Publication and Ordering Information:
The Blessed Isle was jointly published by the Long Island Studies Institute, Hofstra University and the Suffolk County Historical Society through Heart of the Lakes Publishing. The 100-page, 8-1/4" x 10" book includes extensive notes, an index, and more than 70 photographs, with a dozen in color. It is a $15.95 paperback (ISBN: 1-55787-078-0; LC 90 27112).
The Blessed Isle is available locally at the Weathervane Shop of the Suffolk County Historical Society in Riverhead (631) 727-2881, and the SPLIA Gallery in Cold Spring Harbor, (631) 367-6295. Mail orders will be filled by the Suffolk County Historical Society, 300 West Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901, histsoc@suffolk.lib.ny.us, (631) 727-2881, fax (631) 727 3467; Heart of the Lakes Publishing, P.O. Box 299, Interlaken, NY 14847, HLPbooks@aol.com, (607) 532-4997, fax (607) 532-4684; or the Long Island Studies Institute (for libraries, museums, schools, and bookstores), Hofstra University, West Campus, 619 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead, NY 11549; LISI@Hofstra.edu, (516) 463-6411, fax (516) 463-6441.

Of related interest: Nassau County at 100: The Past and Present in Photographs.

Contents:
Foreword, by Natalie A. Naylor
Preface
Introduction
Fullerton's Early Years
Cyclists' Paradise
Unique Long Island
Mile-a-minute Murphy
Motoring
Photography, The Press, and the Lecture Circuit
Horticulture and Country Life
Lure of the Land
The Great War
Final Years
Epilogue: The Photographs
Conclusion
Notes

Excerpts from Reviews:
"The Suffolk County Historical Society mounted an exhibit of Fullerton's photographs entitled 'The Blessed Isle' after Fullerton's promotional name for Long Island. In collaboration with Hofstra University's Long Island Studies Institute they have published this handsome volume which contains many photographs from the collection and exhibit with an extensive analysis of Fullerton's career by Charles L. Sachs.
"Hal Fullerton came to Long Island as an employee of the Long Island Rail Road when he was about forty. To say he fell in love with the Island would be an understatement. He became a full-time booster, promoter, and chronicler of the Island which he believed was the jewel of the Northeast -- if not the United States. In his capacity as 'special agent' for the LIRR, Fullerton photographed the Island for the Rail Road's promotional programs. His work encouraging bicycling and his related insistence on road improvement have led some to credit him as a major force in the development of roads in the pre-[Robert] Moses era. Ironically, improvements in the Island's road network may have worked to the detriment of Fullerton's employer. In the early twentieth century he operated the LIRR's experimental farms which were designed to demonstrate the potential of the Pine Barrens. This extensive section of scrub oak and pitch pine forest in central and eastern Long Island had been avoided by settlers and developers as its sandy soil and scrubby vegetation were believed indicative of poor fertility. Fullerton succeeded in producing an enormous quantity of high grade produce from these farms and he became a significant force in the Island's agricultural community. As was true of his work with bicyclists, Fullerton's agricultural activities were well chronicled by camera. . . .
"Both the Suffolk County Historical Society and Long Island Studies Institute are to be congratulated on this beautifully produced work. The photographs are mostly in black and white -- which one would expect -- but several are rendered in Fullerton's color tinting process. All are well-selected and cover all phases of Fullerton's long career and deep commitment to Long Island. Sach's well researched and engaging narrative adds greatly to our understanding of the man and his work -- not to mention a 'Blessed Isle' we can know only through Fullerton's photographs." --Carl Starace, Editor, Long Island Forum, 54 (Winter 1992): 42.

"Hal B. Fullerton (1857-1935) was one of the more significant individuals in the history of
twentieth-century Long Island, and arguably the most colorful -- not eccentric, but vibrant and ceaselessly enterprising. . . . Long Island entered his life in 1897 when he became a Special Agent for the Long Island Railroad. This he came to believe was 'the Blessed isle' -- blessed by climate, location, and geology. He and the railroad agreed that Long Island would become a place of suburban communities and farms. The key to both was surface transportation and the development of agriculture. As publicist and later as the railroad's director of agriculture, Fullerton devoted himself and his family to these ends. He worked for improved roads, improved transportation by bicycle and automobiles, and for the perfection of agriculture. Fullerton's wife, Edith Loring Fullerton, while more placid than Hal, was as deeply involved as he was. She wrote the text for the various books and pamphlets that he illustrated and she succeeded him as director of agriculture. . . .
Sachs has a professional interest in historical photography; while presenting all aspects of the Fullerton story, he offers a particular appreciation for Hal B. Fullerton's photography, and presents a large number of Fullerton's photos, including a number of striking color plates. Fullerton, who was deeply interested in all technologies, took up photography in the early 1890s. His several thousand surviving photos present many people and many places but compose in particular an iconography of Long Island in the early twentieth century. Though he would have denied his artistry, many of Fullerton's photos . . . are works of photographic art." --Wendell Tripp, Editor, New York History, 76 (April 1995): 228-29.

"Hal B. Fullerton was a true 'Renaissance Man' in his age, which was a progressive time, indeed. Possessed of myriad talents (writing, artistic, photography, public relations), an orderly and logical scientific mind, and a forceful personality balanced with a sometimes corny -- but immensely delightful -- sense of humor and deep-rooted American ideals of hard work, fidelity and progressivism, Fullerton left an indelible influence on modern Long Island. When he went to work as a Special Agent (with vaguely defined portfolio) for the Long Island Rail Road in 1897, it was a classic case of 'the right man in the right place at the right time.' All concerned -- Fullerton, the railroad, the region, and world agriculture -- were beneficiaries, even into the present time. . . .
"Charles Sachs does not attempt to write THE definitive biography of Hal Fullerton, but does an excellent job of sketching his remarkable life and putting the reader on speaking terms with the pioneer publicist and master of several diverse professions. Fortunately for the author, both of Fullerton's daughters -- then in their eighties -- were still alive and, as always, most helpful in providing information, documents, and recollections. In his research, Sachs visited many historical organizations, libraries, and individuals who had some distant connection with Fullerton, mostly through photographs or his agricultural and railroad work. . . .
"Sach's summary of Hal Fullerton's life reveals the personality, accomplishments, and human relationships of the protagonist and his times. The book is a useful research tool, explaining where to find information and the plates, which are scattered over several public and private collections. Extensive footnotes document sources.
"Hal Fullerton deserves a great deal of credit for his audacious, enlightened promotion of Long Island, and his exploits in establishing the world-renowned LIRR Experimental Farms. However, his success would have been greatly diminished had it not been for his 'Lifelong Partner,' his wife Edith Loring Fullerton. She administered the farms, kept detailed records and journals, wrote the text of the publications illustrated by her husband's superb photography, and was closely consulted by him. Edith was a 'liberated' woman early on. She was a forceful speaker for suffrage, and a champion of the advancement of women in society and business. Indeed, when Theodore Roosevelt visited the Fullertons in 1910, it was Edith who drove the automobile that transported her husband, herself, LIRR President Ralph Peters, and T.R. on a day-long tour of the farms at Wading River and Medford. And when Hal retired as Director of Agriculture for the railroad in 1927, Edith was to be his logical successor, her most melancholy duty being to close the department a few years later." --Ron Ziel, Long Island Historical Journal, 4 (Spring 1992): 252-55.

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