Nine Months in York Town Celebration Brings David McCullough to Town and Produces Historical Documentary

In 1864 a small business in western York County opened to manufacture newsprint. Today, Glatfelter is one of the world's leading manufacturers of specialty papers and engineered products, including paper that is used in the printing of bestsellers such as David McCullough's John Adams.

Glatfelter is the primary sponsor of McCullough's visit to York on November 15, 2002 as part of the celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Articles of Confederation. The November 15th Committee of the Nine Months in York Town Task Force is organizing the events for the day.

While in York McCullough will attend a reception at the York County Heritage Trust's Historical Society Museum, where a special exhibition of colonial era art, artifacts, and documents will be on display. That evening during at a dinner at the Yorktowne Hotel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author will discuss the important events that occurred when John Adams and Continental Congress met in York Town for nine months in 1777-1778.

In the afternoon McCullough will meet with the district winners of the National History Day competition and present the school students with a personalized, autographed edition of John Adams. The students' award-winning papers, documentaries, and other research projects will also be on exhibit at the Historical Society Museum. The theme of this year's contest is "Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History."

Also being planned as part of the celebration is a feature-length documentary that focuses on the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and York's role in the historic event. The show, which is being produced by WITF and the York County Heritage Trust, will also include original music. In addition to being aired locally, the documentary will be shown on other PBS stations in the 13 original colonies, starting in the fall of 2002.

For more information about the Nine Months in York Town celebration, call 848-1587 or e-mail articles@yorkheritage.org.

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