America Through Time

02/13/2025

🩷📚Recommended: "VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITIONS IN BOSTON" by Anthony Sammarco is a must-read!

Order here » https://fml.pub/valentine

"VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITIONS IN BOSTON" is a fun and interesting way to recall the holiday from the exchange of Valentine cards in day school to the cards, candy, and flowers we sent or received as adults to and from our valentine.
From Ancient Rome with the pagan festival of Lupercalia to the worldwide celebration of the holiday, we revel in its history and evolution through the centuries as a day of love. Today, Esther Allen Howland is honored with the nickname "Mother of the American Valentine," with many citing her small card factory as the start of a multi-million-dollar industry. Beginning in 2001, the Greeting Card Association has annually given the "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary," and they estimate that 200 million valentines are sent each year in the United States.

Anthony Sammarco discusses the history of St. Valentine's Day from Lupercalia, an ancient Roman festival celebrated on February 15 to ensure fertility for the people, fields, and flocks to the annual exchange of cards, candy, and flowers.
Beginning with Esther Howland who produced delicate and fanciful Valentine’s Day cards in the nineteenth century through to major card companies such as Hallmark, Norcross, Gibson, and Rust Craft, Americans exchange millions of cards annually. The book also discusses the more outré Sailor’s Valentines, Vinegar Valentines, and Krampus Valentines.

02/12/2025

📣📚Recommended: "THE WILLIAM E. BOEING STORY: A GIFT OF FLIGHT" by David Williams is the first full-length biography of this titan of the skies. It's a must-read!

Read more 👉🏼 https://fml.pub/boeing-story

"THE WILLIAM E. BOEING STORY: A GIFT OF FLIGHT" is the first ever full-length biography of William E. Boeing, the father of commercial aviation.

Boeing’s story is an exciting one complete with bootleggers, kidnappers and a disastrous run in with President Franklin Roosevelt and future Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black.
Boeing’s story covers every aspect of early aviation starting with his first ride in a balloon in 1896 to the christening of the revolutionary jet powered Dash-80/707 in 1955. Along the way, Boeing developed some of the world’s most iconic airplanes including the P-26 Peashooter, the Boeing 247, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the mighty B-29 Superfortress.

The Boeing family gave author David D. Williams unprecedented access to the Boeing Family Archives, which contained thousands of never-before-seen photos, diaries and personal letters.

This treasure trove of primary sources allowed Williams to create an extraordinary vivid and accurate portrait of this influential yet private man.

02/09/2025

📣🏡📸Pre-order alert: "CONNECTICUT: QUAINT, HISTORIC BARNS AND FARMS OF THE NUTMEG STATE" by the brilliant Christina E. Cole is out in March!

Read more 👉 https://fml.pub/nutmeg-state

Nostalgia creeps in and captures our souls. Whether triggered by a specific scent when wind blows the aroma of sweet grass your way or the burnt orange and sienna shades of changing leaves in the fall, there is no denying nostalgia’s pull on our heartstrings. The classic red barn represents nostalgia for author Christina Cole.

Puzzle boxes and wall calendars are often adorned with unattainable, far-off places in New England. Piece by piece, a dramatic explosion of color and moody skies falls into place. The finished product, or the page flip to the next month, results in the emotion of the end of something and the longing to visit those magical moments. That is what the winding roads of rural Connecticut are like, littered with fascinating history, architecture, and purpose, with all the perfect expectations of an unopened puzzle box.

02/08/2025

🔔📚🏔️ — something for the and fans: "KEYSTONE STATE RAILS: MODERN RAILROADING IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA" by Matthew Craft is the one for your collection!

