These items were acquired by Alfred Shoemaker from the original collections of Charles R. Roberts and Walter E. Boyer. Charles Rhoads Roberts (1875-1943), a member of the Pennsylvania German Society, studied the history and genealogy of families in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and founded the Lehigh County Historical Society. Walter Ellsworth Boyer (1911-1960) was a noted illustrator, poet, scholar and collector of Pennsylvania German folk materials.
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David Bolten Mathematics Exercise Book, 1812
David Bolten
David Bolten of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, created this handwritten arithmetic exercise book in March, 1812. It contains problems and solutions under the headings of compound addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Applications, examples, cases and rules are included throughout the book. Examples include measurement of time, land and cloth as well as liquid and dry measurements. Also included is a section of problems on reduction, or the conversion of sums of money to other denominations.
The book was originally handed down to David A. Huber, the great-great-grandson of Bolten. David Bolten was married to Julia Schoener Bolten (1797-1881), buried in Niantic, Pennsylvania. Bolten's birth and death dates are unknown.
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Principles and Exercises in Geometry
Peter Rhoads Jr.
Copybook of geometry exercises by Peter Rhoads, Jr., a student in the first class at Franklin College in 1787; a series of angle and linear relationship studies. Book includes both geometry and trigonometry exercises, propositions and surveying applications.
