The annual holiday book sale will be held at the Bradford County Historical Society in Towanda on Sunday December 7th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The sale will be held in the museum located at 109 Pine Street in the heart of Towanda’s Historic District.
The book sale which is held only once each year has become a tradition with local history buffs that are looking to add to their collections. It is the only time each year that the society offers books at a discount price. Books range from $7.50 to $70.00.
The wonderful history of our ghost mountain “Barclay Mountain-A History” will be available at a discounted price for the first time this year. The 359 page book published in 2007 features 32 chapters that are full of historical documentation, interviews and transcriptions of oral history with 400 plus photos of people and places over two centuries.
Offered at a discount to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War the reprint of “Our Boys in Blue,” Clement Heverly’s exceptional account of Bradford County men who fought in the Civil War. Heverly originally published two books one that contained stories and reminisces of the soldiers and one that contained all of the Bradford Country men who served and where they served. Heverly’s work has been reprinted in one volume with an added index it is truly a treasure for the Civil War enthusiast. This is also a great reference for Bradford County descendants of the local men who fought in the Rebellion.
Local Columnist and longtime Bradford County Historical Society volunteer and Emeritus Trustee Guy Abell’s new book –Roman Guy—a collection of columns and musings—will also be available. The book is a selection of newspaper columns, personal opinions, and stories about his life in Bradford County, travel adventures, and articles about automobiles, nature, sports, the weather and memories of the good old days. The 260 page book includes over 100 selections, plus two children’s stories. The author will be available to sign, discuss, and personalize the book to make it a unique holiday gift.
Offered for the first time this year, Images of Southwestern Bradford County, the largest photo book ever published about the history of southwestern Bradford County was written and designed by Matthew T. Carl. Proceeds benefit the LeRoy Heritage Museum. The book is hardcover has 400 pages and is over an inch thick. Approximately 700 photos from the collections of LeRoy Heritage Museum, the former Canton Area Historical Society, Ruth Kinney-McIntire, and several private collections. Images are form the townships of Canton LeRoy, Granville, and old Barclay.
The reprint of “History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania-1770-1878,” will be available at the sale. This history has been out of print for several years. The new third edition was released in honor of the bicentennial of Bradford County. The book was produced using cover material and paper similar to the original book, making this a collector’s edition for all local history fans and researchers alike. The production of this history in 1878 by Rev. David Craft was the first major project done by the Bradford County Historical Society after it was formed in 1870. Craft was appointed by the society to write the history, it is considered one of the best county histories ever published for that period. The Craft history (as well as all other reprints of the society) contains an added index which makes finding your ancestor or subject much easier as the originals did not include indexes.
The Bicentennial photo history of Bradford County will be available for sale at this event. The Bradford County Historical Society put together a book that contains 653 photographs of towns and townships throughout the county many of the photos have never or rarely been published in the past and offer the reader a glimpse of how our county grew and progressed through time.
Another featured item at this years sale will be the 128 page, full color, hard cover, indexed atlas, “Map of Bradford Country, Pennsylvania – 1858,” reprinted by the Bradford County Historical Society. Similar to the 1869 atlas reprinted by the society in 1999, this book features a map of each township and borough that shows the location of houses and buildings and their ownership in 1858. The entire set of maps is indexed, making it easy to quickly locate your ancestor or property.
Reprints of local history such as the “Romance of Old Barclay” and the “1869 Beers Atlas of Bradford County” along with writings of other local histories will be available that day.
The late Staley N. Clarke wrote the “Romance of Old Barclay” in 1928. He tells the story of the mountain and the coal mines along with the stories of some of the people who came to Bradford County to work there. Every little town on the mountain is mentioned in the book. There is also a listing of Barclay Mountain residents employed in the mines.
The “Beers Atlas” produced in 1869 with information compiled in 1868 is every genealogist’s dream. Each town and township has a page and on the page is a listing of every road that existed in 1869 along with the property owners in each section. Schools and cemeteries are listed too. The reprint includes an added index created by Doris Wilcox Hugo. The index is the best part of the reprint as it guides the researcher to the page where their ancestor may be found.
Some of the other books that will be available December 7th include “Pioneer and Patriot Families of Bradford County, 1778-1825”. The new “History of Bradford County.” 1995, which features 1,400 submitted family stories and the histories of town and townships, churches, schools and businesses, industry, military, cemetery and Century Farms, will also be available for sale on December 7, please note this book can not be reprinted so when the supply available at the museum is depleted it will no longer be available.
Bradford County History Books make wonderful Christmas gifts please join society trustees who will be on hand to assist book shoppers during the sale.
The Historical Society is a recipient agency of the Bradford County United Way.
