Author updating Naperville's history with new photo story
Jo Fredell Higgins has written 10 books, but by far the most popular of them all is her photo-story on the history of Naperville called simply "Naperville, Illinois."
Released in 2001 as part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series, the book starts when Joseph Naper arrives in 1831 and illustrates the earliest decades of the city with vintage images and explanatory captions. Fredell Higgins isn't surprised that the book has outsold others she's written on communities such as Aurora, Geneva and Montgomery.
"I think Naperville is the most unique society of highly educated people who expect and want the best from their community," Fredell Higgins said. "They're very keen for the history of the area in which they live."
She's also not surprised the publisher wants a sequel.
As part of Arcadia's new Modern America series, Fredell Higgins is writing another historical book on the city with an even simpler title: "Naperville."
This one will include only color images - between 160 and 180 of them - updating Naperville's history from the 1960s to the present. Fredell Higgins is interviewing Naperville leaders and longtime residents and collecting their images that tell the story of living, working, going to school and worshipping in town.
"It's just a labor of love to see all these wonderful old photos and meet different people," she said.
Fredell Higgins met recently with Carolyn Finzer, a Naperville storyteller and fifth-generation resident, who took her "homework assignment" seriously when the author asked her to compile images of her family that tell what they were up to since the '60s.
Finzer said she found a shot of her in a red velvet dress as homecoming queen in 1964, years of artistic holiday portraits of her two daughters and even a shot of her volunteering with her father to bring World War II lessons to high school students.
"I was greatly honored that Jo selected to include me in her book," Finzer said. "Our family has been in Naperville for five generations. So that meant a lot to her to have someone with that long-standing ancestry here in the community."
Fredell Higgins also is seeking submissions of photos from community members she hasn't yet met. Part of the fun, she said, is learning of someone's accomplishments and contributions to the city that previously had flown under her radar.
Anyone who has historical photos - in color - taken in Naperville since the 1960s can reach out to Fredell Higgins at poetrylady45@yahoo.com or (630) 851-4401.
She's specifically searching for pictures of schoolchildren in Naperville Unit District 203 and Indian Prairie Unit District 204, since shots of people are "more compelling" than pictures of buildings, she says. Her plan is to compile images until Christmas, then spend January and February researching for the vignettes and captions she'll write to accompany them in the roughly 98-page book.
"Naperville" in the Modern America series is expected to be released in about a year.