Title: New Book Reveals History of the Oxford Area
Author: Steve Hoffman
Publisher: Chester County Press
Date: 1/6/2010
Two local authors, Joseph A. Lordi and Dolores l. Rowe collaborated on a recently published book called Around Oxford that reveals the history of the Oxford area through a collection of vintage photographs and postcards.
Lordi and Rowe had collaborated before, on a work titled "Greetings from Kennett Square: A Sesquicentennial Tribute" to Mark Kennett Square's I50th year. Lordi has also authored a book about the history of the Bayard Taylor Memorial Library. Rowe did similar books focusing on the history of Avondale and West Grove. They are very pleased with how the Oxford book turned out.
"We had a lot of fun doing this book, explained Lordi. "Neither one of us knew much about Oxford going in, We hesitated about doing a book on Oxford because we thought that someone down there would do it."
When no one did, Lordi and Rowe decided that they would start work on the project, collecting postcards and photos researching some of the town's history.
"We started the book in January of 2009. We already had some of the images. Then we worked on it for three solid months doing research." Lordi explained.
Several more months were spent revising, editing. and working the book through the publishing process. The entire work was completed by the end of the year.
The authors hope that the book will bring back fond memories for those who grew up in the area, as well as serve as a learning tool for newcomers and students who live in the area now.
Lordi, a Philadelphia native, worked as the director of the Bayard Taylor Memorial library from 1976 through 2005. Lordi said that he and Rowe were more familiar with Kennen Square, and an interesting part of the project was discovering how different Oxford and Kennen Square are.
"The thing we found most fascinating," said Lordi, "is how dissimilar the towns are, "even though they are both small towns in Chester County. Oxford is more like Maryland; it has a real southern flavor."
He added that Oxford was fortunate to have a major benefactor - the Dickey family. The family was responsible for the town's first library and the first market, among many other contributions. Kennell Square had people who were benefactors, but not one family that made so many contributions over several generations.
The book was produced by Arcadia Publishing, a leading publisher of local and regional history across the U.S. Many towns have been featured in Arcadia Publishing books. The book is pant of Arcadia's Postcard History Series. In these postcard books, at least 80 percent of the images are postcards, while the remaining images are vintage photographs.
"These Arcadia books are wonderful. We like to share the images that we have. I think they are great little books that can help people get interested in their town." said Lordi.
Lordi added that he is already well on his way to completing his next project, a book about Las Vegas, New Mexico—a great old Wild West town.
"Around Oxford" is available at area bookstores, independent retailers, online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665.
Title: Local authors ready to release Oxford book
Author: Chris Barber
Publisher: Southern Chester County
Date: 11/25/09
Veteran authors Dolores Rowe and Joe Lordi are set to release their fourth book together, "Around Oxford." It will be on sale starting next month, with signings at the Oxford and Avon Grove libraries.
The softbound volume put out by Arcadia Publishing Co. contains hundreds of sepia-colored postcard reproductions and carefully researched explanations of their contents. According to Lordi, the illustrations of scenes around Oxford go back to 1904.
Rowe, 64 and a former Avon Grove history teacher, said the two of them did "a lot of research" and, in the process, found that citizens of Oxford in the early 20th century "...[H]ad a lot of fun. They had department stores, doctors, inventors and lots of restaurants, even a lion tamer. ...It was colorful."
Lordi, 66 and the former director of the Bayard Taylor Memorial Library, added, "They had people in leadership positions who were movers and shakers that other towns didn't have."
The book shows buildings, streets, landscapes and groups of people, and underneath the pictures are paragraphs explaining what was on view. Lordi said he worked hard to get historical verifications for each picture that he captioned.
One interesting experience that Lordi and Rowe had while assembling and writing the book was tracking down information about the contents of the cards. They found one card that had a picture of a church that was labeled as being of Oxford. But in tracking down what it was, they found it was actually a church in the Oxford neighborhood of Philadelphia.
The book expands a little bit outside of the borough of Oxford, with pictures from Camp Tweedale, Lincoln University and Cream.
Although doing the book involved hard work, the two agreed that it was enjoyable, and it was worth all the energy they put into it. One especially satisfying aspect was meeting people and talking to them along the way.
Since both Lordi and Rowe have huge postcard collections (both have been collecting for years), they first pulled out all they could find about the Oxford area and then rode around in cars, talking to people and taking pictures, to get interesting facts about the contents.
Rowe said people seemed very appreciative and helpful when they heard that a book was being written that contained information about their houses, properties and buildings that they had historical knowledge of. "People call you. Their grandfather died and they were cleaning out his closet and they found more cards," she said. She added that in the early years of the 20th century, postcards were the only way for people to share what a property, home or club looked like.
Lordi added that most of the cards at that time were made in Germany and shipped to the United States for sale. They were often sold in drug stores.
As the years go by, the old postcards — ones that virtually recorded the history of a town — become scarcer and scarcer, Lordi said. "West Grove and Avondale — you rarely see them. For Kennett and Oxford, a lot of them are scarce, too," he said.
Although they are both involved in other projects now (a blotter collection for Rowe and a book on Las Vegas, New Mexico for Lordi), they have discussed collaborating on another postcard book, possibly about the local little towns like Kemblesville and Unionville.
Lordi and Rowe will sign copies of their book at the Oxford Library on Dec. 5 from 2 to 4 p.m., and at the Avon Grove Library on Dec. 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Title: STAFF PICK: "Around Oxford"by Joseph A. Lordi and Delores I. Rowe
Author: Katy Ciamaricone
Publisher: Cecil Whig
Date: 11/19/09
This new book, part of the ubiquitous line of postcard-history books from Arcadia Publishing, focuses on nearby Oxford, Pa., similar to many Cecil towns with its many churches, farms and its midway point between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Old photos and postcards tell the story of Oxford, originally settled by Irish Presbyterian immigrants, once a prominent hub for confectionaries, and now notably home to Lincoln University. The book will be released Nov. 23 and is available now for preorder at www.arcadiapublishing.com and www.amazon.com.
