Published in 1945, Floyd Clymer’s Historical Motor Scrapbook: Steam Car Edition, Volume 1 preserves the history of nearly 200 steam-powered automobiles through photographs, advertisements, articles, illustrations, and manufacturers’ literature.

Floyd Clymer was an automobile enthusiast, collector, racer, and publisher who dedicated much of his career to documenting early transportation history. Rather than presenting a traditional technical textbook, Clymer assembled this book as a scrapbook of original historical material, allowing readers to experience steam-car history through images and information from the era.

The book features well-known manufacturers such as Stanley, White, and Doble, along with numerous smaller companies that experimented with steam-powered transportation. It explores the wide variety of steam automobiles developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when steam competed with gasoline and electricity to power the emerging automobile industry.

Displayed near the museum’s steam-automobile artifacts, this book provides valuable historical context for the vehicles and components in the collection. It demonstrates the creativity, competition, and engineering experimentation that shaped the earliest years of personal transportation.