I was browsing through stacks of books at the York County Heritage Trust's annual Book Blast a few years ago when I found a long-sought-after piece to a writing puzzle.
For months, I had been looking for a way to tell York County's sprawling World War II story. So, when I found a box of York Ice Machinery/York Corporation newsletters from that era, I knew I had something I could use to build the story around... .
York Corporation, now owned by Johnson Controls, and its chairman William Shipley were leaders in the effort to coordinate local labor and machines to score large defense contracts.
But the newsletters went way beyond just production and machinery news. They contained news about people and happenings around York Corporation as well as Yorkco people in uniform. They even contained poetry written to Yorkco soldiers and sailors serving faraway. (See "Dealing with POW camp, loss of life among York County's WW II sacrifices" in York Town Square archives.)
So, the Book Blast provided me with an organizing framework that turned into "In the Thick of the Fight, York County, Pa. Counters the Axis Threat in WWII."
Archivist Lila Fourhman-Shaull, the founder of the Book Blast, has put out a call for books to be delivered to the Historical Society Museum/Library, 250 E. Market St., York. For details on hours, see www.yorkheritage.org.
Books don't have to be on historical topics. This sale runs every August at the Heritage Trust's Agricultural and Industrial Museum.
Maybe you'll find there some material that will propel your stalled writing project.
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