Robin
Van Auken
Creator of and Contributor to Historic Williamsport
Robin Van Auken is an anthropologist, author and independent historic consultant. She has a bachelor's and a master's degree in Anthropology, and an associate's degree in Mass Communications. Van Auken is an adjunct instructor teaching American Archaeology at Lycoming College.
She is the principal investigator for the Muncy Heritage Park and Nature Trail, a multi-year project that serves as a site for archaeology field schools through 2008, as well as independent research projects for students in many fields of study. She specializes in public archaeology projects and historic preservation.
Van Auken has published ten books of regional history. In addition to five years as a museum curator, 15 years as an anthropologist, she has more than 20 years experience in journalism and mass communications.
Her professional memberships include the Register of Professional Archaeologists, Society for Historical Archaeology, the Society for PA Archaeology, Northcentral Chapter/PA Archaeology and the Lycoming County Historical Society. On the Internet at www.RobinVanAuken.com.
Books by Robin Van Auken
Copies of "Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball" are available by contacting Penn State University Press. Copies of "Muncy: Postcard History Series," "The Little League World Series," "Williamsport: Boomtown on the Susquehanna," "Williamsport: The Grit Photograph Collection" and "Lycoming County's Industrial Heritage" are available from Arcadia Publishing. Copies of "Williamsport's Grit: A Newspaper Legacy, and "Williamsport Sun-Gazette: A Pictorial History, Vol. 1-3," are available from the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.
140 illustrations
60 color photos
288 pages || 8 1/2 x 11
ISBN 0-271-02118-7A Keystone Book General
Interest/Sport History
By Penn State University Press
Play Ball! The Story
of Little League BaseballPlay Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball by Lance and Robin Van Auken charts Little League's history from the earliest days and shows how, in many respects, its history parallels America's history: isolation in the beginning; rapid expansion; a civil war of sorts, followed by reconstruction; struggles over civil rights and gender equity; and foreign entanglements. A microcosm of American society, Little League reflects, and is affected by, cultural, political and historical trends. Today, Little League is played on 12,000 fields in every U.S. state and in 103 other countries on six continents. Little League also sanctions play in softball, Tee Ball, and baseball for disabled children-called the Challenger Division. The Little League Baseball World Series, played annually in Williamsport, is watched by crowds of 40,000 each year in person, and by more than ten million on ABC's Wide World of Sports.
"'Play Ball!' is a delightful walk down the storied history of Little League Baseball. For those of us who played the dreams of your youth, it brings back mighty memories. For those of us reluctant adults who still dream, it's a wonderful reminder of what might have been."
—John Grisham
"It's funny: after 40 years, I can't remember much else about a lot of the boys I grew up with, but if you give me one of their names, I can usually remember what Little League team he played on."
—Dave Barry
"Did you know that George W. was a Little Leaguer? More to the point, humorist Dave Barry is also a graduate of Little League, and he writes an amusing introduction to a solid book about this American institution. Little League has now been around for more than half a century, and this new history fills a gap in library collections that often focus solely on major league baseball history. This well-illustrated, popularly written account should be on the shelves of every library that serves a community with a Little League team."
—Library Journal
Click Here to buy the
book
Williamsport's Grit: A Newspaper Legacy
Many Americans recall Grit with nostalgia. For more than 125 years, this popular Sunday newspaper delivered homespun good news, features, fiction, coupons, and comics to families across the nation. Nearly one million children have sold it, some for a few weeks, and some for several years. They often look back with pride on the experience when, as young entrepreneurs, they knocked on the doors of small-town homes and were welcomed with a smile and a dime for a weekly edition of Grit: America’s Greatest Family Newspaper.
This new book by author Robin Van Auken features never-before-seen photographs from Grit's archives as well as stories of local significance and history. A national timeline of stories that Grit reported on also are included. Now a bi-monthly, full-color glossy magazine that targets Rural American audiences, Grit remains a national treasure.
178 illustrations
136 pages || 8 1/2 x 11
ISBN 0-9778317-3-6
Williamsport Sun-Gazette
A Pictorial History, Vol. 1
In honor of the City of Williamsport's Bicentennial, the Sun-Gazette produced a three-volume, pictorial history. Most of the images within this series have never been published in book form. Primary resources for the series are the historic Grit, Williamsport Sun, Gazette and Bulletin and the Williamsport Sun-Gazette archives.
This volume is the first of three that traces in narrative and picture form the transformation of Ross' Town into the City of Williamsport. It explores the development in thirteen categories from 1806 to 1916. The text welcomes outsiders to this rich history even as the pictures evoke memories in those who have walked the streets and lived in this special place.
Next in the series is Vol. 2, 1917-1956, to be published in July 2006, and Vol. 3, 1957-2006, to be published in September 2006.