Read more 👉🏻 https://fml.pub/keystone

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘀𝘆𝗹𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮'𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆, 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗨.𝗦. 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Although the road names and equipment have radically changed over the past century, Pennsylvania has long been a railroading crossroads. Thanks to the four major trunk lines (Pennsylvania Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio, New York Central, and Erie) that ran through the Pennsylvanian mountain ranges and connected the East Coast with the western states (as well as others that linked the northern states and Canada), Pennsylvania has always been a vital piece of the U.S. railroad infrastructure. Though most of the state's trackage is operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX, the Keystone State is also home to over fifty shortline railroads.
"KEYSTONE STATE RAILS: MODERN RAILROADING IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA" captures the region and brings the railroad to life through photography, documenting the unique and challenging operations that the Keystone State is famous for, from the high-speed mainline action in northwest, the challenging mountain grades of the NS Pittsburgh Line near the Horseshoe Curve, to the beautiful rolling hills and rivers of Southwestern Pennsylvania along the CSX Keystone Subdivision.

02/07/2025

📚 : "FORGOTTEN VIRGINIA: ABANDONED PLACES AND THINGS IN THE OLD DOMINION" by the brilliant Sean Toler at Sean Toler Photo is a must-read!

Order link 🔗 fml.pub/forgotten-virginia

New construction seems to be taking place all around. In every direction, there is another shopping center, neighborhood, or business park being built. With all the commotion and progress, it can be easy to forget what was. We tend to neglect the old, abandoned buildings around us, leaving them to decay or suffer a brutal demise by the cold, hardened steel of heavy equipment.
In the world of photography, there are those who seek out these forgotten pieces of history in hopes of capturing what’s left on camera, thereby preserving them in their own way. Author Sean Toler is one such photographer.

Traveling the roads of Virginia, he has photographed numerous old, abandoned buildings in an effort to make them last a little longer. Knowing that some of the buildings he has photographed no longer stand, he is grateful that he was able to capture them before they disappeared from the landscape forever.

02/05/2025

💥Pre-order exclusive: "WE’VE ALL LIFE BEFORE US: A LOVE STORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR" edited by Caroline Cecil Bose is THE absolute must-read!

Read more 👉 https://fml.pub/all-life

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗰𝗘𝘄𝗮𝗻'𝘀 "𝗔𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁", 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀!

'A remarkable, movingly authentic love story'
𝙍𝙄𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘿 𝘿𝘼𝙒𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙎

'An extraordinary story of wartime romance and sacrifice'
𝙃𝙐𝙂𝙃 𝙋𝙔𝙈

'A beautifully told love story of a different age'
𝙉𝙄𝘾𝙆 𝙃𝙀𝙒𝙀𝙍

'Compelling reading'
𝙂𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙍𝘼𝙇 𝙎𝙄𝙍 𝙅𝘼𝘾𝙆 𝘿𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙀𝙇𝙇

A beautifully intimate and unguarded story of love in a time of war, from shy, eager beginnings, to unbridled longing and enduring tragedy.

02/05/2025

📚🏛️ in our series: "BACK BAY THROUGH TIME" by Anthony Sammarco

Read more 👉 https://fml.pub/back-bay

A neighborhood of the city of Boston that is not just the quintessential Victorian neighborhood of the 19th century, but one that was infilled and planned as the premier residential and institutional development.

Begun in the late 1850s when the marshlands west of the Boston Public Garden were infilled through the ingenuity of John Souther, the Back Bay was to become a massive project that took over three decades to complete.

With fill brought by gondola cars from Needham, Massachusetts six days a week, twenty-four hours a day, every 45 minutes, the fill had an average depth of 20 feet and the expanse of the Back Bay to be filled was roughly 460 acres.

A monumental task, it was said that so successful was the venture that by 1885, only a small area was left to be infilled near the Back Bay Fens. In this photographic history of the Back Bay of Boston Anthony M. Sammarco, with the contemporary photographs of Peter B. Kingman, has created a fascinating book that chronicles the neighborhood from the late nineteenth century through to today.

Walking along Arlington, Boylston, Newbury Streets, Commonwealth, Huntington and Massachusetts Avenues and stopping at Park Square and Copley Square, this visually fascinating book offers a fascinating glimpse of the "BACK BAY THROUGH TIME".

