Maple Shade’s making history. Members of the Historical Society of Maple share are collecting photographs for a history book. The currently untitled book would be produced by Arcadia Publishing, which publishes a series of similar town history books.
“The book will included 250 old photos, and if people have any old photos, we are looking,” said Dennis Weaver, a member of the historical society.
The project has been in the works for the past three years.
“The project has really taken off in the past six months or so, and the historical society meets about three times a year,” said Richard Rowan.
Rowan, also a member of the historical society, is in charge of the computer work for the project. He’s scanning and storing photographs and information.
The historical society is looking for old photographs from organizations like the Lion’s Club, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the local churches of Maple Shade.
“We would like photos of founders, residents, and group shots, etc., from these organizations,” added Weaver.
The book will include captions under each photo, and a brief history of the town of Maple Shade.
“There will be eight to 10 chapters in the book, and depending on what quantity of pictures we receive on each subject – such as houses, businesses, schools, churches, fire departments, or organizations in town – will determine the different directions each chapter is going to go,” said Rowan. “Collecting all the data is the first step of the process.”
“There will be old scenes of Main Street and different places in Maple Shade,” said Weaver.
Rowan urged all residents to look through their photographs and to attend the photograph-scanning sessions.
“It would be nice if we could get more pictures of residents. We are looking for pictures of social gatherings, like from churches or town organizations,” said Betty Procopio, president of the historical society.
Weaver added: “Nobody is excluded, we would like to get pictures from everyone.”
Rowan described the photos as “really neat-looking.”
“It shows you the changes and what has happened in the town,” said Rowan.
“There are pictures of some real old houses, including those of the first settlers, like the Roberts, Matlacks and Stiles, and the Quakers that came here,” said Weaver.
Weaver added that he hopes to receive some photos of the 20 or so bars that used to operate in Maple Shade. There is also an interest in shots of old stores or shop owners, as well as photos from old Jaycees and Lions Club Carnivals.
“There will be photos of the whole town, not just of Main Street,” said Weaver. “This will be a professionally done book, so everyone needs to jump in and chip in to the project by submitting pictures.”
“We would really like to show that Maple Shade is a melting pot and a historic place. We want to do a really good job on the book, so the more involvement and the more photos the better,” added Procopio.
When completed, the book will be available at local bookstores and sold by the historical society.
July 1 is the historical society’s open house and membership meeting at the Little Red School House, from 10 a.m. to noon. The next photo-scanning session is scheduled for July 8 at the Maple Shade Library from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend both events.
“Stop by to say hello or to bring any pictures. If people are curious about what we are doing, go to a bookstore and see the books published about local town histories by Arcadia or check out Arcadia’s Web site,” added Weaver.
