Images of America Sale

As one of America’s most notorious prisons, Alcatraz has been a significant part of California’s history since 1853.

The small island known in sea charts by its Spanish name Isla de los Alcatraces or “Island of Pelicans” laid essentially dormant until the 1850s, when the US military converted the island into a fortress to protect the booming San Francisco region. Alcatraz served as a pivotal military position until the early 20th century and in 1934 was converted into a federal penitentiary to house some of America’s most incorrigible prisoners. The penitentiary closed in 1963, and Alcatraz joined the National Park Service system in 1972. Since then, it has remained one of the Bay Area’s most popular attractions as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Gregory L. Wellman, a California-based consultant, reveals in these images the evolution of Alcatraz. The island’s startling transformation comes alive through the photographic collections of the Alcatraz Alumni Association, the Golden Gate National Archives, and other private collections from around the country. This stirring imagery documents the evolution of one of America’s most renowned and memorable landmarks.

For 141 years, Hudson River State Hospital was home to tens of thousands of individuals suffering from mental illness.

Famous architects Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux drafted the main building in 1869. The facility grew from a 208-acre parcel in 1871 with seven patients to 752 acres with five dozen separate buildings containing nearly 6,000 patients in 1954. The main building was constructed on a Kirkbride plan, a treating philosophy centered around an ornate building of equal proportions staffed by employees who integrated dignity and compassion into health care. Famous architects Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux drafted the main building in 1869. The landscape was penned by Frederick Law Olmsted, perhaps best known for the design of New York City's Central Park.

Travel through the history of Ohio's historic canals and follow its growth throughout the years told with hundreds of photographs.

In the 1800s, the United States was a nation obsessed with finding a form of transportation that was the fastest, cheapest, and most reliable; at the time, canals were the answer. Canals broke through vast, open countryside, forested woodlands, and rolling hills to expose the heart of the nation to development. They took passengers and goods off of dusty or muddy roads and delivered them to their destinations faster and cheaper than by any other means. From Toledo to Cincinnati, the Miami and Erie Canal provided western Ohio with that sorely needed waterway and became part of the 1,000 miles of Ohio canals contributing to the national network of canals. Today, with the help of government, corporations, and citizens, many parts of the Ohio canal system have been preserved or restored and can be visited and experienced. Watered sections of canal quietly reflect a bygone era and lead an explorer down the towpaths of history.

Ballrooms were at the center of social life in the Midwest for over a century, with some dance halls dating back to the late 1800s. Throughout Nebraska, these iconic structures hosted a number of community events and musical performances, bringing together friends, families, and neighbors to socialize, celebrate, and, most importantly, dance. Nebraska’s ballrooms and dance halls brought people together, and these facilities were long the heartbeats of their towns. Pla Mor Ballroom in Lincoln, King’s Ballroom in Norfolk, States Ballroom in Bee, and Howells Ballroom are only some of the legendary dance halls featured among these historic photographs. Although many ballrooms have since burned down, been repurposed, or been demolished, some of the dance halls remain active today, a reminder of a more magical, musical, bygone era.

Los Angeles County’s San Gabriel Valley and the adjacent Inland Empire, encompassing San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, boasted a wealth of movie theatres throughout the 20th century. 

Entertainment options proliferated as people flocked to both areas, which were famed for their wealth-producing citrus groves and vineyards, their position along Route 66, and their mountain and desert resorts. Residents and vacationers could enjoy films at nickelodeons, picture palaces, drive-ins, and other venues; some still operate. Due to the regions’ proximity to Hollywood and their more rural and suburban settings, local cinemas frequently held studios’ test screenings (including for Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz); audiences there thus influenced what moviegoers elsewhere watched. Film exhibition’s history there reflects cultural, social, and demographic trends in these areas and the United States.

Kelli Shapiro, PhD, is a public historian and preservationist who has lived in both regions. She holds degrees from Pomona College, Texas State University, and Brown University. She wrote the Los Angeles Conservancy’s successful California Register of Historical Resources nomination for Route 66’s Azusa Foothill Drive-in Theatre—as well as Historic Movie Theatres of West Virginia, another Images of America book. This book’s images came from multiple museums, archives, and collections.

