Local residents and father-daughter pair Lawrence and Catherine Keating have a “natural love” of New London history. They also have hundreds of postcards and pictures depicting the Whaling City.

Now they have a book together called “New London,” a collection of images showing the city’s evolution over time, released July 6 by Arcadia Publishing and The History Press.

The 127-page “then and now” book features about 220 black and white images of boats, trolleys, houses, businesses, people and landmarks around the city. The oldest images date back to the mid-19th century while newer ones are as recent as 2012.

Some of the newer images were photographs taken by the authors, their family and friends, including Catherine’s mother and Lawrence’s wife Ann Marie Keating.

With over 500 New London-specific images in their personal collection, some of the places in the book include the “Chapell Entrance” of Cedar Grove Cemetery and the Monte Cristo Cottage, the childhood home of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

Lawrence and Catherine, both retired members of the U.S. Armed Forces, sought to share some of their nearly 1,000 pieces of memorabilia with the public to preserve history and show how industrialization changed the Whaling City. As a lifelong resident who saw many of the changes firsthand however, Lawrence had the younger generations in mind as a target audience, particularly his 11-year-old grandson.

“I want him to understand how we got from here to there, and the price that was paid,” Lawrence said. “I don’t know any answers, but he may, since he’s young and starting out.”

A registered nurse and self-described “dislodged journalist,” Catherine credited the start of her love of history to a submission contest held while she was a delivery girl for The Day paper. The guidelines called for contestants to find and take pictures of architecture around the city, and as she had grown up hearing stories of its development from her family, she took interest.

In 1996 after four and a half years in the Army, Catherine began collecting old historic postcards from New London, Willimantic, Pawcatuck, Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. Lawrence, a Southern New England Telephone retiree, started his own history collection in 2002 because, in his view, today’s residents have “no respect for antiquity.” They combined their separate findings after realizing that both collections focused on recalling New London’s past to understand the present.

Catherine suggested that the postcards also provide “snapshots” of her family’s surroundings in the city, so she was able to learn about their beginnings. She hopes that others can do the same, she said.

Getting the book together wasn’t an easy task, however. When it came to their final edits on a tight deadline, both Lawrence and Catherine were pulling daily 12- to 15-hour editing shifts, while Ann Marie would run around from store to store developing film with pictures they needed.

The pair recalled a moment when all of the nearest one-hour photo machines were out of order and Ann Marie was about to drive to Old Saybrook for the next one, only to be met with another setback.

“My mom was about to go there,” Catherine said, “but before she could leave, we heard about a gas leak on Main Street and they shut every business down.”

In retrospect, the book’s strict guidelines left the two frustrated at times, but Catherine said their hard work was “definitely worth it” in the end.

Lawrence added that there would be no book without Catherine, because he’s “too old for that foolishness alone.”

The book is available for about $20 through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888) 313-2665, as well as the Thames River Greenery and Studio 33 Art and Frame Gallery.