Valentown Greetings,

We want to first wish you a very Happy New Year.

As we pass the winter Solstice, it means the days will now get a littler longer and Spring will get a little closer. In the past, most people would take note of this with some consolation to the cold and snow around them. Winter was and hopefully still is a time for reflection and "setting in" with family and friends. In rural America it gave a well deserved break from some, but not all daily business. The growing season was mostly on hold but other chores like keeping livestock were ever present chores. However it was possible to set aside some time for good reading without feeling there was something else to be done. Books and periodicals were a means for everyone to advance and share ideas. And maybe more than a little pleasure and excitement could be had for a dime.

Rural America was just as plugged into what the rest of the country was up to as city residents. Often this would come in installments as periodical literature. These were defined by two types: popular and scholarly, besides being fiction or non fiction in literature. Newspapers along with other publications were the only means of communication other than congregating in places like towns and places of worship or writing letters. This format was very worth while to publishers of the day as it brought revenue in the form of advertising of goods and services, besides loyal subscribers.

This well established way of receiving information would also give readers tutorials or information about subjects people were interested in. A good example would be farm journals and bulletins. And the information mostly ended up right at your door, delivered as 2nd Class Mail, a special rate for publications only.

Winter reading is a still special pleasure. But our time is no longer measured the same as our rural ancestors. We make room for reading at any time and we do not have to enjoy it by taking advantage of daylight hours or by a lamp that only illuminates for one person. We plunge into our books and magazines but we enjoy them just the same as those in the past.

Historical organizations are here to teach (not preach) good history. Many do their best work by telling their own story first and then writing that into the larger volume of the past. But if they are to be a "good read", they should also be included into the stories being written today. Not just a winter read but all seasons. The farmhouse at Historic Valentown likely has always had books and periodicals tucked in a book case, left on a table or bed side. Historically it reflected who lived there and what they did each day. That concept still has value today. We hope our current collection of books and periodicals will let us tell a good story now and in the future.

Happy winter reading.

Please keep in touch through this newsletter as we have some exciting events coming. We don't want anyone to miss any of our news.

As always, we are your down home, hometown museum.
Kathryn White, President

Bookplates like the one above became popular around the middle of the 15th century. Book plates are labels of ownership, generally engraved or printed, placed on the inside covers of books, and sometimes known as ex-libris (Latin, "from the books of") from the use of those word preceding the owner's name. Speaking of reading, some excellent reading about bookplates can be found at: (http://www.leatherboundtreasure.com/book_plates.html)