02/04/2025

🗽🇺🇸 : "MIDTOWN MANHATTAN THROUGH TIME" by Richard R. Panchyk

Read more 👉 https://fml.pub/mid-man

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆'𝘀 "𝗠𝗶𝗱𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗻" 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝘆

The center of town moved steadily north over the following centuries. Modern Midtown encompasses everything between 14th Street and 59th Street, and includes three of the city's major transportation hubs – Pennsylvania Station, Grand Central Station, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It features the city's finest shopping and entertainment, and most well-known skyscrapers―the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.

Midtown also includes such landmarks as the United Nations, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the New York Public Library. The heart of midtown, between Lexington Avenue and Eighth Avenue, has changed the most over the last century, while to the east of Lexington and the west of Eighth, you can still find many original nineteenth century buildings.

The writer O. Henry once said about New York City: "It'll be a great place if they ever finish it."

Midtown Manhattan is a great place precisely because it is ever a work in progress, a dynamic and vital part of the city that offers a colorful and exciting mixture of old and new.

01/31/2025

📣🏥📚Pre-order alert: "ABANDONED ASYLUMS AND INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK: THE EMPIRE STATE STRIKES BACK" by Dave Snook features some amazing locations and the photography is stunning. The book is coming out in March but you should definitely pre-order your copy now.

Order link 👉 https://fml.pub/asylums-NY

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘀𝘆𝗹𝘂𝗺𝘀. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸.

Travel back to when asylums were a city within a city to keep the mentally ill hidden away. Discover architectural marvels that were carefully designed by some of the most honorable architects of the time, like Frederick Clarke Withers and famed landscape designer, Frederick Law Olmsted.

Follow Photographer Dave Snook as he captures New York’s first asylum for the chronically insane; a modern-day psychiatric hospital closed in 2015; a famous tuberculous center’s dome that has been rumored to be in the Pan- American Exposition’s Temple of Music; and a state school influenced by a Massachusetts institution for the "feeble-minded".

Explore the decaying ruins of some of New York’s largest and most famous institutions and asylums.

01/27/2025

🗓️🕍 : "THE ROAD TO AUSCHWITZ: THE DEPORTATION OF THE SLOVAK JEWS BY THE HLINKA GUARD" by Walter S. Zapotoczny Jr.

Read more 👉🏼 https://fml.pub/auschwitz

The holocaust began for the Slovak Jews in the autumn of 1938 when Slovakia became an autonomous region. Jewish property was confiscated, and businesses liquidated at bargain prices all in an effort to Aryanise the country.

However, by 26 March 1942, the first trainloads of Jews deported from Slovakia embarked to their final destination at Auschwitz and death camps in the Lublin area. The mechanism for rounding-up the Jews and subsequent forced deportation was the Hlinka Guard.

By October 1942, the Hlinka Guard had overseen the deportation of some 60,000 Slovak Jews. During the 1944-1945 German occupation from 1944 to 1945, another 13,500 Jews were deported and 5,000 imprisoned. Many of the Jews ended up at the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.
After a brief respite, the Hlinka Guard once again took to persecuting Jews throughout Slovakia. Slovak gypsies (Roma) were also persecuted by the Hlinka Guard.

Hlinka Guards were used to do the dirty work, killing suspect Roma rebels in front of their wives and children, and then murdering the entire family.

01/26/2025

🪦🌴🌊Pre-order alert: "BURIED HOLLYWOODLAND: THE CEMETERIES OF LOS ANGELES" by Jessica Ferri (IG ) is out in February!

Rear more 👉 https://fml.pub/buried-LA

𝗟𝗼𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘇 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱; 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗻 "𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆" 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘆: 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝘄𝗻, "𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘆𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵.”

In a culture that stigmatizes grief and loss, Marilyn Monroe’s crypt is one of the most visited tourist sites in the country. The cemeteries of Los Angeles offer Americans a vector to access their morbid curiosities through the cult of celebrity death. Los Angeles is a fairyland, a liminal space, not completely real. Within its confines, the silver screen can be blinding.

In addition to the spectacle of celebrity tragedy, the history of LA’s cemeteries reveals a diverse community of immigrants and transplants desperate for the American dream, though you might not know it, depending on whose version of that dream you’re starring in. Both Forest Lawn and Hollywood Forever Cemetery were built on movie set backlots. There's no business like show business, and the cemeteries of Los Angeles have the Hollywood version of America's history down.