Pittsburgh has long been in the forefront of developing sports facilities, from Forbes Field, one of the first “modern” concrete and steel ballparks, and PNC Park, the best of the new millennium’s retro design movement, to Schenley Casino and Duquesne Garden, the first artificial indoor ice rinks, and the engineering marvel of the Civic Arena’s movable dome. Pittsburgh’s Historic Stadiums and Arenas chronicles Pittsburgh’s professional baseball, football, hockey, and basketball venues. Photographs cover the design and construction phases, the major changes as facilities expanded and aged, and eventually the demolition of some venues. The great players, teams, and moments are not the focus; there are many other books to tell their stories. Instead, the stadiums and arenas take center stage in this unique history of Pittsburgh sports and architecture.

The University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) had a long and rich history even before California became a state.

Formally established in 1921, UCMP was built with collections accumulated over 150 years. This treasure trove comes from all continents and ages; it is a major source for research, outreach, and teaching in paleontology—extinctions, radiations, asteroids, climate change, paleoceanography, and the animals, plants, and microbes themselves. Now the collections, built by the California Geological Survey (1864–1874), faculty, staff, students, and donors, are among the largest in America. Recently, UCMP members studied the biology of T. rex, the killer asteroid, human ancestors, reef paleobiology, flowering plants, and life on Mars and Europa. UCMP continues to make discoveries, interpretations, and outreach that inspire people.

Prof. Jere H. Lipps, faculty curator and past director of UCMP, studies paleontology, geology, marine biology, and astrobiology, publishing over 520 contributions. Elected fellow of six science organizations and president (1997) of the Paleontological Society, Lipps has also received various awards, including an island in Antarctica named for him (1979). He taught thousands of students in oceanography, paleobiology, and field courses at the University of California, Berkeley. Here, Lipps reviews the major events and people that have built UCMP.

Across New Jersey, thousands of men have entered through the doors of Masonic Lodge buildings, also known as temples, over the fraternity's more than 250-year history in the Garden State.

These buildings, from humble meeting spaces to elaborate single-purpose centers, stand tribute to the memory and influence of one of the oldest fraternities in the world, founded on the tenets of faith, hope, and charity.From governors and US Supreme Court justices to carpenters and stonemasons, Freemasonry has welcomed men from all walks of life, and the temples they built have played important roles in the civic, social, and charitable life of many towns.Although some lodges have been lost, many still remain and are presented here for the first time through photographs and images collected from various historical societies, museums, libraries, and Masonic organizations.This book attempts not to serve as an encyclopedic source but rather to catalog and organize the development of the Masonic temples in New Jersey.

California is rare among states and nations in having two cultural capitals—Los Angeles and San Francisco—and San Luis Obispo is smack in the middle. In the middle of nowhere or equidistant from everywhere, its architecture is a riot of variety: samples of practically every 19th- and 20th-century form; experiments by local builders; and one-offs by nationally known architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Julia Morgan, Richard Neutra, Edla Muir, and Warren Leopold (“Not A Licensed Architect” engraved on his tombstone), all without anxiety of influence from the outside. Where Santa Barbara, rebuilt after an earthquake during the City Beautiful movement, celebrates Spanish, Mission, and Moorish Revival, and Palm Springs embodies Mid-Century Modern, San Luis Obispo is California’s capital of the eclectic. Wright’s one Usonian office; Morgan’s biggest and smallest commissions: Hearst Castle and her cab driver’s daughters’ playhouse; the world’s only Greek Revival Streamline Moderne movie theater across from the Roman Revival PWA Moderne County Courthouse, like Ginger and Fred; the world’s first industrial desalinization plant in a power plant modeled after an Egyptian Temple and sheathed in aluminum; Art Beal’s bricolage Nitt Witt Ridge: all have an extraordinary story.

Author James Papp is an architectural historian and writer of walking tours as well as a principal with Historicities, a cultural resources consultancy in San Luis Obispo. He is a member of the Oceano Economic Development Council Advisory Board, the Education Committee of the California Preservation Foundation, and the City of San Luis Obispo Cultural Heritage Committee.

Historic schoolhouses preserve Long Island’s story: its generations of people, their settlement patterns, and the growth of their country towns and villages into today’s suburban sprawl and legendary resort destinations.

