Images Of America

[H-Town Man]

I am not sure how many of you are aware of the Images of America series by Arcadia publishing. This is an excellent series of local history books that are basically collections of old photos on a specific neighborhood or theme (Greenwich Village, Baseball in Fort Worth, Along the Route 100 Corridor, etc.). The neat thing about them is that they take submissions - so if you have access to a bunch of old photos of a particular neighborhood, you can actually put a book together yourself and submit it to them, and they might publish it.

I recall seeing shelves of these at bookstores when I lived in Chicago and Boston, covering over a dozen neighborhoods in each of those cities. Recently one just came out on Austin:

28 have so far been done on various Texas locales, including three on San Antonio, but so far none has been done on Houston. I personally think several topics on Houston could be successful; the first that come to mind are Downtown, The Heights, and Montrose, but also Rice University and environs, Eastwood, Bayou Scenes, The Ship Channel: Early Days... plenty of possibilities. Galveston is another no-brainer.

Here is a map of locations where these have been done in Texas:

Notice the lack of dots in the southeastern part?

Here is a call for submissions:

Arcadia accepts submissions year-round. Our editors seek proposals on local history topics and are able to provide authors with detailed information about our publishing program as well as book proposal submission guidelines. Our current portfolio of series is shown below. Due to the great demand for titles on local and regional history, we are currently searching for authors to work with us on new photographic history projects. Please contact one of our regional publishing teams if you are interested in submitting a proposal.

www.arcadiapublishing.com

These are high quality books that I used to addictively flip through in bookstores when I lived in cities that had them. They are slim paperbacks done on glossy paper that usually sell for $18.99. They are a great way to document the history of a neighborhood for all to see, as well as spur interest in renewing it. (No, I do not work for Arcadia!)

I would put one together myself if I had the photos to do it with. Somebody out there with the wherewithal, please take advantage of this. We'd all appreciate it!

Edited January 7, 2008 by H-Town Man

[TheNiche]

28 have so far been done on various Texas locales, including three on San Antonio, but so far none has been done on Houston. I personally think several topics on Houston could be successful; the first that come to mind are Downtown, The Heights, and Montrose, but also Rice University and environs, Eastwood, Bayou Scenes, The Ship Channel: Early Days... plenty of possibilities. Galveston is another no-brainer.

Wow. If someone can put together a 128-page book on the history of Donna, TX, I'm betting we could squeeze out a dozen on southeast Texas in a snap. I'm reading a book on the military history of the Texas Revolution right now, and southeast Texas has dozens of towns that were extant in those days, yet aren't very well represented as far as dedicated history books go. Think about Harrisburg, Anahuac, Liberty, Velasco, San Patricio, Goliad, Gonzales, Matagorda, Brazoria, Victoria, Columbus, Bastrop, and San Felipe. At that point in time, most all of north, central, and west Texas was vast open frontier, and even once Austin was established, it was at the most northwesterly point of any of the major roads.

Edited January 7, 2008 by TheNiche

[Subdude]

I've seen these in other cities. They do have books down to the neighborhood level. Fwiw, a few years ago I spoke to them about doing on one Houston, since I have a gazillion Houston postcards, but I got lazy about following up. Unfortunately I left the pictures back in Houston.

[H-Town Man]

Wow. If someone can put together a 128-page book on the history of Donna, TX, I'm betting we could squeeze out a dozen on southeast Texas in a snap. I'm reading a book on the military history of the Texas Revolution right now, and southeast Texas has dozens of towns that were extant in those days, yet aren't very well represented as far as dedicated history books go. Think about Harrisburg, Anahuac, Liberty, Velasco, San Patricio, Goliad, Gonzales, Matagorda, Brazoria, Victoria, Columbus, Bastrop, and San Felipe. At that point in time, most all of north, central, and west Texas was vast open frontier, and even once Austin was established, it was at the most northwesterly point of any of the major roads.

Gonzales has incredible history and an old world flavor that is rare in Texas, but I don't know how much of its population (mostly immigrant now) would spend $19 on a book like this. Bastrop would have a much better chance, since it's now a suburb of Austin, and all the new residents dig its historic charm. I think a book on Fayette County would stir up some interest.

Probably the best that haven't been done yet though are Fredericksburg and Galveston.

I've seen these in other cities. They do have books down to the neighborhood level. Fwiw, a few years ago I spoke to them about doing on one Houston, since I have a gazillion Houston postcards, but I got lazy about following up. Unfortunately I left the pictures back in Houston.

I think Houston would be deserving of multiple books on different neighborhoods, rather than one for the whole city. In Boston there was one on just about every neighborhood.... Dedham, Medford, Cambridge, etc.... even one on the construction of Rte. 128.

Get on this thing Subdude, you're perfect for it!