OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — Several area authors will make themselves available to autograph and inscribe a dozen selected books on Saturday, December 6, at the lobby of the Latonia Theatre Building in downtown Oil City.

(Photo: Dr. William R. Brice)

The book signing event — hosted by the Oil Region Alliance — is from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. as part of the festive “Christmas Past in Oil City, 2014.”

Area Authors Participating:

Dr. William R. Brice from Johnstown, Pa., wrote “Myth, Legend, Reality – Edwin L. Drake and the Early Oil Industry” which was published in 2009 by Mechling Bookbindery and the Oil Region Alliance. This hard-cover book is considered the quintessential biography of Edwin Drake. A digital color photo of Bill Brice with the Drake Biography Book; please send requests via email to mblack@oilregion.org

Oil City’s Roxanne Hitchcock will have available the 2009 reprint of “Ben Hogan: The Wickedest Man in the World,” as well as her earlier “Lube Lingo” which is a glossary of terminology and phrases which originates in the oil fields and have become part of everyday language.

Franklin’s Laura Reasoner Jones published “The All-Wise Being” and “Eel River Rising,” as fictional works set in the community of Peru, Indiana in the 1800’s and 1900’s. This author is a retired technology specialist and genealogy buff who interweaves politics and women’s books in her books.

Neil McElwee of Oil City served as the host/interviewer for a series of videotaped oral histories of multiple local residents produced by the Venango College of Clarion University; he’ll be able to autograph the 13-DVD set on Saturday. In addition, other works by Mr. McElwee will be available including “Oil City’s Victorian Houses,” “Standard Oil Company Men in the Early Oil Region,” “Oil Creek…The Beginning,” “The National Transit Company,” and the 2012 manuscript entitled “George Henry Bissell – Oil’s Patriarch.”

David A. Waples from Fairview, Pa., has updated his “The Natural Gas Industry in Appalachia,” which includes the history of oil’s energy twin from its roots through today.

These writers will be seated indoors at the Latonia Theatre Building located at 1 East First Street in Oil City.

People may either purchase a new book on site or bring with them their personal copies of those publications.

These titles and others are available year-round at the ORA office or through its www.OIL150.com and www.oilregion.org websites.