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The Greatest Generation of the Keystone State

The Pennsylvania Wilds comprise a tiny fraction of the state’s population, but when the United States entered World War II, the Wilds responded with characteristic courage and determination. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, young men rushed to recruitment centers to serve. Many returned as heroes. Many never returned, paying the ultimate sacrifice. Not to be left out, numerous women filled the ranks of Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps or became navy nurses overseas. On the homefront, workers bused in to fill vacancies left by those who went to war flooded the small towns of the Wilds, and all across the region, people stepped up to provide defense services and to plant victory gardens.

Compiling contemporary news accounts, letters and firsthand accounts, historian Kathy Myers celebrates and commemorates the region’s intrepid war efforts at home and abroad.

Author Gretchen Knapp brings to life the challenges and contributions of daily life in World War II Buffalo.

When President Roosevelt visited Buffalo in November 1940, he found a hardworking city with a large immigrant population manufacturing aircraft for the Allies. Nearby Fort Niagara inducted over 100,000 young men, resulting in an acute labor shortage. American Brass, Bell Aircraft, Chevrolet, Curtiss-Wright, Houde Engineering and Republic Steel reluctantly, then gladly, hired women. More than 300,000 defense workers toiled in hot factories for high wages despite transportation, housing and food shortages. The aircraft plants alone employed 85,000 on forty-eight-hour workweeks. Buffalonians watched the flag raising at Iwo Jima, participated in the Manhattan Project and observed the formal surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay. Author Gretchen Knapp brings to life the challenges and contributions of daily life during wartime.

From its idyllic rural origins to the buildup of small-town commerce and today's modern suburb, Wyckoff and its hidden history are revealed through the vintage photographs included in this volume.

In 1770, the first Wyckoff settlers were deeded land in what was to become Franklin Township. Spawning several other towns, such as Ramsey, Ho-Ho-Kus, Oakland, and Franklin Lakes, Franklin Township was renamed Wyckoff in 1926. Wyckoff has evolved from its early rural Dutch heritage to a thriving community. Today, Wyckoff is a blend of old and new, and a strong sense of history persists in the area. With views of historic stone houses, early businesses, and community activities and festivities, Wyckoff creates a sense of what nineteenth- and twentieth-century life was like in the township. Early settlers with names like Quackenbush, Terhune, Van Houten, Ackerman, Pulis, and Van Blarcom still have descendants living here. Longtime residents will remember local landmarks such as Appert Field, Turtle Pond, Harned's Store, Zabriskie Field, and Lemmerman Farm. Evidenced by the many houses of worship, volunteer organizations, and long-running celebrations like the Memorial Day parade, Wyckoff has maintained its rustic charm and community pride while growing into a popular northern New Jersey locale.

Between 1920 and 1964, the Bronx Bombers dominated the game of baseball. In this striking and nostalgic volume featuring many rarely seen photographs, we meet the heroes that were the New York Yankees.

It was a time when baseball players enjoyed an elevated status as national icons, a time when men wearing baggy, flannel uniforms and sporting pancake gloves played for little more than the love of the game. The Yankees won 29 American League pennants and 20 World Series during this golden era, their diamond exploits thrilling generations of fans and their statistical achievements becoming familiar numbers in the lore of the game: Babe Ruth's 714 home runs; Lou Gehrig's 2,130 consecutive games played; Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak; Casey Stengel's 5 straight world championships; Mickey Mantle's 565-foot home run; and Roger Maris's 61 round-trippers. The tradition of excellence began in the 1920s with the Murderers' Row teams, named for their killer batting lineups, and continued through the early 1960s, by which time the Bronx Bombers had established themselves as the most successful franchise in sports history.

Yardley revisits the 200 year history of the borough through photographs.

In the eighteenth century, a ferry and mill marked the crossroads beginnings of Yardleyville in Makefield Township. New modes of transportation transformed the village, commerce and industry flourished, and the population increased substantially. Soon the people of Yardley yearned for their own government—their own town—and Yardley, Pennsylvania, was incorporated in 1895. When Yardley Borough celebrated its centennial, donations and loans of photographs revealing Yardley's history were collected. This volume is compiled mostly from this locally assembled selection of images, and recounts Yardley's history with eloquence.  The face of the old toll collector, the festivities of the Canal Days and Harvest Day celebrations, and countless days at Lake Afton, the canal, or the river are all captured in this treasured account of Yardley's past.

Discover the rich history of Yonkers as local Joan Jennings walks through the city's neighborhoods, landmarks, and notable characters who called the city home.

A study in contrasts, Yonkers, a sprawling city 20 miles north of midtown Manhattan, traces its roots to early Dutch settlers. Yonkers has a history of retail, boasting one of the first shopping malls in the United States, but prides itself on its backbone of mom-and-pop businesses. Seabiscuit, the legendary racehorse, once stood in the winner's circle at Yonkers Raceway. The city has 38 distinct neighborhoods, each with its own character and identity. Yonkers was home to some of the 19th century's wealthiest industrialists and inventors whose innovations, such as the Otis safety elevator, Armstrong's FM radio, Harvey's elevated railroad, and Smith's carpet looms, shaped the world we know today. Currently, the city with a rough-and-tumble, blue-collar waterfront is undergoing dramatic revitalization.

Over the centuries, Yonkers, New York, has evolved from a small village to a dynamic industrial powerhouse.

The city firmly established itself as one of the largest cities in the state in the post-Civil War era, with downtown Getty Square as its bustling center. Culling images form the collections by Yonkers Historical Society and Blue Door Artist Association, uncover Yonkers throughout history.

Zippo has been owned and operated by the Blaisdell family for more than seventy years. Zippo Manufacturing Company contains photographs of the Blaisdells, the Zippo Riders, the Zippo ski slope, the Zippo car, special-edition lighters, and scenes from the town of Bradford. Zippo archives and private collections have yielded rare photographs of Zippo employees at work, company and collector events, and other highlights in the company's history.