Book ends

While I knew full well I had written book during the pandemic, it didn’t seem real until my advance copy arrived earlier this month. There’s something about seeing your name on a hardcover book that is quite satisfying!

The end result was everything I had imagined, but the process to get there was not. When I first reached out to publishers Rowman & Littlefield, I had visions of getting in my car and hopping on planes to visit these remarkable historic sites firsthand.

I signed the contract with Rowman & Littlefield on March 13, 2020. On March 16, New Jersey’s Governor Murphy shut down the state. New Jersey and New York were the early epicenters of a virus with a virulence that took everyone by surprise.

My trips to the historic sites became Zoom calls and Iearned about how they rebranded from afar. Interestingly, though, I also learned about how their states, organizations, and communities were coping with Covid and how the pandemic changed their rebranding plans. As one ED told me, “we put the printed cocktail napkins in a closet and launched it on social media.”

Today, as I write this, almost exactly two years have passed since Covid came to New Jersey and since I signed the contract for this book. Just last week, Governor Murphy ended his daily press briefings on Covid and announced the mask mandate will soon be lifted. It seems only fitting that Rebranding: A Guide to Historic Houses, Museums, Sites, and Organizations is complete and now available for shipping.

Maybe it’s time to start those long-overdue visits!