Diary of an Early American Boy

by Eric Sloane

Part the diary of Noah Blake, who was 15 in 1805, and part a re-creation of the life that a boy in his circumstances would have lived, this book is a loving tribute to a vanished way of life. Profusely illustrated, it will give its readers a sense of participation in the past that is all too rare in conventional histories.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Americana, Childrens, Art, American History

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 1958

About the author

Eric Sloane (born Everard Jean Hinrichs) was an American landscape painter and author of illustrated works of cultural history and folklore. He is considered a member of the Hudson River School of painting.

Eric Sloane was born in New York City. As a child, he was a neighbor of noted sign painter and type designer Frederick W. Goudy. Sloane studied art and lettering with Goudy. While he attended the Art Students League of New York City, he changed his name because George Luks and John French Sloan suggested that young students should paint under an assumed name so that early inferior works would not be attached to them. He took the name Eric from the middle letters of America and Sloane from his mentor's name.

In the summer of 1925, Sloane ran away from home, working his way across the country as a sign painter, creating advertisements for everything from Red Man Tobacco to Bull Durham. Unique hand calligraphy and lettering became a characteristic of his illustrated books.

Sloane eventually returned to New York and settled in Connecticut, where he began painting rustic landscapes in the tradition of the Hudson River School. In the 1950s, he began spending part of the year in Taos, New Mexico, where he painted western landscapes and particularly luminous depictions of the desert sky. In his career as a painter, he produced over 15,000 works. His fascination with the sky and weather led to commissions to paint works for the U.S. Air Force and the production of a number of illustrated works on meteorology and weather forecasting. Sloane is even credited with creating the first televised weather reporting network, by arranging for local farmers to call in reports to a New England broadcasting station.

Sloane also had a great interest in New England folk culture, Colonial daily life, and Americana. He wrote and illustrated scores of Colonial era books on tools, architecture, farming techniques, folklore, and rural wisdom. Every book included detailed illustrations, hand lettered titles, and his characteristic folksy wit and observations. He developed an impressive collection of historic tools which became the nucleus of the collection in the Sloane-Stanley Tool Museum in Kent, Connecticut.

Sloane died in New York in 1985, while walking down the street to a luncheon held in his honor.

Sloane's best known books are A Reverence for Wood, which examines the history and tools of woodworking, as well as the philosophy of the woodworker; The Cracker Barrel, which is a compendium of folk wit and wisdom; and Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake-1805, based on a diary he discovered at a local library book sale. His most famous painted work is probably the skyscape mural, Earth Flight Environment, which is still on display in the Independence Avenue Lobby in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

Reviews

[Noran Miss Pumkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK GOT ME MARRIED! I KID YOU NOT!!! When i met my husband, he read only tech manuals, never anything for personal enjoyment/pleasure. I started to introduce him to art, ethnic foods, and real books--fun reads. One day in a bookstore, on a hunt for new finds, he stumbled upon this book--this edition in leather though. He bought it because it was about a boy from another century, and how he kept an illustrated journal about how he and his father built stuff. I mean barns, bridges, and the like. Well, there was also a love story recorded in the journal too, of how the boy courted and proposed to his love and how she responded with a bible verse. This moved my husband to tears. in that moment he realized the beauty of the story and knew a year ago he would not had appreciated the same , if it had not been for me being in his life. So he rushed to me crying, and asked me to marry me---i will not tell what he was wearing at the time though!?! I did say yes, on the condition he ask my father for my hand, though i was 38. It was how things are done in my family. Father was excited, but gave him a had time for awhile.
The book is a great read, and the drawings are wonderful. this is a great book for a cub scout and wood worker. Also anyone who likes to reads journals from another era.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sloane found the diary of Noah Blake, a boy who wrote it when he was 15 years old in 1805. The actual journal entries are brief, but Sloane discusses what they mean in a very readable format that fleshes out the life of this farm boy, his family, friends & the area in an amazingly thorough way given how short the book is. Even better, Sloane's amazing ink sketches convey thousands of words each starting with a map of the farm over a decade or so. Any place an image might speak better than words, he's put one. It positively pops.

If you have any interest in Colonial history, farming, wood or metal work, I highly recommend this little gem. I found it used for $4 including shipping on Abe Books, but it is priceless.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This makes the history of an intelligent, hard-working family come alive, concisely and informatively. I don't know why we're forgetting Sloane's works, except, I suppose, that we're more and more into disposable plastic & electronic toys and less into durable wood and iron tools. What a shame that we, in our 'pursuit of happiness,' have forgotten what true happiness is. Read this if you want to be reminded.

[Noula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this book about Noah, an early American boy. In his diary, he talks about work on his family farm. Various tools they used and recipes for wine using blackberries. He develops a crush on Sarah and I found it cute that he made her a rocking chair for Christmas. It is a short book about 9 chapters long with beautiful drawings. I had to read this for my History class in General Ed. I got a discount from the publisher when I ordered it from Dover. I give this book 5 stars! Plus, you get an inside glimpse of the behavior of Native Americans with whites. Quite extraordinary!

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical stuff, if you hanker for the simplicity of a "storybook" colonial life. One of those "sends me back" books that can be reread in an hour or so.

