Lancaster County Pennsylvania Postcards

The history of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is visually presented through the words of a venerable historian and striking images compiled from old photographs, advertising pieces, and postcards that relate the cultural diversity apparent today in this favorite tourist destination. From all over the world, visitors marvel at the beautiful farms on limestone-based soil that is among the most productive land anywhere. Early settlers found it a Garden of Eden, and to this day the land attracts people concerned with diverse community life and productive industries that support the growing population. Learn about the area's history and traditions, and see everyday life conducted by everyday people of a thriving locale. Religious independence still thrives in the communities of Amish, Mennonite, Quaker, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish settlers from Swiss, Scottish, Irish, French Huguenot, German, and Hispanic origins, and the rural setting complements progressive towns where the future is part of the past.

Best-selling author Beverly Lewis' story of a weary big-city journalist and a New Order Amish woman whose lives come together over a mysterious postcard.

This beautiful book of art postcards provides 32 candid views of Amish life in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. See Amish families at work, play, and socializing in their society. The powerful photography speaks for itself and gives you a professional photographer's view of their compelling world. The Old Order Amish settled in Pennsylvania in 1737. For over 250 years they have thrived, doubling their population every 20 years. These Amish Christians worship in their homes every other Sunday. You could not ask for better neighbours. They are always ready and willing to help in times of need. Some Amish are volunteer firemen. As you will see in these postcards, in this technology-filled 21st century, the Amish remain steadfast to their traditions, driving horse drawn carriages, maintaining businesses, farms, and homes without electricity, and farming with mule and horse power. Enjoy--and share--this unusual look into the unique world of Amish life.

Vibrant color photograph postcards show 32 Lancaster county covered bridges, representing every season. GPS coordinates with each bridge make every bridge easy to find using a GPS satellite navigation device. If you prefer, you may also use a local tour map. These bridges are architectural treasures spanning the rivers and streams of Lancaster County, a scenic landscape dotted with pristine Amish farms. These postcards will be treasured by all who enjoy the beauty of rural America and her historic covered bridges.

BCALA 2023 Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation Award winner The turn of the twentieth century was an extraordinarily difficult period for African Americans, a time of unchecked lynchings, mob attacks, and rampant Jim Crow segregation. During these bleak years, Emma Crawford, a young African American woman living in Pennsylvania, corresponded by postcard with friends and family members and collected the cards she received from all over the country. Her album—spanning from 1906 to 1910 and analyzed in Emma's Postcard Album—becomes an entry point into a deeply textured understanding of the nuances and complexities of African American lives and the survival strategies that enabled people “to make a way from no way.” As snippets of lived experience, eye-catching visual images, and reflections of historical moments, the cards in the collection become sources for understanding not only African American life, but also broader American history and culture. In Emma's Postcard Album, Faith Mitchell innovatively places the contents of this postcard collection into specific historic and biographical contexts and provides a new interpretation of postcards as life writings, a much-neglected aspect of scholarship. Through these techniques, a riveting world that is far too little known is revealed, and new insights are gained into the perspectives and experience of African Americans. Capping off these contributions, the text is a visual feast, illustrated with arresting images from the Golden Age of postcards as well as newspaper clippings and other archival material.

In 1772, Native Americans granted land in the Tuscarawas Valley to Moravian missionary David Zeisberger, and he established the Christian community of Schoenbrunn Village, which remained until 1777 when members were forced to relocate. Then in late 1804, John Knisely, his family, and other pioneers braved the western frontier and settled on the Tuscarawas River near the Schoenbrunn Village site. On October 23, 1804, John Knisely founded the town of New Philadelphia. He was a great philanthropist, donating land to the city for future public buildings, guaranteeing its selection as the Tuscarawas County Seat. In Schoenbrunn Village, which has been partially excavated and rebuilt as a historic site in New Philadelphia, missionaries lived in harmony with Native Americans, and so it seems fitting that New Philadelphia, through the influence of John Knisely's generosity, has maintained its image as the new "city of brotherly love." Two hundred years later, the city strives to keep Knisely's dream alive with its generous allocation of resources and commitment to those in need.