Book of Historical Norwalk Photographs Planned

A history book, mostly made up of old photographs and illustrations, is being planned for Norwalk by Dorothy Mobilia, a writer and former chair of the city Zoning Commission.

The book would cover the period from 1651 to 1913, she said. Mobilia is looking for enough photographs or other illustrations from that period to get the project done.

"I'm looking for families and others who have private collections [of photos or other illustrations] and who might be willing to allow use of the images," she said. "Some families still have pictures that they have not given to museums."

Mobilia can't pay for use of the photos, she said, but anyone who contributes the image of an old picture they have will receive attribution in the book.

The book would be put out by Arcadia Publishing of Mount Pleasant, SC, in that company's  "Images of America" series of local histories. Arcadia, founded in 1993, has published about 6,500 books of local history across the United States, and their books are often found in the "Local Interests" section of book stores.

Earlier this year, Arcadia published "Roton Point," by the Roton Point History Committee, about the former amusement park in Rowayton, as part of the company's "Postcard Series" of books.

Mobilia said she'll need to have between 180 and 250 photographs or other illustrations for the book. That's what Arcadia requires before it will agree to publish the volume, she said. Mobilia will not only write the book, she'll do the layout as well.

At last month's meeting of the Norwalk Historical Commission, Mobilia asked the board if it would put aside the Norwalk Museum's fee for use of historical photographs in books.

Mobilia suggested to the commission that it accept a number of books that it could then sell to recoup some revenue. Board members said they were unlikely to agree to that because they didn't expect to sell enough to make the effort worthwhile.

The Norwalk Historical Society still has boxes of a large Norwalk history book by Deborah Wing Ray and Gloria P. Stewart, last published in 1989, board Chairman Peter Bondi said.

Commission members said they'd talk with Mobilia further to try to figure out some way she could afford to get the necessary images for the book.

Anyone interested may email dpmobilia@yahoo.com for more information.

Correction: This article originally stated that the fee to scan the photographs would be $40. While that is a standard fee for providing the museum's photographs, a different rate (calculated using various factors) applies for books.