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ISI Launches New Book Site – STAR ROUTE BOOKS

Star Route Books is the name of our new imprint, or the name for the line of books we generate. We will continue to concentrate on regional, historical and cultural subjects and feel this name fits our rural roots perfectly. Growing up, my family addressed mail to my grandparents, “Star Route, Sparta,” so to us, the name has a nice, down home quality.

Star Route Books Logo

According to the National Postal Museum website, “In 1845, postal officials tried a new approach to expand the nation’s mail service—Star Routes. The Post Office Department hired contractors for these new routes and allowed them to use any form of transportation they chose to carry the mail, from canoes to snowshoes. The mail has traveled along this network of Star Routes across America’s valleys, mountains, rivers, and highways ever since.”

Contractors were “to carry the mail with ‘celerity (speed), certainty, and security‘.”

I can’t think of a better way to describe our commitment to our customers. Imaging Specialists has delivered superior quality and service for over 20 years- from our beginnings as a trade shop for the printing industry, to the full service graphics we offer today.

If you need help with your novel, cookbook, family album- or whatever project you have in mind, we can help you get from an idea to a finished product. Contact us today!

Star Route Books is at www.starroutebooks.com

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ISI Shops Local, You Should Too!

One of our best customers, Parker Sales and Service, Inc. (psasinc.com), here in Sparta, will soon be one of our best vendors, also. PSAS will be supplying Imaging Specialists with vinyl materials for our banners.

We can get better quality and craftsmanship than we can anywhere else and we already have a relationship with them. ISI has maintained the PSAS website for several years, now.

Grommets, pockets, extra hems, special stitching- whatever your application demands, we can now supply it. Our first job with Parker is “high profile,” the new VISITOR INFO banner above the Chamber of Commerce!

Want to support your local economy? Let ISI quote your next banner project!

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2011 Banner Sale

Start promoting your big summer event now! We make beautiful, reusable weather-proof vinyl banners for churches, corporations and civic groups. Bring your sketch and we’ll design your one-of-a-kind banner.

14 oz. vinyl banner material. Double metal grommets every 2 feet. Cut vinyl installed on white, black, red, blue, yellow or green banner. 22″, 34″ or 46″ high by whatever length you need! Contact us for pricing or call 336-372-3002.

All Banners are 10% off All May.  Also ask about our rates for corrugated plastic yard signs.

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Pat Crisp, Like A Moth To The Flame

We’d like to announce the upcoming release of Pat Crisp, Like A Moth To The Flame by local author, Kate Clay Bodeen.

Imaging Specialists assisted Kay with photos for her story about her grandfather’s political career in Watauga and Caldwell counties. The 198 page book is 5.5″ x 8.5″, softcover.

J.A. “Pat” Crisp was a merchant and state legislator in the NC House of Representatives, representing Watauga County in 1889 and Caldwell in 1905. The story begins with his election in 1889 and ends with his death in 1906. He was never able to recover from the financial setbacks of the “Panic of ’93,” and he suffered the deaths of his first wife Fannie and two of their six children.  Pat was an effective, but somewhat controversial political figure, sometimes crossing party lines for causes in which he believed.  At the end, Bright’s Disease cut short what might have been a happy time for him and his second wife Ella and their seven children.  He loved his family and his 13 children were often a source of joy.

Kay wrote her grandfather’s story from family stories and facts found in newspapers and histories of the period. During the course of the project, she was able to learn more about her ancestors and even met some “new” cousins.

It’s a great book and we’re happy to have had a chance to work on it with Kay. Pat Crisp, Like A Moth To The Flame will be available at The Sparta Store and online at spartastore.com.

Pre-order your copy, today.

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New Alleghany Methodist Conference Records on Disk

We’ve just completed a great collection of Alleghany Methodist Episcopal Church Quarterly Conference Records. The records span the years from 1883 to 1940 and were originally compiled by Thelma Davis from Sparta United Methodist Church. Duane Davis brought the records to us to archive and format so that they could be easily accessed by researchers.

ISI's new data DVD of Alleghany Methodist Church Conference Records from 1883 through 1940
ISI's new disk of Alleghany Methodist Conference records from 1883 through 1940

ISI’s intern, Beth Triplett, scanned the pages, and saved each as a separate file. We then grouped the files by year, built “books” in Adobe InDesign and exported them as PDFs. The PDFs are named for each year, so a user can easily navigate the collection. We chose to make the files PDFs, (Portable Document Format) a format originally developed for the printing industry that embeds fonts and images so that the document will print consistently on any system or printer configuration.

At the beginning, the set includes data from Mt. Zion, Bethany, Coxes School House (crossed out) Coxes Chapel, Shilo (sic) Sparta and Antioch and by 1940: Sparta, Shiloh, Piney Creek, Cox’s Chapel, Potato Creek, Gentry Chapel, Edwards Crossroads, Mouth of Wilson and Stratford Churches.

We appreciate being able to help with this important resource. Thank you Thelma and Duane for a project that is sure to aid historians for years to come.