We’ve posted another hidden treasure – A Stroll Through Historic Hopewell by Audrey Jones – a 2003 compilation of over 200 pen and ink drawings of homes, commercial buildings, and churches in historic Hopewell Borough (up to circa 1900).
As described in the preface, Audrey Jones started drawing for fun after early retirement, which quickly grew into drawing historic Hopewell buildings. She created a calendar and postcards, and her illustrations were used for Hopewell Public Library house tours in 1999 and the early 2000’s.
Her portfolio then grew into this larger project, a book of drawings of local historic buildings that were 100 years old or older (with some omitted at the request of the homeowners, and some additions of other buildings of interest).
The book is organized by street address, with each street introduced by a map of the lots along the sides of the street. Each building then is shown as a full-page illustration, annotated with historical information and dates.
The book was printed privately, and is spiral bound. This digital edition is scanned from the copy that Jones contributed to the Hopewell Public Library, and includes some additional annotations on historic information provided by Betty Gantz (see her handwritten notes at the end).
We’re particularly happy to now be able to make this book and these illustrations available with the support of her son, Kurt Jones. This seems to be the only known copy of the book on the shelves in town, and no other copies seem to be available.
So can you help make sure the this work is shared and preserved more widely:
- Does anyone have additional copies of the book?
- And does anyone have copies of Hopewell Boro (or other) house tour brochures, especially from around the early 2000’s?
