About Robin Van Auken

Robin Van Auken, CEO of Hands-on Heritage, is a writer and researcher, with 35+ years experience interviewing people and telling stories. Her educational background combines advanced degrees in Communications and Anthropology, with a focus on Public and Historical (Military/Industrial Sites) Archaeology. In addition to her work as a journalist, she is the author and co-author of a dozen books on regional history. An adjunct college instructor, she has directed multi-year historical and archaeological projects, working with hundreds of volunteers and temporary staff, and educating thousands of visitors.
Robin is a writer and researcher, with 35+ years experience interviewing people and telling stories. Her educational background combines advanced degrees in Communications and Anthropology, with a focus on Public and Historical (Military/Industrial Sites) Archaeology.

We Know We Have to Market Our Books, But What’s the Best Way to Do It?

Let's face it, there's too many types of social media applications, and software subscriptions, and email providers, and landing pages and funnel pages and squeeze pages and ad nauseum, to learn how to use all of them. Trying to find our way through the business of Internet marketing is a minefield, and we're wary and

National Archives Releases Civil War Documents, Photograph

National Archives Releases Civil War Documents, Photograph Interested in the ephemera of the Civil War? The National Archives has released thousands of documents and photographs from the American Civil War, and Wikimedia Commons is organizing them. Here's just one of many photos of U.S. History in the category: Virginia, Army

Kids Dig ‘Arch in the Park’

Arch in the Park is a hands-on heritage program designed by students for students. Organized by communication students at Lycoming College, Arch in the Park is an archaeological outreach offered by Muncy Historical Society, Northcentral Chapter 8 and Lycoming College's archaeology department, under the direction of Robin Van Auken with Hands on Heritage. Together,

2023-04-07T15:56:01-04:00By |Robin Van Auken|

Hands-on Heritage: Market Square

This 1875 photograph shows the southwest corner of Market Square in downtown Williamsport. Bustling with downtown traffic despite the muddy thoroughfares, Williamsport's booming lumber trade summoned entrepreneurs eager to capitalize on the region's wealth and new construction. The block featured a ticket office for the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company, a hardware store, and

2023-04-07T16:11:48-04:00By |Robin Van Auken|

Ask a Curator Day

We're all curious about what goes on behind closed doors, and that's true for museums and galleries and historical societies, as well as private residences. Spencer Baird My favorite closed doors are at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Also the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum. I pause and stare at

2021-03-11T11:51:23-05:00By |History|

Williamsport: Boomtown on the Susquehanna

Williamsport: Boomtown on the Susquehanna (Robin Van Auken and Louis E. Hunsinger, Jr., Arcadia, 2003) This book relates the history of Williamsport, as well as many towns and boroughs of Lycoming County. Williamsport, a struggling frontier village that grew into a town with a taste for success, eventually molded itself into a magnetic and vibrant

2021-03-11T11:27:58-05:00By |History, Robin Van Auken|

Little League Baseball World Series

The Little League Baseball World Series (Robin Van Auken, Arcadia, 2002) This book is a photographic companion book to Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball (Penn State University Press 2001). It profiles more than five decades of the World Series. In 1947, when the first Little League Baseball World Series was played, there

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