Area Authors And Illustrators at Saturday Book Signing and Sale In Oil City

| December 4, 2019

OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) Authors and illustrators from Titusville, Oil City, Erie, and Pittsburgh will participate in a public Book Signing and Sale on Saturday, December 7, in downtown Oil City, as part of “Christmas Past in Oil City.”

From 10:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. they will greet guests and then inscribe their works purchased on-site in the office of the Oil Region Alliance at 217 Elm Street in Oil City, where all books will be offered for this day only at half of their regular retail prices. All attendees are welcome to free sets of oil-derrick bookmarks and light refreshments.

Two newly available children’s books are “Oil Tales of the Early Days” written by Titusville’s Carole Hall and illustrated by her daughter Marcia Hall from Erie, and “Uncanny Annie of the Early Oil Patch” authored by Kathy Flaherty of Pittsburgh with drawings by Titusville’s Beverly Schultz.

An unusual soft-cover book entitled “Oily Odes” is original poetry also by Kathy Flaherty.

The husband-wife team of Neil and Lois McElwee of Oil City have combined their skills and research to produce four books which will be available on Saturday. These include “Oil City’s Victorian Houses,” “Standard Oil Company Men in the Early Oil Region,” “The National Transit Company, Standard Oil’s Great Pipeline Company,” and “Oil Creek: The Beginning.”

In addition, already autographed editions of “The Natural Gas Industry in Appalachia” by David Waples and “Myth, Legend, Reality – Edwin L. Drake and the Early Oil Industry” written by Dr. William R. Brice of Johnstown, PA and designed by Oil City’s Lynn Pacior Malys are available.

About the Authors and Illustrators

Kathy J. Flaherty is a resident of Pittsburgh. She is an oil history and a prolific poet when it comes to oil history, yet she has a humorous side that shines through each of her books. Employed as a petroleum geologist, she has edited several major annual journals for oil/gas industry educational organizations.

Beverly S Schultz of Titusville used pen and ink to sketch the light-hearted illustrations which accompany Mrs. Flaherty’s 58-page story about a grandmother reminiscing about how she, as a youngster, followed a butterfly into the woods and convinced her family to drill a well where the butterfly eventually landed.

Carole E. Hall of Titusville combined into one 34-page hard-cover book five stories she had previously written, to describe everyday life in northwestern Pennsylvania from the late 1700s to the early 1940s. She blends her own family’s history with the history and tall tales of the region, as seen from several perspectives.

Marcia J. Hall of Erie County, PA gladly used her stylized drawing skills to prepare black-and-white drawings to illustrate her mother’s stories in this 2018 book published by Friends of Drake Well and produced by Mechling Bookbindery in Butler, PA.

Neil McElwee of Oil City, PA is co-owner of Oil Creek Press, along with his spouse and illustrator Lois McElwee. This team focuses their written works on regional oil history, the distinctive architecture of the area, including a special interest in the Standard Oil Company and its pipeline subsidiary, National Transit Company.

David A. Waples of Erie County, PA is the region’s expert on the history of the Natural Gas Industry from its beginnings in the area through the modern natural gas companies and techniques. He is retired now, after having been employed by National Fuel Gas Company and having taught at several universities in Erie County.

William R. Brice, Ph.D. of Johnstown, PA is a retired professor emeritus from the Johnstown campus of the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught geology classes for decades. The Past President of the nationwide nonprofit Petroleum History Institute (which is headquartered in Oil City, PA), was commissioned by OIL 150 to research, document, and wrote a major expanded biography of Edwin L. Drake. The resulting 662-page hard-cover full-color book was published in 2009; it was elegantly designed and illustrated by Oil City’s Lynn Pacior Malys.

These featured books, as well as all other non-fiction oil history and area history books in the extensive inventory at the Oil Region Alliance office, are discounted for this Saturday only. They will return to regular pricing after this weekend; the books and additional oil region products are available at the ORA business office on weekdays year-round, and through www.OIL150.com and www.oilregion.org.


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