Published: October 25, 2009 11:32 pm      

History book wins award

LILLY — The parental advice that hard work and tireless effort pays off can be testified to by a Lilly man whose hundreds of hours in writing and compiling a bicentennial history book is bringing statewide recognition to the entire community.

“The Spirit of a Community,” with more than 700 pages and 2,000 photos, was chosen for one of two awards of merit by the Pennsylvania Federation of Museum and Historical Organizations.

The single volume is divided into three books and includes an in-depth written and pictorial examination of every aspect of the Lilly-Washington Township community spanning two centuries and a dozen generations.

“I’m very proud of the book. It is a good book,” editor Jim Salony said. He was quick to credit the committee who assisted him and as many as 70 major contributors with the outcome.

But Beverly Mandichak, who served on the committee, said it was Salony’s tireless effort and his constant push for quality that made the book such an outstanding volume.

“When he was researching this and putting it together, he didn’t let one stone unturned,” she said.

“It was three years in the making, and he took a lot of grief, but he said that he wouldn’t produce an inferior product.”

Salony, Mandichak and a handful of others plan to attend an awards luncheon by the statewide federation Nov. 9 at the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, Lancaster County.

Federation Deputy Director Janet MacGregor said the little community’s book was up against stiff competition from 16 other entries, and Lilly-Washington will share the award with an $18 million museum restoration and relocation project in Philadelphia.

“They did a very good job,” MacGregor said. “One of the things which most impressed us was that it was not intended to be a scholarly work, but it ended up being something scholars will look to. It will be a real starting point for people.”

The judging was done by historical professionals including the director of collections at a Philadelphia museum, executive director of an eastern Pennsylvania historical society and a West Chester-based museum consultant.

The judges were taken with the detail of the research and how it was presented and the fact it was presented in a very “readable history,” Salony said.

The goal was to go beyond simply a collection of names and dates to being a living history, he said.