01/25/2025

You can now follow our Abandoned Union book series here:

https://www.facebook.com/abandonedunion/

Discover our very exciting and new 'Abandoned Union' photography books on urbex/abandoned states, tow

01/24/2025

🗽📚🤓Recommended: "TALES OF FIFTH AVENUE THROUGH TIME" by Frank Muzzy is a must-read!

Read more 👉🏼 https://fml.pub/5-ave

To borrow from Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, “Last night I dreamt I went back to ‘Manderley’ again.” Instead, we will time travel back to 1824 and a similar little unpaved road that crossed the Brevoort’s farm—land holdings that stretched, since 1701, from the Bowery up past today’s Washington Square to 14th Street. Brevoort generations developed the land to the northern outskirts of the village of Manhattan.

"TALES OF FIFTH AVENUE THROUGH TIME" connects that past with the present via yellowed archival photos—the closest we have to time travel. Historical; yes, hysterical; oh yes, scandalous; but of course—all while being documented via panorama, box and brownie, digital and selfie, cinema, silent and sound, capturing the environs of the wealthiest families on the planet that lived on the only avenue to lend its moniker to a candy bar.
Tourist and locals will take a tour bus, and you will too, literarily and visually, past the surviving and ghosts of mansions; past the churches and museums; and past the most exclusive stores credit cards can handle, down the canyon of high-rises that is Fifth Avenue, Manhattan.

01/22/2025

📚🕵️‍♂️🖋️For the fans of the great Edgar Allan Poe - two unmissable books:

"THE POE SHRINE: BUILDING THE WORLD'S FINEST EDGAR ALLEN POE COLLECTION" by Christopher P. Semtner
👉 https://fml.pub/poe-shrine

and

"EXQUISITE WICKEDNESS: TWO MURDERS AND THE MAKING OF POE’S “THE TELL-TALE HEART”" by Andrew Amelinckx
👉 https://fml.pub/wickedness

゚viralシ

01/21/2025

🌅What an awesome read: "SANTA MONICA: A LOOK BACK TO 1902 FROM TODAY" by Michael Murphy

Discover more 👉 https://fml.pub/santa-monica

Over one hundred years ago, volunteer firemen sold a book, titled Santa Monica Fire Department, Souvenir Book of Santa Monica, 1902, door to door.

Legend has it that the newly-established fire department promised to fight fires for those who purchased the book, but made no such promise to those who didn't. These 110 photos are from that book.

The author discovered the book years ago in the house he grew up in, which had been owned by Santa Monica Mayor Edmond S. Gillette in the 1930s. The 1902 book contained 110 interior and exterior photographs of houses and businesses in what we know today as western Santa Monica, and a few images from other locations around Los Angeles. When he picked it up again, creating a comparison book seemed like a natural idea.

01/20/2025

🏺📚Recommended: "NORTH CAROLINA'S HILLSIDE POTTERY AND SMITHFIELD ART POTTERY: THE POTTERY WITH TWO NAMES" by Stephen C. Compton is a must-read!

Read more 👉 https://fml.pub/hillside-pottery

A clever collaboration between potter, Herman C. Cole, and artist and entrepreneur, Anna M. Graham, led to the creation of Hillside Pottery in 1927. Located along the banks of the Neuse River near Smithfield, in Johnston County, North Carolina, the operation catered to passing motorists on Highway 22 between Northern homes and Florida vacations and to New York and other out-of-state merchants.

Brought up in one of the state’s most celebrated pottery-making families, Cole had all the required skills to make quality products while Graham drew sketches of shapes to be completed and found Northern vendors to buy the wares. In addition, Cole called upon some of North Carolina’s most talented turners to keep up with customer demand.

By 1931, Hillside’s name was changed to Smithfield Art Pottery, making it clear that this was not a jug factory. Additional potters were employed, multiple kilns were constructed, including two enormous bottle kilns, and as many as 2,000 pieces were shipped weekly.

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