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 2024 edition is now available for sale and features the work of local authors. This year’s Journal is a commemorative edition focusing on the history of the Met Ed Steam Plant, the new home of the York County History Center. It features articles by Stephen H. Smith, Robert Kinsley, and YCHC Staff and includes community reflections of working at the plant and of the trolley era. This edition also features an article by Jim McClure on the 275 anniversary of York County. (Corrected endnotes: Due to a printing error, please click here for corrected endnotes for pages 43 and 44 of the 2024 Journal)
Prior editions are also available for sale at the Museum Shop or online. 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 2025 Journal of York County Heritage
Deadline for submitting articles: December 1, 2024
The York County History Center is now accepting articles for the 15th edition of the Journal of York County Heritage to be published in the Fall of 2025. Originally created in 2010 to celebrate York County history, material culture, cultural heritage, and people, articles of original scholarship are requested. Preference will be given to those authors who utilize the York County History Center’s collection, either in full or 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 Generally, the manuscript must be original, unpublished, written in English, and limited to 3,000 words.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 explore diverse York County communities. For the 2025 edition, we especially seek articles on the Yorktowne Hotel and Strand Theater, both of which will celebrate their centennial anniversaries next year. Endnotes and bibliography are required.
Shorter pieces: The editors are also seeking short articles (250-750 words) highlighting aspects of York County history. The pieces should be well sourced internally, but not necessarily footnoted.
Please review the submission guidelines and style guide carefully. For more information, please contact Dr. Adam Bentz, Director of Library & Archives at abentz@yorkhistorycenter.org or 717-848-1587 x 223.
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.
