Column: Support local histories: Buy a book

While they may be a bit old-school, books are great, inexpensive gifts for history fans — especially those who enjoy local history. And for local history books on any subject, anywhere within the United States, you don’t have to order from the behemoth that begins with the letter "A" if you’d prefer an alternative.

Try Arcadia Publishing, a publisher whose name also begins with the letter “A” but who shares little in common with the behemoth otherwise.

Arcadia is an independent, comparatively small company that initially published local and regional histories in pictural format, most notably an “Images of America” series. Other “Images” series cover a variety of special-interest areas.

Over the years, Arcadia has acquired other imprints (trade names and specialty book lines) that include America Through Time, Arcadia Children’s Books, Pelican Publishing, The History Press and Wildsam. All of them offer books focusing upon local areas that are written by local authors.

Why this is good information for you to know is because of the wealth of possibilities it opens up for that history fan on your shopping list — and the amazingly simple ways you can shop for that person. All you need to know is that person’s zip code.

Then go to ArcadiaPublishing.com, click on the search icon and type the zip code in the search field that comes up.

When I did that for a 25-mile radius of Johnstown, a total of 18 titles came up. There was a comprehensive, two-volume history of Johnstown along with shorter community histories; special-topic histories covering disaster, industry, trollies and a notorious episode when African-Americans were banished from Johnstown; and other local histories focused upon Somerset, Ligonier, Vintondale and Northern Cambria.

Expanding the search radius to 50 miles brought up 50 titles, including histories of Altoona, Bedford, Connellsville, Delmont, Greensburg, Indiana, Jeanette, Latrobe, Mount Pleasant, Norvelt, Tyrone and Vandergrift. Special subjects include amusement parks, the birthplace of professional football, the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, the Bedford Springs Hotel, baseball in Altoona and the Horseshoe Curve.

Now if your history fan’s interests are more topical than local, Arcadia Publishing offers books within more than 70 subject areas. Click on general sports, for example, and a history of Forbes Field in Pittsburgh is among 38 screens of book listings — as is the 1960 Winter Olympics.

African Americans and other ethnic groups, breweries and wineries, firefighting, music and entertainment, nature and the outdoors, and theatres comprise just an abbreviated overview of topics covered. This publisher also features 200 city guides for communities across the country, including Pittsburgh. And there’s a weekend getaway guide for Pennsylvania.

Altogether, Arcadia Publishing currently offers 17,998 books. Some are available in a variety of formats as well, including e-books, audio CDs, board books, hardbound, paperback, mini gift books and saddle stitched.

Long-time readers know I typically do not promote commercial enterprises. But in this instance it is hard to resist.

This is the time of year when we are looking for gift ideas. And when we do think of books, we tend to turn to several obvious resources that either are online or in big boxes.

Arcadia specializes in local books, adds hundreds of new titles each year, prints them all in the United States and handles its own sales and distribution. About two-thirds of its books go to independent bookstores, libraries, museums, and nontraditional outlets such as historical societies.

This column isn’t about bashing the big booksellers and publishers. It’s more about supporting a book publisher that is dedicated to serving a market segment that’s interested in local history.

Much of the Alleghenies’ uniqueness is captured by its local history. And Arcadia Publishing is helping to keep many of our stories alive.

So sharing that uniqueness with someone is a rather good gift, don’t you think? But order quickly. This publisher probably can’t match the shipping dexterity of the big “A.”

To respond to this column — or read other columns by Dave Hurst — visit www.hurstmediaworks.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Dave Hurst column about history books