A detailed snapshot of motorized transport in the Brass Era

In 1086, King William of Normandy conducted a census of England and Wales, detailing who lived there and what they owned, in order to determine what amount of taxes were owed to him. To historians, the Domesday Book offers a window into 11th century England, and is their best reference to what life was like at the time. 

For automobile enthusiasts, a similar find has been uncovered by Lakeville Journal Associate Editor Bernard A. Drew of Great Barrington. 

A respected Berkshire County historian and author of many books, Drew was given three ledgers from the Morse Garage in Lenox, Mass., that offer a detailed look at the early days of motorized transport. 

A native of Canada, Tom Morse opened a garage in Lenox in 1902 in the early days when horses and bicycles were just  starting to be replaced by cars. In 1903 he began to keep a guest registry of every vehicle that stopped at his business, which was in a small but affluent town, easily reached by visitors from the big cities of New York and Boston.  

Drew collected the data from the Morse ledgers into “Well-Wheeled,” a Domesday-like view of the rise of automobiles in the early 20th century and the changes that transformed what the car industry would eventually look like. The information is collected from 1903 to just after World War I (the Brass Era); it is a meticulous and accurate record of all of the cars that went in and out of the shop. 

The shift from French to American cars, the growth of cheaper, more readily available automobiles and the decline of electric and steam varieties all vastly changed the definition of a modern car, and all can be seen in the ledger books. 

The book itself features the lists from the ledger books and also provides context and reaches some unexpected conclusions. 

“What you have in your hands,” Drew says in the introduction, “is a collage history of a small-town garage and its customers embracing a vibrant time. 

“It’s not about oil changes or bolt tightenings or pounding out dings and dents but of something much larger: of social change on a dynamic scale.”

But while Drew’s chapters, written over a period of two years, offer a picture of life in Gilded Age Berkshire County, there is also page after page of tantalizing automotive history and detail. 

For example, the first year of the garage listing goes from May to November 1903. The types of cars, largely electric and steam paint a very distinct picture of car ownership of the day. French imports abounded. The people who were motoring were the established upper class: the “executives, lawyers, [and] doctors.” This was about to change, with tens of millions of barrels of gasoline soon flooding out of Texas and cheaper gasoline cars taking advantage of it, as shown and discussed in the next crosssection of the Morse Garage ledgers. 

There are also biographies of the individuals who left a mark on the car industry, and photos, comics and ads from the era. 

Copies of the 312-page, oversize book are available for $40 at the Bookloft in Great Barrington, Shaker Mill Books in West Stockbridge and The Bookstore and The Mount in Lenox. 

Drew will speak at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum in Lenox about the beginnings of the automobile revolution on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 3:30 p.m. Reservations are suggested.