Salina, 1858-2008 (Images of America) - Tapa blanda

Publication: Salina Journal
Article Title: Local women compile photo book covering Salinaas 150 years
Author: Gary Demuth
Date: 11/17/2008
After receiving her assignment, Judy Lilly put together her "Mission: Impossible" team.
It was just before Christmas 2007 when Lilly, the Kansas librarian at the Salina Public Library, 301 W. Elm, was called by Arcadia Publishing, a national publisher of regional history books. A company representative proposed a book idea, should Lilly choose to accept it: a pictorial history book of Salina's first 150 years.
It was an idea Lilly had contemplated for a long time.
"Since it was Salina's sesquicentennial this year, I thought now was the right time to do it," she said.
But Lilly knew she couldn't do it alone. The publishing company requested a book of less than 250 photographs. Adjacent to the library's Campbell Room of Kansas Research (also known as the Kansas Room) sat 12 filing cabinet drawers with tens of thousands of photographs and documents that Lilly had taken years to archive.
The last thing Lilly wanted to do was go through all of those drawers alone.
"I've worked with these pictures for so long that I wanted unique eyes for this project," Lilly said.
So like Jim Phelps in the old "Mission: Impossible" series, Lilly called upon a crack team of experts to help her on her mission. With the help of a library outreach coordinator, former museum registrar and genealogical researcher, Lilly started the book project.
The end result was "Salina: 1858-2008," being released today by Arcadia Publishing. The 128-page softcover book, which retails for $21.99, will be available at the library, the Smoky HillMuseum store, 211 W. Iron, Waldenbooks at the Central Mall or directly through the publisher.
A companion book of 15 postcards with photos from the book also will be sold for $7.99.
Lilly and her research team, also known as the Salina History Book Committee, will sign copies of the book and postcard collection from 4 to 5: 30 p.m. Nov. 23 in the south lobby of the library. They also will sign books from 2 to 4 p.m. Dec. 14 at the Smoky Hill Museum.
When compiling her team, Lilly began with Lori Berezovsky, outreach coordinator at the library. Lilly said she chose Berezovsky because of her organizational and editing skills.
"I knew she would follow through with whatever I asked," Lilly said.
At first, Berezovsky wasn't sure she was qualified to embark on such a complex project for a town she didn't even grow up in.
"I've only lived in Salina 14 years, so I still feel like I'm new to the city," she said. "But I wanted to help in any way I could."
Next, Lilly turned to Dorothy Boyle, retired registrar for the Smoky Hill Museum, with whom Lilly had worked on other historical projects for the library and museum.
"I have a great interest in the history of Salina, and I've worked a lot with photographs and artifacts for the museum," Boyle said.
The last member of the team was Cloie Brevik, a volunteer researcher for the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society, who had what Lilly called "an intuitive sense in hunting down factual support for images."
"I love going through pictures, and I've done a lot of research for people who had families here in Salina," Brevik said.
The women began going through the thousands of photographs in the files, dividing theminto subject categories that included city services (fire, police, medical), clubs and culture, disasters (floods, fires, blizzards), railroads and depots, street scenes, transportation, worship scenes and life on the prairie, among others.
From there, they divided photos into time periods, beginning in 1858, the year Salina was founded.
"We divided the book into six chapters, each one covering 20 to 30 years," Boyle said.
The hardest part of the process, Brevik said, was narrowing the photos down to just 230.
"The publisher was very strict," she said. "They dictate the number of pages, the caption lengths and the number of pictures on each page."
The women worked evenings and weekends for about six months pulling, sorting and choosing photographs they thought best represented 150 years of Salina history.
Most came from library archives, but several were chosen from archives at the Smoky Hill Museum, Salina Journal, Salina Community Theatre and the Smoky Hill Genealogical Society.
Key photos included a bird's eye view of Salina circa 1884; a dance at Club Cherokee in the basement of Memorial Hall, Ninth and Ash streets; a Salina streetcar picking up passengers in 1916; The Golden Waffle, a 1940s diner at 227 S. Santa Fe that catered to after-movie crowds at the Vogue Theatre across the street; the Jayhawk Theatre, a 1930s downtown movie theater; and Salina landmarks such as the Lee Building, United Life Building, First Presbyterian Church, Old Dutch Mill and Salina Candy Factory.
The book also includes recent photos such as the take-off of the GlobalFlyer, piloted by the late Steve Fossett; productions at Community Access Television and Salina CommunityTheatre; and renovation work at the Smoky Hill Museum and Salina Regional Health Center.
The publisher only allowed about 25 percent of the book's photos to be "non-historical," Lilly said -- that is, photos dating from about 1970 to today.
The chosen photos were scanned onto a computer file by library technical workers Nick Berezovsky and Trent Rose.
After making the selections, the historical team had to write captions for all 230 photos.
"It was hard to find data and information to go with every picture," Brevik said. "After that, it probably took about two hours per picture to write captions."
Brevik, Lilly and Boyle wrote the captions and Lori Berezovsky edited their text down to a crisp 50 to 70 words.
The final package was sent to Arcadia on June 3. It then became a waiting game for the book to be published.
"We hoped it was going to be finished by September, in time for the sesquicentennial celebration at the Smoky Hill Museum Street Fair, but that didn't happen," Lilly said.
Instead, the publication date for the book was announced for Nov. 17, with an initial print run of 1,200 books and postcard sets.
A portion of profits from sales of the book and postcards will go to the Friends of the Public Library for library-based projects, Lilly said.
Lilly said she was thrilled to finally have a finished copy of the book in her hands.
"We were pleased at how the book looked," she said. "We felt like we'd accomplished something."
"We felt like we really made a contribution to the place where we lived," Berezovsky added.
Boyle hoped the book ultimately would serve as an effective research tool for future historians.
"I hope they'll be glad to have this," she said. "There's not a lot on Salina history out there."

Early in 1858, three men walked across the eastern half of Kansas Territory intent on starting a town. Although the volatile conflict between Free State and proslavery forces still simmered, the bloodshed had abated, and Free State factions had gained the upper hand. People turned their interests to more peaceful pursuits, including town building. Armed with a compass and stovepipe hat instead of a tripod, the three young Scotsmen selected and surveyed a town site along the Smoky Hill River, near the confluence of the Saline River in north-central Kansas. The tiny settlement soon became a way-stop for westbound travelers and a hub of activity for hunters, soldiers, land seekers, and surveyors. Now 150 years later, Salina (pronounced with a long i) still thrives as a center for commercial, cultural, civic, and social activity. Voted an All-America City in 1989, Salina is home to nearly 50,000 people who enjoy midwestern living in the heart of America.