The idea of a literary magazine in the U.S. — a compendium of essays, short-fiction, poetry, and other writings — goes back to a Philadelphia publication issued in the early 1800s. The idea lives on locally, thanks to a modern-day collection, writes Connie Wrzesniewski for the Bucks County Herald. 

Local authors, with quarantine time on their hands, busily prepared the manuscripts that have been collected in the third edition of the Neshaminy Journal. The publication’s Native American name comes from the creek that winds its way throughout Bucks County. 

“It is the first of its kind and the only one of its kind,” said Stuart Abramson, Historical Society publisher. “It is modeled after the 143-year-old Pennsylvania Historical Society Journal.” 

The latest issue includes biographies (including one of Pearl S. Buck), poetry, interviews, and fiction. 

In the history segment of the latest Neshaminy Journal is “Doan Outlaws: The Plumstead Cowboys” by Jennifer Rogers. It relates the tale of the Doan family, a group whose 1783 havoc across Bucks County earned it the characterization as “robbers, felons, burglars, and traitors.” 

The Neshaminy Journal is available at various Doylestown and Lahaska bookshops, the Washington Crossing Mercantile Museum, and the Doylestown Historical Society House. It’s also available for e-reading from Amazon. 

The issue’s authors, editors, layout artists, and other professionals were all volunteers to the project. 

More on this local literary journal is at the Bucks County Herald.