[Arwen Mellor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Educational, great pictures. If you are trying to make the settler days seem interesting to your young ones this is a good resource.
I read it when I was in middle school and bought a copy for my son to read as well.

[Anjanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will always be a favorite 🤩

[Jeff P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Mr. Sloane for a wonderful interpretation of Noah Blake’s diary.
This book transports you to the Blake homestead and offers a glimpse of life in 1805. It is hard to not find a new found respect for those early pioneers.

[Jane Dugger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so very fascinating! I could not put it down. It may be one of the few books I would take with me when the zombie apocalypse occurs. :)

[Dave E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy all Eric Sloane's books, but this one was unique, in that the basis of the book is a diary written by a 15 year boy/young man in 1805. The diary entries are brief, but Eric elaborates on them, including pen and ink drawings, to provide interpretation as to what the young man was really doing. An excellent, and easy read.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this! A teenager's diary, 1805, with lovely illustrations and explanations about tools, ways of working, social protocols, and more. Thanks for the recommendation Paul.

[Michael Warot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book portrays life in the early United States from the perspective of a boy coming of age. The knowledge and ingenuity of our ancestors is sadly underestimated by all of us. They knew far more about things that most of us learn in our lifetimes.

Intertwined is the story of a romance... a romance so innocent and profound it moved me to tears, and made me realized that I needed to propose to Noran.

While you probably won't be proposing because of this book... you can definitely learn a lot about life, the wisdom of our ancestors, and the practical aspects of history.

I highly recommend this book.



For those of you considering marriage.... run from the idea as fast as possible....

When you can't run anymore... then it's time.



--Mike--

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've got to restrain myself or I might get poetic. A simple little book, and yet full to the brim with charm, history, wonderful little facts, and beautiful drawings and diagrams. It's "Little House on the Prairie" stuff, only something all to itself. I recommend for anyone who is interested in how things were done in the old days.


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[Camelia Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Diary of an Early American Boy at the local library's winter book sale and it was a delightful surprise. It's a very nice little book to read with your child. You get a glimpse of life in early 19 century North American farm, from the eyes of a 15th years old farm boy. The book is full of pencil drawings of household objects, farm tools, maps, as well as illustrations of how things worked in the historical time. Some of these drawings are simply humorous:
"Some secrets and joys in the fine art of working in the woodshed"
"Here's how the wheelbarrow was born"
"The first American Heating Stove was fed from the next room"
and many more.

Oh, there is a hidden love story too.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal. I read this to my 4th grade daughter, maybe 5-8 pages per day, and we both loved it. Sloane is a master both of Americana-style line drawing and of succinct, crystal-clear explanations. The reader not only gains a strong sense of early American rural life but also benefits from a virtual primer of basic mechanical concepts. We were truly sad to see this one end. A must-read for fans of Little House, woodcraft in general, and those quirky Alone in the Wilderness videos popularized by PBS.

[John Galluzzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift from a friend, a fellow UMASS Amherst history grad. I trusted him implicitly and dove into the book.

I got lost in it immediately. It has such a straight-ahead, explanatory and confident tone that it delivers repeated wow moments. Sometimes they come as forehead slappers, when connections between past and present seem so obvious that the reader wonders why they couldn't have deciphered for themselves the linkages between words we use today and their practical origins centuries ago. Others are the result of the unveiling of ancient tools, furniture and more made for specific purposes that just seem overwhelmingly practical. So many tools have faded out over time as we've found better materials, adhesives, manufacturing methods and more. Make no mistake about it, while life was simpler in 1805, our ancestors found ways to achieve goals and meet needs by using good, hard common sense. They did not want for as much as we believe they did.

The story of the book follows the life of Noah Blake, a teenager in 1805 who receives a journal as a gift and puts it to good use. While conversations and actions are manufactured, they are drawn directly from the text he left behind, expanded upon and brought to life through both prose and stellar pen and ink drawings. While the book is focused on the expansion of the Blake family homestead in its physical form, a romance that expands it spiritually runs through it as well.

Whether Noah Blake existed is immaterial, but I do have questions. He doesn't appear in genealogical searches I've made. He was also portrayed as an only child in an era when families had as may as 12-to-15 kids. The premise of the book is the discovery of an 1805 almanac, the journal and an inkwell with the initials "N.B." on them, in "an old house" that has no geographic location. Did the author use more poetic license than he lets on (was "Noah Blake" created from the "N.B."?). As stated, I don't think it matters. The work is a masterpiece on the life and times of an "Early American Boy" and should be celebrated as such.

One funny note on my reading concerned a slight lack of awareness on my end. I skipped past the copyright page when I started reading and therefore did not see the copyright date. I was deeply engrossed in the book when I came across a passage about weather prediction then and now and realized the "now" of the book was not so recent. The author mentions how today old weather data is fed into "electronic calculator machines" for predictions. I stopped reading and thought, "Wait, when was this book written?" Only at that point did I realize that the author's work was so timeless - save for those three words - that it could have been written yesterday.