Celebrated for their simple form and association with early American values, no other historic building type evokes such strong emotions as the schoolhouse. Hundreds were built across Long Island and many survive, either adapted to new uses or restored and open for public access. From the simplest, pre–Revolutionary War period “Town House” in East Hampton to the trendy, octagonal schoolhouses constructed in Brentwood and Yaphank in the 1850s, Long Island saw the greatest variety of these distinctive structures built anywhere. Responding to an 1812 New York State law requiring towns to lay out school districts within walking distance of its younger residents, many early population centers received schoolhouses by the 1820s. Even a handful of Long Island’s schoolhouses are associated with the great American poet Walt Whitman, who taught school as a young man in the 1830s and later shared his concerns about the teaching methods then in vogue. But by the end of the 1800s, one-room schoolhouses became outdated and no longer accommodated the growing population. Many were saved, however, and repurposed as sheds, workshops, and even seasonal dwellings.

At its opening in 1964, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was named one of the Five Wonders of the Modern World by Reader's Digest magazine.

It was the culmination of a concerted, decade-long push by a group of men, led by Lucius J. Kellam Jr., an Eastern Shore native and businessman who dreamed of opening up the remote Eastern Shore to the bustling Virginia mainland. This $200-million, 17.6-mile-long series of bridges, tunnels, islands, and trestle in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay - long dismissed as impractical and even impossible - won the attention of the world at its opening. It also brought an abrupt end to the ferry service that was long a cornerstone of the New York-to-Florida Ocean Highway, shuttling millions of cars between the Eastern Shore and Hampton Roads.

Take the best seat in the house for this thrilling history that's so much more than the story of a building: discover the triumphs, the tears, and the tenacity of North Carolina sports and its legends.

For more than half a century, William Neal Reynolds Coliseum was at the forefront of college basketball. When filled to capacity, 12,000 fans joined together to create the noise and heat that defined game night. Indeed, Reynolds Coliseum brought big-time basketball to the South. Most area residents know Reynolds as home to the popular Dixie Classic basketball tournament and the North Carolina State University's Wolfpack championship sports teams. Surprisingly, this building was not constructed specifically for basketball. Like the state of North Carolina, the coliseum's origins grew from agriculture, and it was significantly shaped by the impact of World War II. As home to the long-standing Friends of the College series, the coliseum helped extend cultural events to the general public by promoting ""seven shows for seven dollars."" It has hosted presidents and protesters, circuses and symphonies, tractor demonstrations and rock concerts. And yes, for one ten-year stretch, more people watched college basketball games in Reynolds Coliseum than in any other campus arena in America. This volume captures more than 50 years of North Carolina history from the best seat in the house, highlighting the people and events that shaped the building as much as any architect's pencil.

Cleveland's Ohio City Neighborhood is a testament to unity and resilience, and the ability of neighbors to come together and live in harmony despite their differences, creating a thriving urban melting pot.

Ohio City’s story begins with conflict. The 1836 “Battle of the Bridge” pitted neighbor against neighbor, yet the story evolved into one of connection, symbolized by the grand bridges that would later unite Cleveland’s east and west sides. Following its 1854 annexation to Cleveland, Ohio City developed into a remarkable urban tapestry where immigrant workers’ homes and mansions shared the same neighborhood. The iconic West Side Market has anchored a vibrant commercial district through generations, its clock tower standing sentinel over a neighborhood shaped by breweries like Leisy and Schlather that reflected the area’s strong German heritage. Franklin Boulevard emerged as the west side’s “Millionaire’s Row,” home to industrialists and civic leaders, including the Rhodes family and Marcus Hanna. Through decades of change—from urban renewal to today’s thriving craft brewery scene—Ohio City’s historic architecture and cultural landmarks have endured.

Thomas Kaschalk, founder of My Cleveland History and volunteer researcher for the Cuyahoga County Archives, brings Ohio City’s rich heritage to life through vintage photographs. Drawing from the Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection, the Cleveland Memory Project, and various historical archives, this visual history captures the spirit of one of Cleveland’s most distinctive neighborhoods.

Cleveland's Ohio City Neighborhood is a testament to unity and resilience, and the ability of neighbors to come together and live in harmony despite their differences, creating a thriving urban melting pot.

