This collection of local and regional histories provides vivid portraits of individual people, places, and situations. It puts local history in the service of current event with the examination of historical demographic, social, and cultural transformations. For example, these volumes can provide historical perspectives on politics and literature and show how metaphor Keystone State, and the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia-- and myth invent, distort, and hold captive local towns, peoples, and places. Included in this collection are 15 cities and regions covered in 283 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.