New Book Helps Norvelt Celebrate 75 Years

Feb. 2, 2010 - PRLog -- In 1934, the American Field Service Committee was recruited to implement and build the fourth of 99 planned subsistence homestead communities subsidized by the federal government.  In 2009, the Norvelt community (previously named Westmoreland Homesteads) celebrated its 75th anniversary.

In over 200 vintage images, local authors Sandra Wolk Schimizzi and Valeria Sofranko Wolk commemorate the remarkable life and transformation the homesteaders were able to experience during the town's formative years.

Highlights of Norvelt: A New Deal Subsistence Homestead:
•Features photographs donated from private collections of local residents and include early photographs of the building of Norvelt, as well as photos of original homesteaders
•Describes how workers were required to participate in the construction of their houses and a man’s labor was treated as equity
•Illustrates life in Western Penn. coal towns and the poverty that developed due to the economics of that period

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book are being donated to the Westmoreland Homestead Historic Society.


Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com.

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With more than 6,000 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.