Results tagged “Martin Library” from York Town Square

York, Pa.'s Martin Library honored Emanuel A. Cassimatis for library and community involvement at a recent ceremony. The event also served as a fundraiser for the library's endowment fund, used to purchased new books. (See list of past honorees and Cassimatis' favorite books below.) The Cassimatises: 'Builders and Heroes,' Part I and William Penn Senior High School Hall of Fame honors a host of York County achievers and York's Martin Library asks community: What to do with those old doors?.

Retired York County Judge Emanuel A. Cassimatis was meeting with the president of Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of the International Tribunal of Children's Rights. It was the Friday following the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

During introductions, the president express his sympathy to Cassimatis, as a U.S. representative, for the tragedy.

"You know," he told the group, "we are all bound by a universal consciousness so that when something happens to one of us, it affects all of us."

Cassimatis told that story in receiving an award from Martin Library. This member of York's pioneering Greek family then summarized its meaning and what it says about community involvement... .

Ed Kowalczyk, York, Pa., native and member of the rock band Live, performed last night at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in York. That same night, author Jonah Lehrer talked at York's Martin Library about themes from his best-selling "How We Decide." Also of interest: You maybe didn't know it but ... they're from York County and Jonah Lehrer, author with York County ties, writes 'precocious and engaging' book and Cameron Mitchell, Craig Sheffer, Dixie Chick born here.

Two celebrities with local ties delighted audiences in York County last night.

Ed Kowalczyk, of Live, gave a well-received acoustic performance to a near-capacity audience at the Strand.

A couple of blocks away, New York Times best-selling author Jonah Lehrer engaged an enthusiastic audience in the Quiet Reading Room at Martin Library.

Now in his late 30s and pursuing a solo career, Kowalczyk grew up in York County, as did other members of Live. In the 1990s, the group gained international renown for the album "Throwing Copper" and made it to the cover of Rolling Stone... .

Lee Schwan's Web site includes a bunch of compelling photos from northwest York, Pa.'s Yorktowne Homes, built as housing for defense workers in World War II. Schwan wrote in an e-mail, published in a previous post, that he hopes someone writes about living in Yorktowne in the 1940s and 1950s. Background posts: Just try to resist this memory-tugging photograph of northwest York, Pa. and World War II-era Yorkers welcomed nondescript housing and Linked in with neat York County history stuff - Oct. 10, 2009.

From the mailbag: A mixed bag of links to a bit of everything around York County:

- York County history enthusiasts should keep their eye on e-Bay for bits of history. An e-mailer pointed out that copies of The Morning Journal are available on there. The York Dispatch published this short-lived newspaper during a short-lived strike by workers of competitor The Gazette and Daily in 1970. The Gazette came back after that strike as the York Daily Record, owned by District Attorney Harold Fitzkee and partners who had purchased it from J.W. Gitt. That comeback spelled the demise of The Morning Journal... .

- More neat stuff below. -

York's Martin Library CEO Bill Schell dates Martin Library's old doors to 1935, the year the library first opened. Here, they rest on the floor inside Martin. Background posts: York County libraries offer serendipity - and have done so for decades and Colonial York, Pa.? No, try Victorian York, Pa and York County library site brings together links for local research.

For years, some people struggled to open those weighty mahogany doors leading into Martin Library.

Their replacement with lighter doors leads to the question of what to do with the older ones.

Library officials have put that out to community.

The best answer is: Keep them. Or at least make sure they're publicly displayed somewhere.

Those are not just any doors... .

The whereabouts of this York County, Pa.-made statue has been unknown locally for years. But it recently became public, on eBay of all places. (See photo of the artist and statue below.) Background posts: Wago Club prez: 'You've gotta respect the (snapping) turtles' and Church's landmark: 'A man named Beech carving a beech tree, it seemed too perfect' and Why did JFK lose to Nixon in York County?.

The Craigslist ad read like this:

"Life-size basswood statue of John F. Kennedy, carved by local woodcarver Walter S. Langhine. Included with the statue are letters to and from Jacqueline Kennedy. Email to above address or phone calls accepted at 717-793-0650 or 717-235-2543. Best offer."

Langhine's hand-carved statue of JFK had been missing in plain view for years.

Most recently, it has been in the JFK memorabilia collector Clyde Smith's New Freedom basement, York Daily Record /Sunday News columnist Mike Argento discovered.

Smith is moving to smaller quarters, Argento wrote, so JFK has to go.

And hence the ad... .

