Marketplace

Schuylkill County in east central Pennsylvania was built from the rich southern fields of anthracite coal.

The era when coal was king has long since passed, but the story of the development of the anthracite coal industry that fueled the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. has not been lost, and its legacy still influences our modern world. When Broad Mountain was conquered by the railroads and the Mahanoy plane was built, coal could be brought up over the mountain to reach its markets. The transportation that was necessary to get the coal to the rapidly developing markets in Philadelphia, New York, and New England caused the development of the towns in northern Schuylkill County such as Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, and Ashland during the 1850s–1860s. The vivid details and nuances of local community life from the 1850s to the 1920s are brought to light in this wonderful collection by historians Leo L. Ward and Mark T. Major.

Zippo has been owned and operated by the Blaisdell family for more than seventy years. Zippo Manufacturing Company contains photographs of the Blaisdells, the Zippo Riders, the Zippo ski slope, the Zippo car, special-edition lighters, and scenes from the town of Bradford. Zippo archives and private collections have yielded rare photographs of Zippo employees at work, company and collector events, and other highlights in the company's history.

Owners of the General Equipment company opened the restaurant chain Burger Chef, intending to promote their equipment they instead sky-rocketed themselves into owning the second largest burger chain in America.

Frank P. Thomas Jr., Donald J. Thomas, and Robert E. Wildman, owners of the General Equipment Company, entered into the fast-food business by opening a 15¢ hamburger restaurant called Burger Chef in Indianapolis in 1958. General Equipment was a manufacturer of restaurant machinery and built the equipment installed in each Burger Chef store. The partners started their new Burger Chef division to sell more equipment; they never could have imagined that Burger Chef would eventually grow to become the nation's second-largest hamburger chain and beloved by customers in towns and cities across America. Burger Chef continued in business until 1982, cooking its popular flame-broiled hamburgers and introducing its memorable advertising icons, Burger Chef and Jeff.

Images of America: Tennessee's Confederates draws upon photographs, many previously unpublished, to tell the stories of confederate soldiers from the Volunteer State.

Like other slave-holding border states, Tennessee initially elected not to join the newly formed Confederates States of America. However, with the attack on Fort Sumter and the call for troops to put down the rebellion, Tennessee governor Isham Harris telegrammed President Lincoln, ""Tennessee will not furnish a single man for the purpose of coercion, but 50,000 if necessary for the defense of our rights and those of our Southern brothers."" In early June 1861, the state voted to secede from the Union and soon joined the Confederacy. Ultimately, Tennessee provided nearly 187,000 men to the Confederate cause serving in 110 regiments and 33 battalions. Photographs are from the collections of the Tennessee State Museum, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the Tennessee Historical Society, and private collections.

Bath Iron Works was established by Gen. Thomas Hyde in 1884 and launched its first ship in 1891. This collection of shipbuilding photographs brings to life the proud history of Bath Iron Works.

Since then, the shipyard on the Kennebec River has built dozens of luxurious yachts, hardworking freighters, tugs, trawlers, lightships, and more than two hundred twenty warships for the U.S. Navy. Today, Bath Iron Works continues a shipbuilding tradition that began nearly four hundred years ago when the first ship built in America was constructed just a few miles downriver from Bath. Bath Iron Works showcases a unique collection of photographs that provides a rare view inside one of the nation's great shipyards. The book shows the yard's origins in a few simple buildings, its expansion into a modern shipbuilding facility, and its rapid growth into an industrial powerhouse during World War II. During these years, Bath Iron Works produced famous ships such as the America's Cup defender Ranger, the yachts Aras and Hi-Esmaro, the record-setting destroyer USS Lamson, and fully one fourth of all destroyers built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Bath Iron Works gives an insider's view of these great vessels and many others, as skilled craftspeople turn raw materials into complex ships, each uniquely suited to its purpose.

The story of the bridge that transformed Maryland's Eastern Shore from a sleepy backwater to a major tourism destination and caused an economic boom in Baltimore in the west.

When it opened to traffic in 1952, the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge - simply called the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - was the third-longest bridge in the world. The four-mile long span was constructed over the Chesapeake Bay in a dramatic 2.5-year period of progress that became known to the workers as "Operation Link," because it would be the first physical connection between the two widely separated parts of Maryland. Today, the two spans - the original Bay Bridge from 1952 and the parallel span built alongside it in 1973 - are towering architectural landmarks along the East Coast of the United States.

This is the history of the supermarket where America grew up shopping, from the Hartford family's legacy to the generations of shoppers who depended on A&P for fair prices and quality food.

In 1859, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, known everywhere as A&P, began as a mail-order business located at 31 Vesey Street in downtown Manhattan. In 1925, A&P operated more than thirteen thousand grocery stores nationwide, with more than forty thousand employees. By 1950, approximately ten cents out of every dollar spent on food in the United States passed over A&P counters. A&P: The Story of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company tells the story of how cofounder George Huntington Hartford and his sons John and George brought A&P to a popularity with consumers that few companies have ever achieved. This stunning collection of vintage photographs shows such nostalgic scenes as the elegant early stores, their gleaming window displays, and the red horse-drawn delivery wagons with the A&P logo emblazoned on their sides. Shoppers choose from rows of colorful merchandise and fresh produce; uniformed storekeepers make change from ornate registers; and the founder's son tastes A&P's Eight O'Clock coffee. A&P is still an industry leader, and A&P: The Story of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company shows why.

When early settlers struggled to grow anything at all in North Carolina's sandy soil, tobacco was a boon. The lives of many North Carolinians continue to revolve around the growth cycle of the tobacco plant, from laying-by to cropping and curing. In this collection of nostalgic memories, Yeargin and others reminisce about the frustrations of slugs and tar, the cropping of dew-drenched leaves, the aching beauty of a tobacco bloom and the ultimate connection of man with earth--a connection that is slowly fading with each new generation.

Gain insight into one of the nation's most prestigious military college, The Citadel, and discover the historic past of the South Carolina school.

Since its founding in 1842, The Citadel has provided generations of leaders to the state and nation. From its original purpose of providing an education to young men of South Carolina who would perform military duties for the state, it has evolved into an institution of national stature, highly regarded for both its academic reputation and its disciplined environment. Graduates of The Citadel have fought in every United States war since the Mexican War in 1846. Cadets have also achieved prominence in other fields, such as serving in leadership roles in state and national government, education, the professions, and business. With the help of over 200 black-and-white photographs, this work explores the development of The Citadel over the past 160 years, and included are sketches of its visionary founders, faculty members, and leaders. Descriptive vignettes highlight the success of the alumni and give insight into the experiences of the most important element of The Citadel: the South Carolina Corps of Cadets.