Ohio City’s story begins with conflict. The 1836 “Battle of the Bridge” pitted neighbor against neighbor, yet the story evolved into one of connection, symbolized by the grand bridges that would later unite Cleveland’s east and west sides. Following its 1854 annexation to Cleveland, Ohio City developed into a remarkable urban tapestry where immigrant workers’ homes and mansions shared the same neighborhood. The iconic West Side Market has anchored a vibrant commercial district through generations, its clock tower standing sentinel over a neighborhood shaped by breweries like Leisy and Schlather that reflected the area’s strong German heritage. Franklin Boulevard emerged as the west side’s “Millionaire’s Row,” home to industrialists and civic leaders, including the Rhodes family and Marcus Hanna. Through decades of change—from urban renewal to today’s thriving craft brewery scene—Ohio City’s historic architecture and cultural landmarks have endured.

Thomas Kaschalk, founder of My Cleveland History and volunteer researcher for the Cuyahoga County Archives, brings Ohio City’s rich heritage to life through vintage photographs. Drawing from the Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection, the Cleveland Memory Project, and various historical archives, this visual history captures the spirit of one of Cleveland’s most distinctive neighborhoods.

The area now known as Los Gatos dates to time out of memory, when Ohlone Indians settled in a favored locality, rich in natural beauty and resources.

From El Rancho de Los Gatos, the Mexican land grant of 1839, to 1854 when James Alexander Forbes built his flour mill, and to the era of the Valley of Heart’s Delight, an orchardist’s paradise, history has been recorded, and photographs still survive. The railroad arrived in 1877 and put Los Gatos on the map. The town burned down twice, in 1891 and 1901, but was rebuilt by residents who took pride in the matchless small town they called home. In the 1920s, Los Gatos attracted writers, painters, poets, and other assorted creative folk. The population expanded rapidly after World War II, and the orchards disappeared, replaced by homes and businesses. The October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta Earthquake devastated the town, with old unreinforced masonry buildings on Main Street and North Santa Cruz Avenue collapsing and at least 400 homes, including stately restored Victorians, damaged. Images of America: Los Gatos Remembered showcases the memories and history of this picturesque area of California. 

Peggy Conaway Bergtold, MA, MLS, retired director of the Los Gatos Public Library, has gathered together photographs from many sources to help preserve the community’s collective memory. 

Anyone interested in the founding of libraries across the country will delight in delving into Prescott Public Library, which showcases the pivotal role the establishment played in the Arizona city's history. The Prescott Public Library was created in 1917 when the City of Prescott took over management of the formerly private library. Prescott was established in the middle of the Civil War when Union sympathizers found gold in the Bradshaw Mountains. Even in those Wild West days, territorial secretary Richard McCormick brought with him a wagon full of 300 books, establishing a library that would become the lifeblood of the territorial capital. The Prescott Library Association was founded in 1870, and it was at the helm of the Monday Club (established 1890) that a library building was constructed. This became the Carnegie Library in 1903, the first approved in the state of Arizona. This library opened with 1,300 books in its collection. In the last century, the Prescott Public Library has grown with Prescott. Now located on Goodwin Street, the library contains over 113,000 items in its collection and serves its patrons in new and exciting ways. With more to share in the future, Prescott Public Library welcomes everyone into “Prescott’s Living Room.” 

Kristen Kauffman is a librarian in Prescott and a guest writer with Sharlot Hall Museum’s Days Past articles. Several of the photographs that did not come from the Prescott Public Library’s photograph archives are used with generous permission from the Sharlot Hall Museum. 

Historic schoolhouses preserve Long Island’s story: its generations of people, their settlement patterns, and the growth of their country towns and villages into today’s suburban sprawl and legendary resort destinations.

Celebrated for their simple form and association with early American values, no other historic building type evokes such strong emotions as the schoolhouse. Hundreds were built across Long Island and many survive, either adapted to new uses or restored and open for public access. From the simplest, pre–Revolutionary War period “Town House” in East Hampton to the trendy, octagonal schoolhouses constructed in Brentwood and Yaphank in the 1850s, Long Island saw the greatest variety of these distinctive structures built anywhere. Responding to an 1812 New York State law requiring towns to lay out school districts within walking distance of its younger residents, many early population centers received schoolhouses by the 1820s. Even a handful of Long Island’s schoolhouses are associated with the great American poet Walt Whitman, who taught school as a young man in the 1830s and later shared his concerns about the teaching methods then in vogue. But by the end of the 1800s, one-room schoolhouses became outdated and no longer accommodated the growing population. Many were saved, however, and repurposed as sheds, workshops, and even seasonal dwellings.