BIOGRAPHY

Scott Butcher is an author, photographer, historian, researcher, and marketing professional.  He holds a B.S. in Marketing from Penn State and a Certificate in Professional Photography from the New York Institute of Photography.  Since 1991, he has served in various marketing capacities with the Nutec Group, one of central Pennsylvania's leading architectural/engineering firms.

In 1993, Scott earned the designation Certified Marketing Professional (MP) from the Society for Marketing Professional Services, and was one of the youngest in the country to earn the honor.  The designation eventually became Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM).  He was selected as an honorary member of Sigma Iota Epsilon at Penn State Harrisburg, a chapter that he co-founded.  Scott was also instrumental in the creation of the Central PA Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, and received a certificate of recognition from SMPS and the Philadelphia Chapter for his involvement.

Throughout much of the 1990s, Scott's writings focused on professional services marketing.  He authored articles for the SMPS Marketer, PSMJ Best Practices, NECA Marketing Advice & Customer Relations Report, Pennsylvania Contractor, and The Military Engineer.  Scott contributed articles for two publications, What the Best Design Firms are Doing (PSMJ) and Professional Services Marketing Articles (SMPS).  His writings were also referenced in McGraw Hill's Building Profits in the Construction Industry.  Scott eventually published a collection of his work, Marketing in the Building Industry.  The book is available from Amazon.com and Booklocker.com.

In the latter part of the 1990s, Scott became involved with tourism and served on the board of directors of the York County Convention & Visitors Bureau.  During his tenure, he authored four York County Visitors Guides and was involved the the creation of several research and marketing reports for the organization.  Working with the visitors guide publisher, Scott helped create RelocationLink: York County, a successful relocation guide that is published twice a year.  Later, Scott joined the board of directors of Main Street York and Historic York.  He developed the concept and helped launch another tourism publication, the Revolutionary York Visitors Guide, which focuses on the City of York.  While serving as marketing committee chair and an officer of Main Street York, Scott created two new signature events for the organization: the York Pear Blossom Festival and the York Holiday Open House.

His involvement with tourism led to Scott becoming well-entrenched in local history.  While he is extremely knowledgeable on general local history, his areas of expertise include historic local architecture and the Civil War as it relates to York County.  Scott combined his photography skills and historic knowledge for two articles in Pennsylvania magazine as well as a three-part series on York's architecture for ShowcasePA.

Scott is a regular vendor at Yorkfest, exhibiting and selling photos of three primary subjects: downtown York streetscapes and architecture, York County countryside, and the Delaware Coast.  He was recently contracted to write and photograph two coffee table books for Schiffer Publishing -- York: America's Historic Crossroads and Delaware Reflections.  Look for these titles in 2008 from bookstores everywhere.

He is the author of the popular Postcard Historic Series: York book from Arcadia Publishing (available at Amazon.com and BN.com, among others) as well as A Civil War Walking Tour of York, Pennsylvania, published by the York County Heritage Trust (available at YorkHeritage.org).  Recently completed books include French Toast: Lafayette & the Making of a Myth and A Brief History of the York County Court House.  Scott is also hard at work finalizing a detailed assessment of local architecture, York's Historic Buildings.

He is a regular speaker to community groups like Rotary and Sertoma Clubs.  Topics have included York in Historic Postcards, York's Historic Buildings, and Lafayette & the Making of a Myth.  Recently he has twice presented York, PA: Prize of the Confederacy in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Civil War Trails program.  In October 2006, Scott was keynote speaker for the dedication of the York County Administrative Center, the former courthouse.  Other presentations have included Architectural Photography, Marketing Planning for Non-Profits, Better Business Writing, Presentation Skills, York County Ghosts & Legends, and others.  Scott gave presentations on professional services marketing planning to the Central PA and Philadelphia chapters of the Society for Marketing Professional Services and also led three round-table discussions on the topic at the SMPS National Convention in San Diego, CA.

The annual Civil War program known as Patriot Days was also co-created by Scott.  During the process, he researched and wrote Prelude to Gettysburg: A Civil War Drama, which tells the story of York's occupation by the Confederate Army using first person military and civilian accounts.  He also created a new downtown Civil War walking tour for the event.  Scott then served on the York Committee of the Pennsylvania Civil War Trails program where he developed the eight "stories" required as a participant then researched and wrote eight interpretive signs for each story.  These will begin appearing over the next several years.  He is also an active living historian and has portrayed a Union private, Confederate general (John B. Gordon), and Victorian townsperson. 

Scott regularly gives walking tours of York.  In addition to the Civil War, he has researched and created walking tours for general history, historic architecture, photography tips, and ghosts & legends, as well as a Civil War walking tour for Wrightsville, PA.

He has served on the board of directors for Leadership York, York County Chapter - American Red Cross, York County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Main Street York, Historic York Inc. and SMPS  Central Pennsylvania.  Scott is also a volunteer with the William Goodridge Freedom House - an Underground Railroad Museum, York County Heritage Trust, Lancaster-York Heritage Region, and others.

In addition to his marketing responsibilities, Scott has coordinated several Nutec projects including the William Goodridge Museum, Downtown York Streetscape Design Guidelines, and museum-style "Evolution of the York County Court House" exhibit, for which he also provided photography and interpretive text.  He was involved with a research project for the Fire Museum of York County and detailed location study for a food processor looking to locate in one of seven potential states.  Scott is regularly involved with marketing planning, strategic planning, proposal writing, presentation development, collateral material creation, and electronic marketing.  One of his company Web sites was a top 3 finalist for best Web site in the U.S. for a Zweig-White competition.  Scott prepared the awards submission that resulted in the York County Administrative Center being recognized as a national 2007 Public Works Project of the Year.

Scott also serves as principal of a small family company, Butcher Consulting Group.  In this capacity he has provided writing and photography services as well as marketing consulting.  Sample projects include development of brochures and Web sites for several bed and breakfasts, marketing audit of a publisher's proposal process, creation of a tourism marketing plan for a city, and photography for corporate annual reports.  Another successful endeavor, the e-book Simplified Architectural Photography, is available from Booklocker.com. 

On his own, he has created several informative Web sites, including www.virtualyork.com and www.yorkcivilwar.com. 

In late 2007, Scott became a history blogger for the York Daily Record's blog site, www.yorktownsquare.com.  His blog, Windows Into York, looks at local history from the viewpoint of the buildings and structures that witnessed it.

Scott can be reached at  sbutcher @ yorklinks.net.