Exploring 200 Years of Oneida County History - Price:$19.95
Published in Oneida County's Bicentennial year, this accounting of 200 years of history has a long pedigree. At least five different volumes of Oneida County histories precede this one. Pomroy Jones started it off in 1851 with Annals and Recollections of Oneida County. Samuel Durant followed with his county history in 1878. Daniel Wager in 1896 published Our County and It's People. Then Henry H. Cookinham wrote a county history covering 1700 to 1912. And finally Virginia Kelly, with a committee of active local historians produced a comprehensive county history in 1977.

We owe a great deal to each of these earlier efforts. However, there is a new reality in these pages about what has been occurring, over 200 years, and where it all might be taking us. For that we are indebted to the contributing authors.

This is volume1, number 1, to start your collection of Mohawk Valley Historical journals.

Articles include:

• A Most Unfortunate Question, by Alexander R. Thomas
• 1777: The Revolutionary War Comes to Oneida Country, by Anthony Wonderley
• Born in Slavery, Found Home and Freedom’: The Underground Railroad in Oneida County, New York, by Jan DeAmicis
• Frances Miriam Berry Whitcher: Whitesboro Humorist, by Eugene Paul Nassar

• Fathers and Sons in the Adirondacks: Walter D. Edmonds’s Tales My Father Never Told and Adam Hochschild’s Half the Way Home, by Frank Bergmann
• The Great Cemetery War: The Bishop of Syracuse vs. the Societies of St. Stanislaus and St. Casimir, by James S. Pula
• People, Places and Events to Remember

This is volume 1, number 2 to add to your collection of Mohawk Valley Historical journals.

Articles include:

• “Only Honorable Marks”: The 117th New York at Fort Fisher, by James S. Pula
• Tourism as Economic Elixir: Lessons From Cooperstown, by Alexander R. Thomas
• The United States vs. American Liberty: The Red Scare in Cortland and Syracuse, New York,
  by Daniel J. Smith

• Igniting the Fires of Religious Revival, by Rev. Charles G. Finney
• A Political Boss in Central New York, Circa 1882, by Harold Frederic
• People, Places and Events to Remember
• Patrons

Furniture Refinishing in a class by itself - by Marge Van Slyke with Barbara Lambert - Price $9.95
Has a small drop-leaf stand ever caught your eye at an estate sale? Have you always admired that ladder-back chair in your grandmother's attic? Did you spot an old commode put out for curb-side pickup? If you passed these treasures by because you didn't know how to restore them, we welcome you to Furniture Refinishing 101.

In Furniture Refinishing in a class by itself, you will find step-by-step instructions on how to strip, sand, repair, and refinish furniture. You may use it as a basic "how-to" manual and as a reference for a variety of refinishing techniques.

The Courtship ofJulian ea' Frieda is the true story of a young couple who develop an extraordinary bond. In the old-world splendor of a remote mountain estate, a wealthy girl and a poor boy are thrown together by circumstance. An unsuitable match by the standards of the day, these two congenial young people would soon realize a regard for one another strong enough to defy any proscription.

Although they are both unmarried Catholics, the Nazis have decreed any relationship between an Austrian and a Pole to be strictly forbidden. The couple meet in secret; for a year they successfully elude detection until, in the summer of 1941, they are betrayed. Arrested and sent to Gestapo headquarters, they face the implacable savagery of Nazi "justice."

Presidential Profiles - by Jack Behrens and Ben Benson - Price $10.00
Ben Benson, the distinguished portraitist and collector whose work is the centerpiece of this volume, is surely worthy of celebration, quite apart from his achievement in drawing the presidents and his extraordinary ability in collecting historical documents. He has worked for many years, and the result is here in this book --- not all certainly --- but a representative share.

The history of the American nation consists of a panoply of public figures and holders of offices that now reach back to a time when no one could have imagined the huge, powerful and complex country this nation has become. We can now see the history of the past two hundred and fifty years of nationhood. And that remarkable past appears in every page of this remarkable book.

The Star in the Window by Louis C. Langone, M. A. - Price $20.50

The Star in the Window is a unique collection of memoirs from World War II veterans who lived in Waterville and Central New York. For several years, Louis C. Langone personally interviewed and listened to over 100 men and women telling their wartime stories from bombing missions over Europe to the "island-hopping" campaigns of the Pacific, or the suffering of prisoners of war. The stories are supplemented with material from books, periodicals, the World Wide Web, press releases, unit histories, and letters providing an interesting mix of memories and World War II facts. Several community honor rolls are also included. Most of the veterans documented are from a rural area and grew up during the Depression possessing a strong work ethic. They are representative of those who answer the "call of duty" with a mission to defend our nation's ideals and freedom.

This book will preserve very special World War II memories, teach the reader about WWII, and improve awareness of the hardships endured and sacrifices made by these brave veterans of the Central New York area. It provides an opportunity to experience WWII history through the eyes and ears of veterans from various military branches of service revealing shocking and obscure incidents of the War.

Around Utica by Evelyn R. Edwards - Price: $19.99
Around Utica features the work of A. J Manning, who traveled with his camera through picturesque central New York in the early 1900s. Manning recorded historic events, such as Sherman Notification Day in 1908; honoring William Howard Taft's vice presidential nominee James Schoolcraft Sherman; catastrophes, such as the fires at Utica Free Academy and the YMCA; and nostalgic scenes of everyday life. His images were produced in small quantities as real-photo postcards, which today are quite rare and much sought after by collectors.