This aggregation of Web sites provides a look at York/Adams (Pa.) history in perhaps unprecedented detail. Background posts: York County Heritage Trust Archives/Library extends offerings to research family tree and Peeking into Pa.'s attic and Availability of microfilm an oft-posed question.

For years, the York Daily Record/Sunday News has considered history part of the journalistic enterprise.

Journalists regularly draw on the work of historians.

And vice versa.

With so many resources to learn about history out there, we've been working to help readers - and ourselves - make sense of them.

So, we've aggregated links to many local history sites into just one list. (If we've omitted any, let us know.) To see this list ... ,

When builders dug the Howard Tunnel through a southern York County ridge in 1840, they left room for two tracks. The second track was added after the Civil War.This is one of many interesting facts collected by Scott Butcher and included in captions in "York's Historic Architecture." (Butcher is signing his new book at 2 p.m. Sunday, at the York Emporium.) Because of the tunnel builders' foresight, the rail trail is able to follow the path of one of the old tracks today. The other track is still there for rail use. Background posts: Thousands discover formerly unheralded York County rail trail's Howard Tunnel , No light at the end of this (abandoned) Pa.Turnpike tunnel and York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles'.

Scott Butcher's new book "York's Historic Architecture" is packed with photos.

But it's also loaded with dates, details and architectural information, including many interesting tidbits about many buildings, well known and not.

Here are five points that are certain to pique your interest:

Did you know ? ...

The parlor of the Brownstone building, annex to Martin Library, is the first stop on an upcoming tour on Friday, June 6. Here, designer Diane Replogle stands in the finished parlor before the Martin Library's renovations were shown off to the public in 2005. (See additional photos below). Background posts: Dempwolf architects built York's skyline, history, Striking architecture lined York's South Duke Street and York County smorgasbord of architectural styles.

Historian Georg Sheets' upcoming tour of Victorian York highlights a misunderstood fact about architecture in York city... .

Walter S. Langhine of Weigelstown, Pa., spent four months carving this wooden statue of John F. Kennedy in 1964. Jacqueline Kennedy's staff supplied him with JFK's dimensions. Background posts: JFK's visit to York a long-remembered event, Bob Yost: 'King of real estate in York County' and 20 questions and answers to prove your York County smarts, Part II

York countian Walter S. Langhine sought to memoralize slain U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

He planned to do this in the way he knew best.

The employee of Red Lion's Bethlehem Furniture Co. was a professional woodcarver. His off-work specialties included cigar store Indians and and full-size horses.

Now, in the year after the chief executive's death in 1963, Langhine would make an image of the late president out of wood... .

The Brownstone building, seen here in 2004, was incorporated into the Martin Library's renovations in 2005. The York, Pa., library is part of the York County Library System, which has an ever-improving Web site, including a section for researchers and genealogists. Background posts: Genealogists find mother lode in York County, Martin Library leaves microfilm behind and Availability of microfilm and oft-asked question.

At some time in the past, those answering the phones at libraries throughout the York County Library System must have tired of answering calls with requests for research.

The system, incorporating libraries throughout York County, offers a site titled Genealogy and Local History.

The site offers one-stop shopping for sources that researchers can use... .

Hattie Dickson, facing, hugs Sharon Howe, while Sonja Gilmore, right, looks on during a meeting at the African-American Love Feast in early 2002. Dickson was a sister of Lillie Belle Allen, killed in the 1969 race riots. Gilmore was the wife of York Police Officer Henry C. Schaad, the second riot victim. Howe is Schaad's and Gilmore's daughter. This was the first public meeting of the families, who had met privately a month earlier. Background posts: School violence struck York County in 1970 and First pitch could break link with York race riots.

In a recent York Sunday News column, I applauded efforts to arrive at a community consensus over a "Healing York" memorial.

I contrasted that to a moment in 1970, a time of community coming together called the York Charrette, in which York's elected officials belated and reluctantly participated... .

This front page is an example of the treasures found in microfilm. It shows TMI shortly before the accident in 1979 disabled Unit No. 2. It is possibly one of the last newspaper photographs to capture the scene in which steam was rising from No. 2's cooling towers. Today, steam rises from Unit 1's towers, and Unit 2's stacks are partially dismantled.

The availability of newspaper microfilm is among the questions most posed to the York Daily Record/Sunday News.

Lee Hoffheins from Glen Rock, for example, e-mailed us this week thinking Daily Record archives went back only as far as 1985.

He was in luck... .

Richard T. Gillespie came across a secret treasure and ...

Well, we'll let him tell the story, sent to us via email: