Duffy will offer a presentation about Wheeling: Then and Now at the library's Lunch With Books program on Tuesday September 7 at noon. For every book sold at the program, $1.00 will be donated to the library. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the Wheeling Area Historical Society. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages will be served. Call the library at 304-232-0244, email lunchwithbooks@yahoo.com, or visit http://ocplprogramming.blogspot.com for more information.
A companion exhibit of photographs from the book will be on display through Sept. 30 in the third floor loft gallery of the Wheeling Artisan Center at 1400 Main Street in downtown Wheeling. The exhibit is sponsored by the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation. For more information, call 304-232-1810.
Adding to its appeal, Wheeling: Then and Now is formatted like a travel guide. The reader can follow in the footsteps of the creators, visiting each site starting in Oglebay Park and traveling through Warwood, North Wheeling, Downtown, East, Center, and South Wheeling and then "out the pike" through Fulton, Woodsdale, Pleasant Valley, Elm Grove, and Triadelphia.
Duffy and Rinkes have started a blog, at http://thenandnowwheeling.blogspot.com, documenting the “story behind the story” of many of the book’s photos, as well as some that didn’t make the cut.
Duffy, who grew up in Warwood, is the Programming Coordinator at the Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling. A graduate of Wheeling Jesuit University, and the American University, he has written one previous book, The Wheeling Family: A Celebration of Immigrants and Their Neighborhoods, published by Creative Impressions in 2008. He is currently at work on a second volume of local immigrant stories and photographs.
A Martins Ferry native, Rinkes graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, in 1994 and worked as a reporter and copy editor for the Wheeling News-Register. His travels took him to Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis and now to Franklin, TN, where he currently runs Rinkes Photography with his wife, Amina. He also is an independent computer consultant, working with clients in the content creation industry.
Wheeling: Then and Now sells for $21.99, and is available through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888) 313-2665. In addition to local branches of national chains and on-line retailers, the book can be purchased from the following local retailers: Wheeling Artisan Center, Convenient True Value Hardware, Hughes Design & Gift Gallery, Pat’s Hallmark, Spry’s Mail Center Plus, Valley Cheese, Warwood Ace Hardware, Wheeling Hospital Gift Shop, Wheeling Jesuit Campus Store, and Words & Music at Stratford.