Eric Sloane (1905 - 1985)

Simpler Times 

   If you are interested in old-timey things and are looking for a diversion, then check out the works of Eric Sloane. By 'works' I mean both paintings and books. You will value him as an author if titles like these are appealing: A Reverence for Wood; A Museum of Early American Tools; American Barns and Covered Bridges and Our Vanishing Landscape. You will appreciate him as an artist if you find attractive such things as paintings of clouds and large vistas and illustrations of things on the land that have now mostly disappeared. 

   He started out in the East as a sign painter and while working on one for the Half-Moon Hotel on Coney Island, he met some pilots and began putting letters and logos on planes. That led to an interest in illustrating the sky and if you have ever visited the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, you could not have missed his mural there which is "seven stories high and half a block long." He painted signs all across the country and wrote books with illustrations about the things he saw. He ended up in Taos.
   His interest in the sky led him to study meteorology and write about it. If you are curious about the weather and climate change see: Folklore of American Weather and For Spacious Skies: A Meteorological Sketchbook of American Weather.  In this regard, he is like George R. Stewart, who I wrote about one year ago. The two of them will provide you with enough material to last you through all the bad weather that is soon to come. 

       

Sources:

   If you just want to see if he is someone you might be interested in, simply go to the entry for Eric Sloane in Wikipedia.

   If you are still only marginally interested, see the website created by a Sloane fan back in 2014. It still exists and contains a brief biography and a bibliography. Ericsloane.com still works in late 2021, so the link has been embedded for you. 

  If you are now really interested, visit the state of Connecticut where you will find the Eric Sloane Museum & Kent Iron Furnace. , in Kent. That state also promotes him on their website. Finally, if you are convinced that he is an interesting character, visit the: Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum: Preserving the Legacy of Eric Sloane and the Museum He Founded. 

For obituaries see:

Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1985.

New York Times, March 8, 1985.

The Bonus:
   According to the Wikpedia entry, he was married seven times (it may have been only five.) He died of a heart attack in New York city on the way to an event in his honour. Apart from his house and the museum in Connecticut, I found this real estate listing from a few years ago for the house he built in Santa Fe. 
   Western University close by has several of his works and the London Public Library a few. That is where I got a copy of Diary of an Early American Boy. Unfortunately it appears to have gone missing since it is no longer listed in their catalogue. ( A while back, I wondered if the disappearance of books from the LPL's could be a problem - See The Mystery of the Missing Books.)