As Lehigh County's bicentennial was fast approaching, Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham realized that this was the time to publish a book that would emphasize the history of the past hundred years. Cunningham knew there was only one local historian who could pull this together.

Kurt D. Zwikl thought of the same historian to co-author his book, "Hess's Department Store", a book that highlighted his father's, William R. Zwikl, photographs of Hess's from 1953 to 1981.

The Lehigh Valley television channel WFMZ-TV currently relies on this same wizard of local history for his in-house blog and interviews. We first came to know Frank Whelan through his feature articles and "Ask Frank" column in the Morning Call, between 1981 to 2006. Over the years, he has greatly entertained and informed us about Lehigh Valley history.

Through his more than 2000 articles, Whelan has covered Bethlehem history by writing about the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, railroads, Moravian settlers, Hotel Bethlehem, and a variety of other subjects dealing with industries, entertainment and general life. Due to his encyclopedic-like memory of local history facts, it surprises people to learn that he was born and raised in New Jersey. Whelan holds two degrees in history and worked as an archivist for the State of Missouri before arriving at the Morning Call.

Whelan enjoys writing about history using the stories passed down by our parents and grandparents. His method is called creating a "people's history" where we learn about the average person's experiences during key events. A good example of this is his article about the blizzard of 1888. Whelan described the activities of ordinary people, as the worst snowstorm of the century pounded down on the East Coast.

He wrote about Henry Yhenlon, the letter carrier for Hanover Township who delivered the mail through waist high snow drifts. As telegraph and telephone lines fell from the weight of the snow, the Lehigh Valley was cut off from the rest of the world. The roads were impassable and farmers could not reach the towns, causing food staples, such as milk, butter and eggs, to become scarce. We can understand the large consequences of the Blizzard of 1888 - utility companies began burying their lines and New York City built a subway. However, it is Whelan's description of the mail carrier, the fear of hunger and the groups of country folk who volunteered to dig out snowbound trains that really captures our imagination.

Along with oral histories, Whelan relies on a variety of primary and secondary historical sources such as histories, newspaper articles, photographs, diaries and town directories to provide the background for his writing. He frequently described his sources in his articles, which educated the readers about the process of historical research.

He succeeded in inspiring many amateur genealogists and local historians to head to the local libraries and archives. New Jersey's loss is our gain as Whelan continues his over three-decade career of writing about Lehigh Valley history. He always has a few projects in the works so we have much to look forward to.