CAPITAL REGION SCRAPBOOK

Some people — students of old Duanesburg and Princetown Nstill remember.

They know that Amos “Amy” Clayton was the tall peddler from Burtonsville who walked through the town of Duanesburg. They can tell you Elmer Fake ran Delanson’s drug store around 1912. They can still see Nadine Sturges Crowe waving from her Quaker Street library.

All three are part of the Duanesburg Historical Society’s new book, “Duanesburg and Princetown.” The paperback includes 220 photos of people — and places — who once lived in Schenectady County’s two most westernmost towns.

The book was a team effort. Society members Pat Van Buren, Norman Collins and Bill Massoth worked on the project with Duanesburg town historian Art Willis and Princetown town historian Irma Mastrean.

“We went through the archives of the Duanesburg Historical Society and personal collections from people in Princetown and Duanesburg,” said Van Buren, who lives in Delanson and was the book’s editor-in-chief.

Van Buren says the book will appeal to people who appreciate the past.

“I think it’s just that visual history of seeing things really come to life through pictures,” she said, adding the book is the first photo documentation of Duanesburg and Princetown. Other historical books have contained only essays.

People and places come to life on the pages. Members of the Quaker Street Fire Department sit around an old car and a small table and plan their new firehouse during the late 1940s. Dance and film star Ginger Rogers and John Calvin Briggs II of Quaker Street, who she married in 1943, smile as they look over a scrapbook.

The Knutti family poses by the side of a 1920s roadster in Princetown. Duanesburg residents show off their horses and buggy.

Some pictures come with short stories.

Amy Clayton, the peddler, could be seen wandering Duanesburg, selling pins, needles, shoelaces and other household items. The tall man scared some children and housewives, but was often invited into their homes for bites to eat.

In Delanson, a hard-looking man holds two bloodhounds as a group of men assemble behind him. It was 1906, and a posse had formed to search for a robber.

In another Duanesburg photo, Wesley McDougall and his son Ralph stand inside their general store. In Princetown, the McClaine family stands and sits for a family portrait.

The book costs $19.99. “Duanesburg and Princetown” is available at Barnes and Noble and Walden Books, and many independent book stores.

It is also on sale at the Princetown and Duanesburg town halls, the Community Apothecary in Duanesburg, the Carrot Barn and the Apple Barrel, both in Schoharie, and Vintage Design in Esperance. People can also call Van Buren for a copy.

Proceeds will benefit the society, which hopes to purchase its own historical center.