Bookshelf

Written by in the Bookshelf category and the December 1976 issue Topics in this article:
Bookshelf provides descriptions and notices of recent publications on Pennsylvania subjects.

William H. Shenk has several booklets, some of them revised editions, available. One is Vanderbilt’s Folly – A History of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. This is an illustrated 48-page booklet by Shenk, an engineer-historian. It is available at $3.00 per copy plus 18 cents sales tax in Pennsylvania.

Another of Shenk’s booklets is History of the Pullman Automobile 1903-1917. It is available for $2.50 per copy plus 15 cents sales tax in Pennsylvania.

The Fourth Printing (1976) of a book, The Pennsylvania Main Line Canal is available. Authors are Robert McCullough and Walter Leaba. This 218-page book is available for $4.75 plus 29 cents in Pennsylvania for sales tax.

The Second Edition of The Allegheny Portage Railroad by Sylvester Welch, with an introduction by Chenk is also available. It was revised in 1975 with the cooperation of The National Park Service, Cresson. The Welch Report on the Allegheny Portage Railroad sells for $1.50 plus 9 cents Pennsylvania sales tax.

Also available is Mitchell’s 1835 Compendium of Canals and Railroads. It is an 84-page directory and costs $1.75 per copy plus 11 cents Pennsylvania sales tax.

All of the above booklets and books can be obtained from the American Canal and Transportation Center, 809 Rathton Road, York 17403.

 

Prepared by the Palmerton Camera Club is a slide illustrated account, “Early Towamensink,” of some early events (prior to 1790) in what is now Carbon County, then part of Northampton County (incorrectly referred to as Northumberland in the Septem­ber 1976 issue of Heritage). The story concerns the area along the Blue Mountain including the militia expedition under Benjamin Franklin to prepare defenses against Indian depredations.

The text can be read from a folder as slides are projected or listened to from a tape with appropriate sound effects. Running time is approximately seventy-five minutes.

Responsible organizations at a distance can obtain this presenta­tion on loan by writing to the club’s secretary. Howard Witham, 321 Lafayette Avenue, Palmerton 18701. Those located nearby can arrange a presentation by club representatives.