Holiday Dishes from Victory Vittles from the Villa

Here are some recipes from the Victory Vittles cookbook that you may want to consider for holiday cooking. These are old classic recipes.

Community and Church Cookbooks project on TV!!

We were on TV!! The cookbook project got the interest of Don Jacobs at Pennsylvania Outdoor Life which airs on WNEP TV 16.  Check this link to the video for more information about the collection.
POL Cookbook Online

Community and Church Cookbooks from Northeastern PA

A new collection is now live in the Lackawanna Valley Digital Archives. The Community and Church Cookbooks from Northeastern Pa is a collection of cookbooks from different organizations in the Lackawanna Valley.  This showcases the histories of men and women who supplied recipes to these places they belonged to.  These books also show the diverse cultural and ethnic populations of these areas in recipes.  Have fun cooking and baking!

Galway Kinnell

Poet Galway Kinnell died on October 28th at age 87.  He read in the Scranton area in 1979, and a video of his performance appears in the Friends of the Scranton Public Library Poetry Series Collection.

"There's Nothing like Gas"

This advertisement appears in the Diamond Jubilee and Centennial book (Scranton 1941) in our Celebrating Our Towns collection. In this advertisement for "The Gas Company," gas is advertised as "Anthracite Coal's Finest Product," but in truth it contributed to the death of the anthracite mining industry.

 

A Page in History

This random page from a CMC scrapbook shows why these books were and are so important. On this page there is an image of a Vietnam veteran who is meeting his son for the first time.

"New" Circulation Desk

This photograph from the History of the Scranton Public Library Collection shows what was, in 1969, the "new" Circulation Desk. Note its location in front of the Men's Room, the lack of computers, and the catalog card drawers. Marie Crispino, pictured on the right, is still employed by the library as our Head of Public Services. The room behind the glass on the left, now the library's Administrative Offices, was then the Children's Department. It remained this way until 1987 when the Lackawanna County Children's Library was opened.

Community Medical Center

The Lackawanna Valley Digital Archives is preparing to launch a new collection later this fall, but as we prepare for that collection we wanted to remind you of the other great collections we have.

This photo is one of many that can be found in the CMC collection. This photo taken in the spring or summer shows how the building looked in the late 70s or early to mid 80s.

Coming Fall 2014....

We can't reveal details yet about the newest collection that is coming to the Lackawanna Valley Digital Archives, but here's a hint....

The borough of Taylor, Pa.

Personal Reminiscences of Taylor Borough: As it was in 1844 by N.G Parke, D.D is a book written from N.G. Parke's point of view.  He discusses the origins and first families that lived in what is now Taylor. Taylor was originally called Atherton after Eliezer Atherton who made his money by " hauling coal over the mountian from the mines to Honesdale before the railroad was completed." N.G Parke was the reverend and lived with the Atherton's in the area which is now Taylor.

The Abington's

This is another of our wonderful centennial books.  This book discusses the history of the Abington's starting from the the Viewmont Mall to an area called Leggett's Gap.  The photo above is a state marker for Elder Miller who was a local pioneer and opened the first church and school.

Aerial View of Marywood Campus and O'Neill Highway (1962)

This photograph, from the book Dunmore 1862-1962 in the Celebrating Our Towns collection, shows an aerial view of the Marywood College campus as it was in 1962. Note the cloverleaf at the top of the photo. This is the O'Neill Highway / I-81 interchange which looks almost rural. Now, of course, it is highly commercialized and reconfigured.

Celebrating Lackawanna County's Fiftieth Anniversary

Memorial of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Lackawanna County by S. Fletcher Weyburn celebrates the anniversary of Lackawanna County.  This book contains the program of events held on October 24, 1928 by the Lackawanna Historical Society.  This book contains history of Lackawanna County and all the important people that helped make this event successful. 

The photo above is of John Jermyn, who was the charter member of the Lackawanna Historical Society and a early resident and developer of the City of Scranton. For more information about his life, click on the title above.

Jermyn 1870-1970

Many of the books in the Celebrating Our Towns: Lackawanna Co. Centennial Books and Community Histories collection reveal that people enjoyed dressing up in period costumes for their town's Centennial. Here is an example from First Hundred Years: Jermyn, PA. These gentlemen are from the Cellar Brush of the Chapter Crystal Fire Co. The first guy in the back row looks Lincolnesque, and you will notice that two of them opted to stay behind the garage door and look out the window.

Waverly in Lackawanna County

This is Waverly by Mildred Mumford is another great book in the Celebrating Our Towns--Lackawanna County Centennial Books and Histories.  This book was published by The Waverly Woman's Club and contains a lot of local historical information about the town and residents of Waverly, Pennsylvania.  Check this fabulous book out!

Dickson City Centennial 1975

One interesting aspect of centennial books is that they can give you two different views of a town's history. A good example is this book that celebrates the centennial of Dickson City in 1975. The book contains a history of the town up until 1975, but the photos and advertisements provide a snapshot of what the town was like in 1975. Many more centennial books are available on-line in the Celebrating Our Towns: Lackawanna County Centennial Books and Community Histories collection.

Celebrating Our Towns—Lackawanna County Centennial Books and Community Histories

The LVDA is proud to announce the release of our newest collection. Celebrating our Towns-- Lackawanna County Centennial Books and Community Histories.  This great collection of over 25 books contains information about the towns, townships, boroughs, and cities of Lackawanna County.  This collection was made possible by a grant from the Willary Foundation.  We thank them and all our partners who helped us with this project. Enjoy!!!

Scranton Public Library Periodicals Room

As we are finishing up with our final changes to the Centennial Book Collection that we will be launching soon, I wanted to point out one of my favorite pictures of the Reference Room at the library. The formal name of the room above is the Barrel Vault Room because of its wonderful concave ceiling. When the library was built the floor was open to the downstairs. In this picture you can view the beautiful railings and lighting that was in the room. As the library needs changed the floor was closed and its now the Periodicals Room.

Photo of the Silkman House

This is from the History of the Scranton Public Library Collection. The photo is undated, but the presence of street car tracks would place it in the first half of the 20th Century. Built by Aaron Burr Silkman in 1840, the Silkman House served as the residence of various Silkman family members until 1938 when the property and building were given to the Scranton Public Library. It served as the Providence Branch of the library until 2006. It currently houses the library's Technical Services Unit and the Lackawanna River Corridor Association.

More from the Centennial Collection

Here is another title that will appear in "Celebrating Our Towns: Lackawanna County Centennial Books and Community Histories" which will go live in February. Over 30 items will be included representing towns from all over Lackawanna County. This book celebrates the sesquicentennial of Scott Township. You will be able to view it cover-to-cover in the Lackawanna Valley Digital Archives.

Centennial Book Collection

At the beginning of February we will be launching this new collection.  It's an exciting time because we also have other collections that we would like to launch this coming year. First and foremost we will launch this book collection.  The books were professionally digitized and contain wonderful photos of the centennials of boroughs, townships and cities in Lackawanna County.