contributed to my new book, Dark Light: Electricity and Anxiety from the telegraph to the x-ray, which will be published by Harcourt in July 2004. The book focuses on the advent of electricity in the second half of the 19th century, when there were few light bulbs, telephones, or electric trams in everyday use; when people learned of the potential of electricity through enthusiastic articles in newspapers and magazines or from the spectacular demonstrations they saw at fairs; when one´s only actual experience with electrical power was likely to be in a doctor´s office, where electrotherapy was administered for a wide variety of symptoms and complaints. During the decades when electricity made its gradual impact into everyday life, people become enticed by what the power might for them, and troubled by what it might do to them and their world. Electricity--just as new technologies do today--generated considerable anxiety, and that is the subject of my book.

At the Bakken, I read sources crucial to my research, including books and articles on electrotherapeutics; material related to criminal electrocution, the first of which occurred in 1890; material related to Thomas Edison and George Beard, two central figures in my book; and books and articles about electricity´s impact on everyday life. The Bakken´s incomparable collection of 19th century sources greatly enriched my research. In addition, my tour of the instruments with their curator was extremely valuable. Despite having read scores of descriptions of electrotherapeutic devises, I simply could not visualize what was attached where until I saw the instruments and followed the curator’s precise and informed explanations of their use. The librarian provided expertise in helping me to locate relevant sources, including sources I may not have found otherwise.

Dr. Linda Simon
Associate Professor, English
Skidmore College
815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, New York 12866-1632
Phone: 518-580-5000
E-mail: lsimon@skidmore.edu

Further information on Dr. Linda Simon’s forthcoming book may be viewed at:
http://www.amazon.com/