The very first Media-Upper Providence Free Library Book Sale, hosted by the Media-Upper Providence Library Auxiliary, was held May 9th, 1970 at the Borough Hall.
Books that spent time atop The New York Times Best Sellers list
| Year | Fiction | Nonfiction |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Love Story by Erich Segal | Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) by David Reuben |
| 1971 | The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty | Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown |
| 1972 | Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach | I’m OK – You’re OK by Thomas A. Harris, M.D. |
| 1973 | Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut | Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution by Dr. Robert Atkins |
| 1974 | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré | All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Rob Woodward |
| 1975 | Centennial by James Michener | The Bermuda Triangle by Charles Berlitz |
| 1976 | Trinity by Leon Uris | The Final Days by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein |
| 1977 | Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien | Roots by Alex Haley |
| 1978 | Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon | The Complete Book of Running by James F. Fixx |
| 1979 | Chesapeake by James Michener | The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet by Herman Tarnower, M.D. and Samm Sinclair Baker |
Interesting items (items of local interest)
1970
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Pulitzer Prize went to M. Hersh for his coverage of My Lai Massacre in Vietnam
- The highest grossing movie was Love Story
- Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water was the bestselling album
- The average in-state nonprofit university cost was $394, a loaf of bread was $0.70, toilet paper was 6 rolls for $1.00, pack of gum was a nickel, median home price $23,000
1971
- August 23rd, Media’s FBI office was broken into, 1,000+ documents were stolen exposing illegal operations leading to 10-year term limit for FBI directors
- Media’s John Baker broke the 4-minute mile time at the University of Maryland
- Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, won the Nobel Prize in Literature
- The 4th moon landing mission began July 26, 1971, launching Apollo 15
- Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida
- 3 Musketeers cost 20¢, 1st class postage was 8¢, gas was 36¢/gal, a cup of coffee cost 25¢, and McDonald’s Quarter Pounder cost 60¢
1972
- Heinrich Böll won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work covering the impact of war
- October 10, Woodward & Bernstein reported Watergate break-in as part of a massive campaign strategy by the Nixon re-election committee
- Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich
- All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show topped TV ratings
- The 1st handheld scientific calculator, Hewlett-Packard 35, sold for $395
1973
- Patrick White, was the first Australian writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Pulitzer Prize for Public Service went to The Washington Post for investigating Watergate
- May 14th, NASA launched Skylab the first U.S. space station
- Paris Peace Accords, signed January 27th, ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War
- Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes
1974
- Nobel Prize in Literature went to Swedish authors Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson
- Richard M. Nixon resigned from the Presidency in August
- NY Jets quarterback, Joe Namath, appeared in a pantyhose commercial
- All in the Family was the most-watched TV show
- A round-trip flight from New York to Los Angeles was about $550, the average cost of a movie ticket was under $2.00, popcorn and soda $2.00
1975
- Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Italian poet Eugenio Montale
- Garry Trudeau won the Pulitzer Prize for Doonesbury
- High school students were reading: The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Separate Peace, Jonathon Livingston Seagull, Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men
- Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings 16-6 to win their first Super Bowl
- American Motors Corporation started selling the Pacer in February for $3,299
1976
- The Nobel Prize in Literature winner Canadian- American novelist Saul Bellow
- The Concorde SST started its supersonic service on January 21st
- Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple on April 1st
- Dorothy Hamill skated to the ladies’ singles gold medal at the Innsbruck Olympics
- A gallon of gas averaged 59¢, a quart of motor oil cost around $1.00
1977
- The Nobel Prize in Literature went to 79-year-old Spanish poet Vicente Alexiandre
- The Pulitzer Prize for Biography went to John E. Mack for A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence
- The 8-episode Roots premiered January 23rd
- Pelé officially retired from soccer in August, he scored 1,283 goals
- A Chevrolet Chevette cost $3,225.30
1978
- Upper Providence’s Don Saleski concluded playing for the Flyers with 118 goals
- The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Polish-born writer Isaac Bashevis Singer
- The Philadelphia Inquirer won the Public Service Pulitzer Prize for a series on police abuses of power in its home city.
- May 5th, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened an ice cream parlor in Burlington, VT
- A dozen grade A large eggs cost 85¢, apples were 69¢ for a 3‐pound bag
1979
- The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Odysseus Elyt
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction went to John Cheever for The Stories of John Cheever
- Pope John Paul II visited Philadelphia in October
- Sony Walkman was released July 21st
- To enter a National Park cost between $3-$8/car