The Garden State: Where Ideas Grow with Linda Barth

Описание: Many people are familiar with Edison’s “invention factory” in Menlo Park, where he patented the phonograph, the light bulb, and many other innovations. Yet a trove of significant ideas have grown in the Garden State—New Jerseyans brought sound and music to movies and built the very first drive-in theater. In addition to the first cultivated blueberry, tasty treats like ice cream cones and M&M’s® are also Jersey natives. Iconic aspects of American life, like Bubble Wrap®, the boardwalk, the Band-Aid®, and even professional baseball itself started in New Jersey. Not to mention the vacuum cleaner, plastic, air-conditioning, and important advances in medicine and surgery were all developed within the state’s borders.

Linda Barth has been a fan of New Jersey for a long time. A lifelong resident of the Garden State, Linda has written two books on the D&R Canal and three children’s picture books, Bridgetender’s Boy, Hidden New Jersey, and Alice Paul: Champion of Women’s Rights. She has also authored A History of Inventing in New Jersey: From Thomas Edison to the Ice Cream Cone and New Jersey Originals. With her husband she has published The Millstone Valley Through Time and Somerville Through Time. She has also contributed to the Encyclopedia of New Jersey.

Linda Barth spent 45 years in the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, teaching fourth grade and then substituting after retirement. She is the executive director of the League of Historical Societies of New Jersey and president of the D&R Canal Watch, a friends organization of the D&R Canal State Park.

Photo credit: Edison employees listening to the phonograph. West Orange, NJ. Courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

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