Review

Title: Scranton author, Margo L Azzarelli talks about 'Taylor' and 'Green Ridge'
Author: Marnie Azzarelli
Publisher: Examiner
Date: 6/13/2011

Taylor is available for purchase at the Lackawanna Historical Society, the Anthracite Heritage Museum, and the Taylor Community Library.

It is also available to loan at the Albright Memorial Library located in downtown Scranton.

To Margo L Azzarelli, history is not just facts strewn out on a page, only to be read by bored students in class. To her it s a mystery waiting to be solved: I love to learn new things, Ms. Azzarelli said. Researching is my favorite part. I find it exciting to put the puzzle pieces of our past together.

In August, it will be a year since the release of her first Images of America book: Taylor, a successful hit selling almost a thousand copies. Taylor, is a look at the first white settlement in Lackawanna County through a collection of images, painstakingly picked out by the author herself. That was the hardest part, Ms. Azzarelli says. At first it was difficult to get the limit of pictures needed to complete the book. Just like a lot of history in the area, the pictures were scattered everywhere. Luckily with great support from the Taylor community, Ms. Azzarelli had enough images to finish her first book.

With the success of Taylor, Ms. Azzarelli got the green light from Arcadia Publishing to start her second book in the Images of America series: Green Ridge. When asked how her idea for Green Ridge (a section of Scranton) came about she said that a few months ago at Barnes & Noble, while looking to see how many copies of Taylor were left, she met two women that used to live in the area before moving out west.

They asked Ms. Azzarelli if there was a book on Green Ridge. I said no, and then a light bulb went off in my head: there s my new book. Ms. Azzarelli went on to say that she always had a love for Green Ridge. Every Christmas my parents would drive through Green Ridge so we could look at all beautiful Christmas lights on the mansions. The Victorian era mansions are a staple in the Green Ridge area, and are filled with timeless history that Ms. Azzarelli can t wait to share.

Besides being an author Margo L. Azzarelli is also a researcher and writer for Azzarelli Family Historical Productions, and a board member for the Taylor Historical Society. She is also the Scranton History Today Examiner.

"Green Ridge," is set to be released in the summer of 2012.

Ms. Azzarelli will be signing books at the Taylor Walmart on June 18, 2011 at 11 am.
"

Title: Town's history worth exploring, says "Taylor" author
Author: David Falchek
Publisher: The Times-Tribune
Date: 11/28/2010

Margo Azzarelli thinks every community should have a book like "Taylor."

The author and amateur historian was at the Taylor Community Library on Saturday signing copies of her book, "Taylor."

"Future generations are entitled to have their community history preserved," she said.

Those who visited her agreed.

"Local history shows the origins of who you are," said Josh Felter of Moosic.

His mother is from Taylor and he enjoyed the historic figures and learning about the people of prominence who lived there.

Mr. Felter enjoyed the old street scenes and learning about the massive mine subsidence that forever changed the town.

Rose Levandoski bought a copy for her sister and history buff, Fran Jordan, who recently moved to the borough.

The book tells the story of Taylor largely through pictures, part of the Arcadia Publishing Images of America Series. The book costs about $20.

Mrs. Azzarelli's greatest surprise in working on the book was learning how many people regretted the decision to demolish the coal breaker, one of the few concrete breakers. In 1983, she said, the community viewed the then-Moffat breaker as an eyesore.

Mrs. Azzarelli is secretary and a charter member of the Taylor Historical Society. Before the publication of the Taylor book, she was best known for obtaining a grant that funded an historical marker on Lackawanna Avenue, the site of the 1877 Scranton labor riots, a topic about which she wrote a play, "1877: Riot on Lackawanna Avenue."

The area now known as Taylor was settled by a Massachusetts man, Cornelius Atherton, who arrived in 1782 and farmed on a hill overlooking the Keyser Creek. About 70 years later, railroads and Union Coal Co. arrived, and became such a force in the area that the town was named Unionville. Union Coal went out of business and New York financier Moses Taylor bought up the assets and reopened the mines. Unionville was renamed Taylorville, a name later shortened.

With a messianic zeal, Mrs. Azzarelli and her husband, Dominick, and daughter, Marnie, talk to just about any group that will have them, trying to bring local history alive and keep it alive. Very few schools bother to teach local history, she said.

At the higher education level, she said she feels professors give scant attention to local history and rarely do original research on the issue.

"Ask a high school student how their town was started - chances are they don't know," she said. "Once you show a child how they are surrounded by history, they will remember how their town was founded and things like how their street got its name."

About the Author

Margo L. Azzarelli has been the secretary and a charter member of the Taylor Historical Society since 2007. In addition to her work for the society, she is a living historian and has written and produced the historical play 1877: Riot on Lackawanna Avenue.