Community: Twins partner on pictorial history book

Burbank identical twins Erin and Jamie Schonauer have completed a project to collect and organize almost 200 historical photographs into a paperback book that will be released on April 14.

“Early Burbank” was published by Arcadia Publishing, a company that works with individuals, historians and historical societies to publish books that preserve the history of local communities through its Images of America series.

The authors will give a talk about Burbank’s history and sell and sign their book from 2 to 3 p.m. April 26 at the Buena Vista Library.

The book took more than a year to complete and spans the time approximately from the late 1800s to the 1970s.

The biggest challenge of the book, the authors said, was narrowing down the photos provided by the websites Burbankia and GoDickson.com and organizations such as the Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn., Burbank Historical Society and Burbank Aviation Museum and those taken by the authors.

Erin Schonauer’s favorite photograph is in the Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn. chapter called “In Bloom.” The float that appeared in the 1939 Rose Parade was titled “Tally-Ho of 1889” and it was built by Burbank public school teachers and students.

“It’s a really fun photo,” she said. “It gives the viewer an inside look at how the float turned out.”

Jamie’s favorite can be found in the aviation chapter, “Come Fly With Me.”

“In one section, we feature some of the women who worked at Lockheed during World War II,” she said. “There is one image that has two women in a fuselage using riveting guns. It shows how the women had to step up and take responsibility to build those big aircraft.”

The books will be available through arcadiapublishing.com and local retailers.

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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be contacted at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.