The Mamakating Library in Wurtsboro has received a donation of over 40 books on local transportation history from author S. David Phraner, a former transportation planner for the Port Authority and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. The books will form a new collection at the library called the S. David Phraner Local History Collection.

The collection includes books on the history of transportation in the Catskills such as the O&W Railroad, Roebling Bridge, and the D&H Canal. Phraner’s connections to that story run deep. He’s a lifetime member of O&W Railway Historical Society and has been a member for more than 50 years of the National Railway Historical Society, The American Canal Society, and the Canal Society of NJ, as well as an emeritus member of the National Transportation Research Board.

Many of these volumes were collected for the writing of Wolf Tales, Phraner’s history of Wolf Lake and the D&H reservoir region.

Phraner’s family has lived in Sullivan County since 1928. As the great-grandson of a lock tender on the D&H Canal, Phraner has a personal connection to the subject and wanted his collection to be housed in a location that would appreciate the cultural and geographic significance of the books. “The book collection was casually assembled over a half century,” he explains. “When we moved south (Georgia) to be closer to family, we sought a home for the family book collection and Cheryl at the library graciously accepted the donation after seeing the inventory.”

The collection is available for use at the library, which is located at 128 Sullivan Street in Wurtsboro, NY. Most of the books are available for borrowing by library patrons. To get a peek at books in the S. David Phraner Local History Collection, visit https://mamakating.aspendiscovery.org/?browseCategory=mamakating_local_history.