Through its many incarnations, Alameda has never lost its charm and ability to draw people from all walks of life. Originally a peninsula inhabited by Native Americans, it was purchased by Don Luis Peralta in 1818 and developed into a bedroom community of San Francisco. Alameda became an island in 1902, and a short time later, it was a new home to many refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The Neptune Beach amusement park attracted...

Founded in 1646 and known as "the Whaling City," New London has played an important role in American history since Colonial days. Its natural harbor at the mouth of the Thames River connects the city to the sea. Around the turn of the 20th century, New London flourished as the hub of southeastern Connecticut. With roots as one of the main ports for the whaling industry, the city became home to a wealthy summer resort called the Pequot Colony. Over...

This collection of Chinese photography contains over 350 vintage postcards from pre-communist China along with extensive historical background and commentary. Camel trains arriving at a city gate; the distinctive architecture of the Forbidden City, its pagodas, imperial buildings and temples; Manchu fashion, the Empress Dowager and the child emperor Puyi; street performers and foreign tourists-all come to life again in this extraordinary collection...

On the southern edge of the vast Llano Estacado, Midland began as a midpoint along the Texas and Pacific Railway. From its earliest days, entrepreneurs like the Scharbauers and Henry Halff built a city based upon their dreams. Land speculators, ranchers, farmers, financiers, oilmen, investors, and engineers each placed their own unique brands on Midland's landscape. Over time, the community earned a variety of nicknames--Windmill Town, Land of the...

This fascinating Japanese photography book features over 140 images taken between 1853 and 1905 by the most important local and foreign photographers then working in Japan. Almost one-fourth of the images are hand colored, superb examples of a rich art form long since vanished. The Japan of this book too has disappeared, but author and compiler Terry Bennett has put together a unique portrait of the country at perhaps its most decisive turning point,...

The Swannanoa Valley lies to the east of Asheville, North Carolina, and is surrounded by some of the highest mountains in the eastern United States. The eastern boundary of the valley follows the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and travelers entering through the Swannanoa Gap emerge into the beautiful "Land of the Sky." In the 1900s, multiple large religious assemblies were founded here. Montreat, Ridgecrest, the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, and Christmount...

When Henry A. DeLand sat down to plan a town in the summer of 1876, he envisioned a place that would become "a religious, educational, business, and social center"-the Athens of Florida. He made his dream a reality by investing his livelihood in the town that would be named for him. DeLand donated the land for the first municipal building that doubled as a church and school and funded the school that would become Stetson University. Ever since, the...

For centuries, Presque Isle served as a way station for Native Americans and explorers. Lumbering and shipping led to the development of wooding stations along the Lake Huron shore, where settlements emerged. The roads created by loggers eventually led to the building of resorts and hotels for tourists. Postcard History Series: Grand Lake and Presque Isle explores Burnham's Landing, the abandoned community of Bell, Presque Isle's two renowned lighthouses,...

Occupying land along the Walnut River that once belonged to the Osage Indians, Winfield grew from a small settlement in the early 1870s to a bustling center of culture by 1909, when it was called the "Little Athens of Kansas." Its colleges, picturesque limestone buildings, homes, churches, trolleys, and annual Winfield Chautauqua Assemblies were ideal subjects for the picture postcards popular at the time. These cards, which provided a window to the...

Boise was founded on the Oregon Trail in 1863, shortly after the opening of Fort Boise, which was built to protect the gold that had recently been discovered in the Boise Basin around Idaho City. By the late 1800s, Boise had a very large downtown infrastructure, and it saw the addition of many multistoried buildings after 1900. In the late 1960s though the 1970s, Boise experienced a major urban renewal project with many of the historic buildings being...