Local history buffs will be pleased to hear Clinton resident and author Peggy Adler has been contracted by Arcadia Publishing to write a book about the history of Clinton to be published within the next two years.

The book will be part of the Images of America series. The series, which contains more than 1,000 titles, tells the history of towns across America through photographs and captions.

“I like the books, they’re very nice looking,” Adler said, noting the company told her the book should contain between 180 and 240 photos. “I didn’t even realize that I’d had one of their books” in her collection.

Adler said she signed her contract with the company in June and got to work soon after. She anticipates the book will tell the story of Clinton from its creation through the early part of the 20th century.

Having recently faced some health issues, Adler asked for a two-year deadline from the publisher and received a final deadline of fall 2020. However, Adler said she has already submitted 20 photographs and could finish the book ahead of that deadline as long as she stays healthy.

“I always beat my deadlines,” Adler said. “Once I get going I’m always working in my head.”

Adler said she has been “having a ton of fun” working on the book so far, and that she has learned aspects of the town’s history she wasn’t familiar with—for example, the famous bicycle-riding Pallenberg Bears lived in Clinton on North High Street during the circus offseason.

In addition to discovering new aspects of town history, her digging has revealed some things haven’t really changed much.

“A lot of the buildings look exactly the same,” Adler said after viewing archives of historical photographs.

Adler said that members of the public have been helpful after learning of her project—many have contacted her about old postcards and photographs they have of the town, and that she’s open to more help from the community.

Adler has had work published before, including illustrations published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and her book The Adler Book of Puzzles, but the invitation to chronicle her hometown’s history was unexpected.

“It came as a surprise to me,” Adler said.

She learned that a member of the publishing company had been doing research on Clinton and found Adler’s essay “The Birth of Yale” on the town’s website. The company reached out to Adler in May to gauge her interest, and Adler asked to wait a few weeks until she received results from a visit to the doctor. Once she felt better and did research into the book series, Adler contacted the company to say she was onboard.