Sharing images of NNY

BOONVILLE — Harney J. Corwin and Dorothy K. Duflo at first might seem to have little in common. The former lives in Boonville, the latter lives in Lowville, for example.

The two are similar in one respect, though: Both are now authors in Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series.

Mr. Corwin's book, "Around Boonville," features 128 pages of black-and-white photographs from Boonville and its environs prior to 1940.

The photos, ranging from pictures of mansions and snow-covered storefronts to shots of old-fashioned automobiles and factories, come with captions about the subjects and their links to Boonville's history.

"Many of these photos have never been seen before," said Mr. Corwin, a native of Boonville who has a doctorate in linguistics from the University of Texas and a long-standing interest in local history.

His favorite photos include a picture of former neighbor George Oliver Capron dressed in a Wild West outfit.

"The whole village will seem familiar but strange to contemporaries," he said.

The book contains pictures from Mr. Corwin's collection of old photos as well as those of local residents.

"Many local people collect postcards and they have large collections, so there was a great reservoir on which to draw from the very outset," he said.

Mr. Corwin also did all the research for the book; quite a time-consuming task.

"Around Boonville" took three years to complete. Searches of newspaper archives often required more than half a day to locate a person's name. In the case of one picture of tobogganing girls, it took Mr. Corwin two years to track down three names.

The most onerous part of his research? "Finding photos that I knew must be out there but I couldn't put my hands on."

Mr. Corwin said it was difficult to choose among the wealth of photographs he had found. He said he had enough material to make a separate book out of each of the nine chapters.

"I enjoyed doing it a lot," he said.

LOWVILLE IMAGES

Mrs. Duflo expressed the same enthusiasm for her Images of America book, "Lowville."

The work, which has 10 chapters and includes 211 images, covers Lowville from the early 1900s to the present day. Its photos and captions depict everything from byways and bridges to houses of worship and the Lewis County Fair.

"Most have never been published before," Mrs. Duflo said about the pictures, noting that her book is the first publication of historical information on Lowville since 1965.

Like Mr. Corwin, Mrs. Duflo had lots of images to spare — nine albums' worth, to be exact. "We — my husband and I — have collected for about 18 years," she said.

"It was very, very easy," she said, despite the amount of time that went into the project. She said that the Northern New York Library Network was key in making her research not only simple but enjoyable.

"It's just basically finding out all the information on the village itself. I think that was the most fun," Mrs. Duflo said.