Tag: Titles

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Pat Crisp, Like A Moth To The Flame

We’d like to announce the upcoming release of Pat Crisp, Like A Moth To The Flame by local author, Kate Clay Bodeen.

Imaging Specialists assisted Kay with photos for her story about her grandfather’s political career in Watauga and Caldwell counties. The 198 page book is 5.5″ x 8.5″, softcover.

J.A. “Pat” Crisp was a merchant and state legislator in the NC House of Representatives, representing Watauga County in 1889 and Caldwell in 1905. The story begins with his election in 1889 and ends with his death in 1906. He was never able to recover from the financial setbacks of the “Panic of ’93,” and he suffered the deaths of his first wife Fannie and two of their six children.  Pat was an effective, but somewhat controversial political figure, sometimes crossing party lines for causes in which he believed.  At the end, Bright’s Disease cut short what might have been a happy time for him and his second wife Ella and their seven children.  He loved his family and his 13 children were often a source of joy.

Kay wrote her grandfather’s story from family stories and facts found in newspapers and histories of the period. During the course of the project, she was able to learn more about her ancestors and even met some “new” cousins.

It’s a great book and we’re happy to have had a chance to work on it with Kay. Pat Crisp, Like A Moth To The Flame will be available at The Sparta Store and online at spartastore.com.

Pre-order your copy, today.

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Stratford Oaks Tales: Colorful Storytelling in the Blue Ridge

We are proud to announce Imaging Specialists’ association with The Stratford Oaks Tales. It is the first in a series of children’s books by local educator- and now author, Dr. Suzanne Mellow-Irwin about the life of the animals on her family’s mountain farm. Illustrated by Alleghany native, Zach Hamm, the first book, the “Tale of Gretchen,” tells about a pygmy goat, born at Stratford Oaks and her adventures there.

Just one of the happy animals at Stratford Oaks Farm
Just one of the many happy animals at Stratford Oaks Farm. (You can almost see Nya's tale wag!)

It is an honor to be allowed to help with the book. As we took Zach’s delicate, pencil and crayon drawings and placed them into story pages, laid out by his mother, Donna, our challenge was to showcase the artwork and story without interfering. We wanted to preserve the light, pastel colors without losing saturation.

We will let the reader be the judge, but we are very pleased with the result. Zach’s images are the perfect complement to Dr. Mellow-Irwin’s positive message and both are sure to appeal to children and parents.

The Tale of Gretchen will be available at The Sparta Store. Look for new installments, coming soon.

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New Alleghany Methodist Conference Records on Disk

We’ve just completed a great collection of Alleghany Methodist Episcopal Church Quarterly Conference Records. The records span the years from 1883 to 1940 and were originally compiled by Thelma Davis from Sparta United Methodist Church. Duane Davis brought the records to us to archive and format so that they could be easily accessed by researchers.

ISI's new data DVD of Alleghany Methodist Church Conference Records from 1883 through 1940
ISI's new disk of Alleghany Methodist Conference records from 1883 through 1940

ISI’s intern, Beth Triplett, scanned the pages, and saved each as a separate file. We then grouped the files by year, built “books” in Adobe InDesign and exported them as PDFs. The PDFs are named for each year, so a user can easily navigate the collection. We chose to make the files PDFs, (Portable Document Format) a format originally developed for the printing industry that embeds fonts and images so that the document will print consistently on any system or printer configuration.

At the beginning, the set includes data from Mt. Zion, Bethany, Coxes School House (crossed out) Coxes Chapel, Shilo (sic) Sparta and Antioch and by 1940: Sparta, Shiloh, Piney Creek, Cox’s Chapel, Potato Creek, Gentry Chapel, Edwards Crossroads, Mouth of Wilson and Stratford Churches.

We appreciate being able to help with this important resource. Thank you Thelma and Duane for a project that is sure to aid historians for years to come.

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Black Family History Coming Soon!

ISI’s latest project is a 280-page book titled Descendants of William Black & Nancy Allison. It is a family history of the Black family here in Alleghany County and our largest book-design project to date. The book features over 100 photographs, letters and information on William and Nancy’s family, gathered by Lorene Sturgill of Piney Creek, North Carolina.

The book is a marriage of experience and new technology. We input the entire family history, scanned and optimized the photographs, built an index of descendants, and, after the initial order, plan to print the casebound books on-demand.

Cover design by Imaging Specialists, Inc. for the Descendants of William Black and Nancy Allison
Cover design by Imaging Specialists, Inc. for Descendants of William Black and Nancy Allison

You may or may not know we’re not new to book printing. Imaging Specialists has a long history in books, from humble phone directories at R.R. Donnelley in Portland Oregon, to high-end, leather bound, Easton Books at Nicholstone in Nashville, Tennessee, we’ve shot more book pages than most shops our size.

Thousands of titles passed through our lenses during our years in Greensboro.

We’re not even new at family histories, either. For years we shot pages to imposition for Craftsman, Delmar, Edwards & Broughton, and other North Carolina printers on our projection step-and-repeat systems. Sometimes it was the only way to copy them.

It’s this experience that helps us to anticipate many problems before they arise. This is the first of several titles we will be publishing this year.

Interested in producing your own book? You don’t have to go to the Triangle or even the Triad. Give us a call to find out how easy it can be.

The Descendants of William Black & Nancy Allison will be available later this month.

Purchase your copy at The Sparta Store.

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Memorial Cookbooks Available

New Cookbook from High Country Hospice of Alleghany County
New Cookbook from High Country Hospice of Alleghany County

We’re proud to be one of the locations selling the High Country Hospice‘s new cookbook, Meals and Memories. They’re priced at $20 apiece or (2) for $35. You can pick one up at The Sparta Store, online or in town.

We let them use one of our photographs on the cover and we think the end result looks great. Thank you for letting us help with your project!

Recipes That Raised Us - Volume One

Also, we’re selling the Historical Society’s cookbook, Recipes That Raised Us. They’re working on a second volume, so the next time you visit the Museum, bring your recipes and memories for Volume 2.

It doesn’t cost anything and its a great way to remember someone special and their recipe. We need a photo (if it was made by a professional photographer, we will need their permission to copy it- No exceptions, sorry) a recipe and any information you’d like to include.