Journal of York County Heritage
The Journal of York County Heritage is available annually to all members of the History Center as a benefit of membership. The 2023 edition of the Journal is now available for $6.95 in both our Museum Book Shop and online at our Gift Shop and Book Store.
The Journal of York County Heritage was created in 2010 to celebrate York County history, material culture, cultural heritage, and people. The 2023 edition is now available for sale and features the work of local authors. Author Stephen E. Smith explains the quest to honor African American World War I veteran George A. Wood; Stephen Nicholas Jr. writes about the remarkable life of S. Morgan Smith; Dr. Benjamin A. Hoover II explores the local connections to Charles Sheeler’s painting “Suspended Power;” Duane F. Alwin examines early brickmaking in York County; James McClure looks at women in community advocacy; and Jane Sutton examines a Memorial Day speech given by Charles H. Glatfelter at Stone Church. Click here to see the full speech by Dr. Glatfelter in 2011.
Prior editions are also available for sale at the Museum Book Shop located at 250 E. Market St., York. Supplies are limited, so grab your copy today! Buy each previous edition individually, or purchase a combination for special price. They make great gifts for the holidays and other special occasions.
The 2013 and 2014 editions of the Journal of York County Heritage are out of print, but all past editions are now available on our new Journal of York County Heritage Digital Bookcase. Certain publications, such as Recruits to Continentals: A History of the York County Rifle Company, June 1775-January 1777 written by Philip J. Schlegel and published by our predecessor the Historical Society of York County, are now viewable on our York County History Center Publications Bookcase.
The 2024 Journal of York County Heritage
Stay tuned! The 2024 Journal will be a commemorative edition focusing on the Met Ed Steam Plant, the new home of the York County History Center. We will not have the traditional Call for Papers for this edition.
Future editions of the Journal will feature articles of original scholarship on a variety of topics. Preference will be given to those authors that utilize the York County History Center’s collection, either in full or in part. Photographs and/or other illustrative materials are encouraged but not required. Generally, the manuscript must be original, unpublished, written in English, and limited to 3,000 words. The History Center especially encourages articles that examine diverse York County communities. Endnotes and bibliography are required. The editors may also seek submissions of short articles (250–750 words) highlighting aspects of York County history. The pieces should be well sourced internally, but not necessarily footnoted. Deadlines for submission of articles are to be determined.
Please review the submission guidelines carefully. Please also review the York County History Center Style Guide. For more information, please contact Nicole Smith, Director of Library & Archives at 717-848-1587, ext. 225.
Please be a part of history and submit to our publication.
Sticks ‘n Stones: The Myers Family in Levittown
by Daisy D. Myers
This important book, originally published by the York County Heritage Trust in 2005, has been reprinted in a Second Edition in 2021. It contains a new forward by Michael Newsome, Secretary of Governor Tom Wolf’s Office of Administration and a new Epilogue by Daisy’s daughter Lynda P. Myers. The reprint was made possible through the support of the Robert P. Turner Publication Fund.
She’s been called the “Rosa Parks of the North.” Daisy D. Myers (1925–2011), a native of
Richmond, Virginia, didn’t intend to become a civil rights activist for fair housing when
she and her family moved to Levittown, Pennsylvania, in 1957. But when hundreds of
people crowded onto her front lawn and into the street, trying to force the Myers family—
the first African American family in Levittown—to leave, Daisy stood her ground.
Written in the years right after the incident, Sticks ’n Stones: The Myers Family in Levittown
is the story of that resistance. Daisy, Daisy’s husband, Bill Myers, a York, Pennsylvania
native and their four children moved to York in the late 1960s. When asked about her
experiences, she simply said, “We love too seldom and hate too often.”
The Ground Swallowed Them Up
by Scott Mingus
This is the first book published that fully addresses the Underground Railroad in York County. Surprising, considering that from the early 1800s through the early Civil War period, York County was a significant pathway for runaway slaves seeking freedom. Historian Scott Mingus details the several networks that developed which include a Quaker system, another one involving free blacks, and a third with several of York’s leading Pennsylvania Germans as conductors. Scott Mingus is an Ohio native residing in York, PA and has written 18 Civil War books. A scientist and executive in the paper industry, he holds patents in self-adhesive postage stamps and bar code labels. Softcover, indexed. Available in the York County History Center Gift Shop and Book Store.