Among the collectors of Manning's postcards is Evelyn R. Edwards, who also authored an earlier photographic history entitled The Sauquoit Valley. A member of four local historical societies, she has been an avid deltiologist for two decades. From her collection, she has selected some 200 outstanding glimpses of life for Around Utica, a work that will delight anyone wishing to know more about the past.

Boss Tweed by Kenneth Ackerman - Price $27.00
Among the towering characters in the history of American polities, "none are more compelling and fascinating than Boss Tweed”; and few working historians could record his dramatic rise and fall more vividly than Kenneth D. Ackerman, whose two previous books set in the Gilded Age have established him as a narrative historian of the first order. His vibrant, accessible, and captivating Boss Tweed is the first biography in almost thirty years of the legendary figure who bribed the state legislature, fixed elections, skimmed money from city contractors, and diverted public funds on a massive scale.

During his reign at Tammany Hall and in a variety of posts from state senator to deputy city street commissioner, Tweed wielded almost total control over New York politics, while also influencing the nation's political course. He controlled judges, mayors, governors, and newspapers, all while playing friend to the poor, champion of immigrants, and arbiter of influence and patronage. And, as Ackerman shows, Tweed did make positive contributions that have been largely overlooked. From the pen of a talented biographer comes the thrilling story of William Tweed, the master manipulator.

Dark Horse by Kenneth Ackerman - Price $28.00
In post-Civil War America, politics was a brutal sport played with blunt rules. Yet the era produced wide public excitement and high voter participation, as well as our last log cabin-born president. James Garfield's 1880 dark horse campaign after the longest-ever Republican nominating process (thirty-six convention ballots), his victory in the closest-ever popular vote for president (by a margin of only 7,018 votes out of more than nine million cast), his struggle against bitterly feuding factions once elected, and the public's response to its violent climax produce the most dramatic presidential odyssey of the Gilded Age-and among the most momentous in our nation's history.

Garfield's path from a seat in the House of Representatives to the White House to martyred hero changed the tone of politics for generations to come. His assassination prompted leaders to recoil at their excesses and brought shocked Americans together with a dignity and grace that have long held the nation together in crisis. Kenneth D. Ackerman tells this overlooked story in a historical page-turner that will enthrall aficionados of presidential lives and all lovers of American history.

Francis Kernan - the life and times of a 19th century, citizen-politician of upstate NY by Karen Clemens Kernan and John Devereaux Kernan - Price $39.99
Since the Civil War, the overarching theme of American history has been the struggle to achieve equality, but the theme of the previous century was different: it was to defend liberty. The shining promise of liberty is what drew William Kernan from Ireland in 1802, and it was a promise fulfilled in his first-born son Francis, who rose to the U.S. Senate as one of the highest-ranking Catholics of his day.

In a cabin in the Finger Lakes wilderness of upstate New York, Francis Kernan learned his ABCs, his religion, and his politics all at once by reading his pioneer father's prayer book in which black marks crossed out all references to the English monarchy that had denied his Irish ancestors ownership of their own lands, the right to vote, or even to be educated. This book tells the story of a first-born son who lived the American promise of liberty and personified the democratic ideal of the citizen-politician, moving between personal life and public service to preserve the Constitutional laws and the Union-that had given him so much.

Bootmaker To The Nation - by Dr. John Slade - Price $24.95
Our nation needs to re-explore our country and its extraordinary foundation. This galloping story, set during the entire American Revolution, will enable you to relive those crucial years. And to help build the America we need today. You will finally -love American history. -understand our nation's first war. -meet our Founding Fathers as people, not as wooden heroes. -look to the future with an educated eye.

Guardian Of The Carry - by Alen E. Sterling - Price $9.95
At approximately 8:00 am on September 8, 1755, General William Johnson's provincial contingent collides with a French and Indian force in the forest and after many bloody hours of battle, the French and their Indian allies are put to rout. The English victory is complete in the Battle of Lake George. For his superb effort, Johnson will receive a baronetcy and be made "Superintendent of the Six Nations and other Northern Indians".

It is here that noted regional author and historian Alan Sterling will take up the thread of the story as it relates to the vital portage link in Sir William Johnson's domain between the Mohawk River and Oneida Lake in his meticulously researched account, Guardian Of The Carry. Utilizing rediscovered primary sources, Mr. Sterling will take the reader on a grand historical journey detailing the importance of New York's Northern Frontier, focusing upon the defense of the Oneida Carry and construction of Fort Stanwix during the epic struggle of the French and Indian War.

The Life of Ely S. Parker: Last Grand Sachem of the Iroquois and General Grant's Military Secretary - by Arthur C. Parker - Price $35.00
Among those American Indians who participated in the American Civil War, Ely Samuel Parker remains the best known of those who fought on the Union side. Brevetted a brigadier general, Parker was outranked among American Indians only by Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie. Parker’s fame, of course, is not based solely on his rank. During the last year of the war, he served as Ulysses S. Grant’s military secretary; at Appomattox, Parker prepared the official copy of the document that formalized the capitulation of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

After the war, Parker remained Grant’s aide-de-camp until the latter’s inauguration as president in early 1869. The Seneca leader subsequently became the first American Indian to serve as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a position he held until August 1871.