[Carolyn Scheidies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read my 1962 version of this book. It came into my hands as we went through boxes my brother had of my dad's things. It is derived from the real diary of a 15-year-old frontier lad named Noah. The book not only shares diary entries but also expands and clarifies, adding drawings of the farmstead and tools of the times. It brought back memories of reading this many years ago. The note on the book says Dad read this book to my brother when he was growing up.

The story was intriguing and the historical information invaluable. I highly recommend this book for parents for their kids to help them "see" history and for writers who will get a whole new perspective and information of the 1805 times.

And yes, newer versions are available at Amazon.

[Dr. Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This extraordinary book based on the discovered diary of a 15 year old Connecticut boy was written by American artist and Americana expert Mr. Eric Sloane and should be listed in the Library of Congress as a national treasure. Mr. Sloane was commissioned by the United States to paint the 75 foot mural in the National Space Museum in Washington, D.C. in 1974 largely through his fame as the pre-eminent artist of early Americana i.e., country scenes and in particular, stone fences, barns and covered bridges. This book of 108 pages contains numerous sketches of implements used on farms in the early 19th century and should be kept as a family heirloom.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and fascinating book in which Noah Blake keeps a day by day diary beginning in 1805. He is 15 years old an does much to help his father around the self sustaining homestead. Included are not only weather but names of tools used, plus all the buildings and systems created. 200 years plus later the Writer/artist Eric Sloane finds this diary and adds his own explanations along with detailed drawings.
It's an interesting book for anyone wanting to know how our earlier settlers lived. Also very useful to help young people to understand how their ancestors lived before all the many inventions from which we know have benefit.

[Erin Hendrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as a kid and it was so fun to read through it again as we work through our homeschool curriculum this year. Working through one year of actual diary entries from early American boy Noah Blake, the author explains a lot of the methods, machinery, craft, innovations, and traditions used in the early American homestead in the early 1800s, and weaves it into the narrative of the events that take place over the course of one year. Well-researched with lots of helpful illustrations, it brings history to life and is written by someone who obviously has a deep appreciation for things made with care and intention through the hard work and ingenuity of our American forefathers.

[EagleRose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a charming little book if you are interested in how things were done in early America. I thought I had a pretty good picture of what it was like after reading the Little House series but this dates back many years before Laura Ingalls, to about 6 years after General Washington's death. It is based on the diary of a 15 year old boy during that time and explains how he helped his dad build their mill and covered bridge and hew logs to make a wooden floor in their house. Because it was true, I was afraid it wouldn't end the way I hoped -- but it did. :-)

[untitled lullaby · Rating 4 out of 5]

“How richly awake they must have been to every moment of each day!” This book is interesting. The diary itself is fairly basic but Eric’s imaginings come up with a great story on top with some fascinating history. The only really negative thing I have (besides the quality of the print work of the book itself which is bad) is the Native American part. The book is also a timestamp on when Eric wrote it. I would also have liked to know what happened to Noah Blake. I think it would be easier now than Eric’s time to dig through some records.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our family thoroughly enjoyed this book. Learning about the tools used in farming and how homes were made in the early 1800’s peaked my sons interest. He is 9 and loves all things engineering.

A few favorites: the dirt floor in a home - the mother drawing in the dirt after sweeping and pounding it to make it look pretty.
How sleds were used year round.
How fences were built.
All the different tools for hand us
How a mill was built.
Corn mazes
Furniture
Cider presses

So informative

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

If we ended up in a dystopian world, No power and starting life over, this book with the explanations of how things were done in 1805 would be an invaluable asset to any personal library. It is such a small book but with the pictures by Eric Sloane along with the lessons of how items were made from scratch This book alone would give you a great idea how to live, and at least put you on to the right track to what you need to learn from other sources. This was a Good Read.

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book, give me pictures of how people in those days life with easy to follow narratives and enchanting illustrations. What their daily activities, how the thing was built, how they cultivate the land. A glimpse of simple mundane yet practical methods, how people deal with nature without modern's tool, through the eyes of fifteen years old boy.

[Mark Moxley-Knapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read this as a kid, probably again as an adult, and recently got this large-format edition. The pictures are great, the text is interesting and informative, and the diary is full of day to day tidbits of old-time life. The author creates a story from the diary, and fills in details. A lot of fun, a quick, light read, and great for kids and adults.

[Drew Chrisman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a quick read. The short of it is this, any individual would likely benefit from reading this book, whether it be the history of early American living, the personalized narrative to help us understand the true journal entries, or the sketches to show early engineering. The mindset the Blake family had would be well applied by many today if we were so wise.

[Maggie Bowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be surprisingly enjoyable! I felt like I learned a lot even though I already knew a decent amount about how things used to be made. The pacing was good and there was enough of a narrative to make it more interesting than simply reading journal entries. I found the drawings to be very helpful as well.

[Sharon Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

From my 11 year old: “This book also taught me a lot! I learned about how olde machines worked! Like how water wheels worked and it even showed drawings of some machines, and they even made their own bridge! Super interesting!

[Emily Attaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a family read aloud for my kids’ school. It was fine. I found the term “Indian” to be used in poor taste and the few bible verses were taken out of context. It was interesting learning about early American life though.