215 illustrations
136 pages || 8 1/2 x 11
ISBN 0-9778317-0-1
Williamsport Sun-Gazette
A Pictorial History, Vol. 2
During the 38-year period covered in this second volume of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette’s Bicentennial Pictorial History 1917-1955, the community and its people lived through two world wars, the Great Depression and two major floods. The city survived and became a better place to live and work. More than a half century has past since the last photo in this volume was taken, probably by a press camera, the long gone famous workhorse of photojournalism. So, it really is not likely a “Remember When” for most readers. It is almost “news” or a remembrance of stories told by their elders.
The authors have researched the highlights of what happened here between 1917 and 1955, recording the industrial, commercial, educational and governmental growth of the city and the lives of its citizens.
Next in the series is Vol. 3, 1956-2006, to be published in September 2006.
More than 200 illustrations
136 pages || 8 1/2 x 11
ISBN 0-9778317-0-X
Williamsport Sun-Gazette
A Pictorial History, Vol. 3
This is the final volume of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette’s Bicentennial Pictorial History 1956-2006. Most of its readers will have lived and worked through the years depicted in it, and, although it relates to the people of this era, it will tell a story for years to come.
It is a difficult task to shuffle through thousands of photographs, searching not only for significant historic moments, but also to find images that represent a community's past. It's also a joyous task, following a trail left by talented photographers and journalists documenting their hometown.
This Bicentennial series is not meant to be a comprehensive history of Williamsport, rather a portal to its many triumphs and tragedies, its heart and soul.
More than 250 illustrations
136 pages || 8 1/2 x 11
ISBN 0-9778317-2-8
Muncy:
Postcard History SeriesMuncy, a small river town founded shortly after the French and Indian War, was the earliest European settlement in the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna River. By 1769, land speculator Samuel Wallis had acquired more than 7,000 acres, so he sold much of this land to pioneers in search of a better way of life. By 1832, the West Branch Canal made Muncy a business thoroughfare and lumber boomtown. Like most Pennsylvania river towns, Muncy suffered great loss in the flood of 1889, which also devastated Johnstown. Another massive flood in 1894 sounded the death knell for the canal system. The railroad, which superseded the canal system throughout the United States, kept the local industry alive, although the port businesses disappeared. Through vintage postcards, Muncy depicts the varied past of this quiet town.
The Muncy Historical Society keeps the town’s spirit alive with home tours, quilt shows, antique fairs, and an active archaeological dig and is in the process of developing the Muncy Canal Heritage Park and Nature Trail.
Williamsport:
Boomtown on the Susquehanna
The history of Williamsport, as well as many towns and boroughs of Lycoming County, is the topic of a new book of a fertile valley that grew from a struggling frontier village into a town with a taste for success, eventually molding itself into a magnetic and vibrant city. "Williamsport: Boomtown on the Susquehanna" is a 160-page paperback filled with more than 100 historic and nostalgic photographs of people and places in the region.
Williamsport:
The Grit Photograph Collection
For more than 100 years, the "Grit" was a Sunday morning staple as America's favorite family newspaper. Many in small-town America remember the "Grit" with warmth, made possible by a Dietrick Lamade, a German immigrant and self-made man who settled in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The first year of the "Grit" was one of adversity and uncertainty, but Lamade came up with innovative ideas, such as direct mail and newsboys throughout the nation that transformed it into a national institution.
Lycoming County's
Industrial HeritageLycoming County has a rich industrial history, first in lumber and then in manufacturing. Thousands were employed as lumberjacks, and others worked in sawmills, planing mills, or furniture factories that processed the lumber. Until 1894, lumber was the county’s main industry. Inevitably, the mountainsides were denuded and floods toppled the remaining lumbering companies. The heyday over, many company towns collapsed. Boards of trade were created to entice manufacturers to the region. During the first half of the twentieth century, Lycoming once again prospered with hundreds of new entrepreneurs and companies. "Lycoming County’s Industrial Heritage" a tribute to lost labor, and is illustrated with vintage photographs from the "Grit" collection. It documents the people who worked in the factories, mills, and for the manufacturers that no longer exist, victims of recession, urban sprawl, and offshore industries. Each image honors the role of labor and serves as a reminder of the individuals who helped build industrial America.
Little League Baseball
World Series Heroes
Robin Van Auken also has written a photographic companion book, "Little League World Series," for Arcadia, which profiles more than five decades of the World Series. In 1947, when the first Little League Baseball World Series was played, there were seventeen teams in two states. Since then, Little League has achieved global recognition and has touched the lives of children and families in more than one hundred countries. Now, millions more tune in to ABC's Wide World of Sports and ESPN for live coverage of the final game. Little League Baseball has enriched the lives of more than 30 million boys and girls who have worn a Little League uniform.
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