Our Current Pennsylvania titles include:

• Johnstown, Pennsylvania: the Great Flood ... and afterward

This CD-ROM, which includes two books written shortly after the "great flood" as well as other Johnstown material,  is now available!!

for more information.

 

•  Minisink and Port Jervis

This CD-ROM, while concerned mainly with the portion of the Minisink region that falls in Orange County, NY, also contains information about the communities across the Delaware River from Port Jervis in Pennsylvania.

for more information.

The Episcopal Church in Lebanon County, PA (1903) by the Rev. Alfred M. Abel.  Includes the various churches and chapels, especially those associated with the Coleman family of iron industry fame.  19++ pages, including new photographs, in PDF format.  Download for $2.50

The Molly Maguires, chapter 2 from Volume VIII of the History of the United States by James Ford Rhodes (1920).  A full chapter about an anthracite region group that has been identified with the union movement and has also been called a criminal conspiracy and a gang of Irish terrorists.  While the Mollies scarcely rate a footnote today, at the time they were taken quite seriously.  36+ pages, in PDF format.  Download now for $2.50

The Johnstown High School Spectator – for the class of 1921 1/2, Johnstown, PA.  This document is a combination high school yearbook and literary magazine – evidently the magazine was a monthly publication during the school year – principally dedicated to the January 1922 graduating class of JHS.  Half-year graduating classes have not been common in the United States, and we have seen fewer yearbooks devoted to them, so this is an unusual document.  The cover was missing from the issue we obtained, and a portion of the page with the president and perhaps another officer of the class on one side, and the photos of two graduates whose names appear ahead of Bantly in the alphabet, are likewise missing.  110+ pages, PDF format, download now for $4.75.

The Harmony Society at Economy, PA, from Communistic Societies of the United States, by Charles Nordhoff (1875).  Many living today perceive the “flower power” communes of the 1960s as something new and different in America.  To the contrary, the United States has a long tradition of communes of various types, and Nordhoff made a study of them, visiting many of them of his era.  While the communes of the 1960s differed from those of a century and more earlier in philosophical underpinnings, in both centuries they were considered quite novel and more than a little scandalous. 36+ pages, PDF format, download now for $3.50.

(If this item is of interest to you, you may also be interested in the chapter about the colony at New Harmony, Indiana, from The Hoosiers.)

Schuylkill County, PA: 100th Anniversary. The Queen of the Anthracite Region” passed its 100^th anniversary in 1911 and a Pottsville department store, Dives, Pomeroy and Stewart, celebrated the occasion with a brief county history.  Usually such ventures are underwritten by centennial commissions, or by history-minded individuals, but we will take it where we can get it.  This is largely an industrial history, which is not unexpected given the prominence of the coal mining business in that locale.  The Molly Maguires rate a mention, and the contribution of this county to the Union during the Civil War was considerable.  114+ pages, PDF format, download now for $4.75.

The War of the Rebellion chapters from History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, by Franklin Ellis (1882).  This county history is detailed in its documentation of the county’s efforts in the Civil War, as the chapters in this selection show.  Chapter 17 is an account of Fayette’s first companies, the 8^th and 11^th Regiments, reserves.  Chapter 18 covers the 85^th Regiment and the 2^nd Heavy Artillery.  Chapter 19 details the 116^th and 142^nd Regiments.  Chapter 20 covers the 14^th Cavalry, while Chapter 21 covers the 16^th Cavalry.  In all cases, rosters of men from Fayette County are provided, along with casualty data, and in something not often seen in county histories, mustering in dates even for private soldiers.  43+ pages, PDF format, download now for $4.25.

Iron, Coal and Coke - Economic Geology from the History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, by Franklin Ellis (1882).  This county history is unusual in the extent to which it demonstrates an appreciation of the role that iron, coal, and coke played in its development.  It is particularly unusual, given its publication date, in the extent to which it recognizes old, crumbling iron furnaces as historical artifacts worthy of documentation if not preservation.  Clearly the history of Fayette County is closely intertwined with its economic geology, but other counties elsewhere with similar connections with mining and industry do not pay the careful attention to the subject that this one does.  The color maps are particularly impressive and informative.  22+ pages, PDF format, download now for $4.00.

Pennsylvania titles we own but which are not currently scheduled for publication:

• Penn's Greene Country Towne:  Pen and pencil sketches of early Philadelphia and its prominent characters, by the Rev. S. F. Hotchkin

Rev. Hotchkin is remembered far better today as a historian of the Philadelphia area than he is for his career in the ministry.  Among his books were History of Germantown, The Old York Road, Bristol Pike, and Rural Pennsylvania.  He is also noted today as an architectural historian of the same area.  This volume of 216 pages includes numerous sketches and photographs, and is a useful adjunct to Philadelphia (and Pennsylvania) history. 

Interestingly, the Hotchkin family generated a number of literary clergymen -- a distant cousin of the Rev. Hotchkin was another Rev. Hotchkin who produced a notable History of Western New York, which we published some time ago.

• History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, edited by Franklin Ellis (1882)

This 840+ page volume about a southwestern PA county will be published as a series of downloads, and we have now begun that process (see above). In addition to the usual county history, including chapters on the Revolution and the Civil War, there are histories of each borough and township, each of which is likely to be published as a separate download.  The chapter on iron, coal and coke is particularly good.  Each of the geographic chapters is supplemented with biographies of leading citizens, which we will include.  Some of them include genealogical information.