Currents
Written by PA Heritage Staff in the Current and Coming category and the Fall 1984 issue Topics in this article:Gear for the Great Outdoors
During the turbulent, often chaotic, decades of the country’s Industrial Revolution, American were as mobile as wheels, waterways and ambition could make them. The population was preoccupied with carving out a new nation, pioneering, surveying, sod busting, prospecting for gold and, generally, eking out a living. As the population shifted, forging new frontiers, there was much camping – but not the recreational type familiar to today’s outdoorsmen. Following the Civil War, many Americans then sought the restorative powers of the wilderness, and enterprising naturalists and outfitters catered to the domestic safaris that became increasingly popular during the closing decades of the nineteenth century.
A slide presentation, “Gear for the Great Outdoors,” part of the State Museum’s series entitled “Curator’s Corner,” will feature a historical and nostalgic sampling of sporting equipment, clothing and unique gear used from the mid-nineteenth century to after 1900. The presentation will be given by Gail Getz, associate curator of the museum’s decorative arts department, on Sunday, September 30 [1984], at 2:30 P.M.
Camping necessities – such as folding stoves, boats and mosquito unguents-and sporting art, coupled with early lore, enliven the fascinating presentation. Anecdotes collected from outfitters, fishermen and engaging personalities express the flavor of the period. In addition to the slide presentation, a special exhibit of the Phillipe bamboo flyrod and related items will also be mounted.
For more information regarding this presentation, write: “Curator’s Corner,” William Penn Memorial Museum, P.O. Box 1026, Harrisburg, PA 17108-1026; or telephone (717) 783-9906.
Fine and Decorative Arts Exhibits at The State Museum
The main galleries of the State Museum of Pennsylvania are graced with an unusual exhibition concentrating on the visual, rather than the historic, aspects of fine and decorative arts. The show, entitled “With a Tactile Vision,” will continue through January 20, 1985.
Fifteen pieces of furniture and twenty textiles from the last century are displayed with two dozen contemporary artworks and paintings. The pieces were selected to demonstrate abstract patterns which convey a strong tactile sensation of mass, texture and movement, as well as optical illusion. Visitors are restrained from touching the fragile or unstable surfaces not only for the protection of the works, but to enhance the experience of “feeling” the objects with the eyes.
The furniture, most of it selected from the collections of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, is painted in a variety of patterns, ranging from earth-tone graining (of a nature never found in a tree!) to sunbursts of sensational colors. Pennsylvania artists, including Ned Wert, Indiana; Richard Elliot, Harrisburg; Chet Davis, Paxinos; Bob Roberts, Bloomsburg; Bruce Brazzo, Beaver Meadows; and Theodore Singer, State College, have loaned works which illustrate a continuing interest in, and an ever-evolving use of non-representational patterns. Bedcovers – particularly “log cabin,” and “crazy” or “puzzle” pieced works – often surprisingly mirror the patterns of both the paintings and the furniture. Although on close inspection the piecing of these works seems random, it was frequently manipulated to create bold, sometimes dizzying, patterns when viewed from a distance. The textiles were selected from the State Museum’s collection and most date from the late nineteenth century; few have been displayed in the last ten years.
The State Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.; Sunday, noon to 5 P.M. Admission is free.
Steel and Railroad Collections Given to Canal Museum
Two collections totaling more than 130,000 books, records, maps and blueprints have recently been donated to the Canal Museum/Hugh Moore Park in Easton by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation and the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The museum/park facility is currently negotiating the purchase of a 10,000-square-foot building for use as an archives center to house the new accessions.
Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s Charles Schwab Collection is named for the company president who gained a controlling interest in the corporation in 1901. He merged the company with the U.S. Shipbuilding Company and, in 1904, reorganized his sizable interests as the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. During his tenure as president, Schwab amassed more than 33,000 books, artifacts, paintings and photographs which comprise one of the most complete collections recording the history of iron and steel manufacturing in existence.
More than 100,000 blueprints and tracings were presented by the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Spanning more than six decades, from the 1890s through the 1950s, they were part of the railroad’s engineering files and include detailed renderings of tracks, stations and tools. During this period, the Lehigh Valley Railroad was expanding throughout the Northeast, both with its industry-related business and its passenger lines. The railroad declined rapidly near the end of this era and was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1962.
The Canal Museum maintains an extensive collection relating to the history of canals and allied industries and technologies, including anthracite mining, railroading, and iron and steel manufacturing. The research facility is open Monday through Friday, 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.; Sunday, 1 to 5 P.M. Additional information may be obtained by writing: Canal Museum, Hugh Moore Park, 200 South Delaware Dr., P.O. Box 877, Easton, PA 18042; or by telephoning (215) 258-7155.
Allegheny Portage Railroad Marks 150th Anniversary
It was a century and a half ago that the Allegheny Portage Railroad in central Pennsylvania began hauling canal boats and their cargoes over a 1,400-foot elevation to link with another canal operating on the other side of the mountain. The railroad was hailed as a great technological achievement when it opened to traffic on March 18, 1834. Many European travelers took the Main Line route in preference to the Erie Canal or other routes to the western states because of the Portage Canal’s reputation as one of the most spectacular and scenic routes in North America.
On Saturday, September 1 [1984], a ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Allegheny Portage Railroad and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site will be held at the park, eight miles west of Altoona on U.S. 22, Summit exit. A model of the “Lafayette,” a full-size replica of a locomotive used to haul canal boats, will be unveiled. On loan from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, the locomotive was extensively restored and will remain at the site on view for three years. The “Lafayette” will be placed on a section of track forged to exacting historical specifications by a local metal fabricator. The engine and track will remain in front of the historic Lemon House that once served as a tavern and hostelry for the canal and railroad passengers.
During the weekend of September 29-30 [1984], volunteer craftsmen will demonstrate and sell their arts and crafts of the Allegheny Portage Railroad period.
For further information regarding this historic site or other historic properties in Pennsylvania administered by the National Park Service, write: U.S. Department of the Interior, Mid-Atlantic Region, National Park Service, 143 South Third St., Philadelphia, PA 19106; or telephone (215) 597-3679.
State Archives to Examine Local Records
The State Archives has recently embarked on its most ambitious local records project to date: nine archivists will examine and assess the condition of local records in sixty-six county seats. The twenty-two month project, entitled “Pennsylvania County Records Survey and Planning Study,” will inventory records maintained by county governments (except Philadelphia County) covered under the County Records Act; create a machine-readable data base to better facilitate the preservation of valuable records, as well as the disposition of useless records; and gather information on the general condition and storage locations of paper records and microfilm. The project will also develop plans for three model local government records/archives centers and prepare a major planning document leading to the implementation of a modern and active records management program for the Commonwealth’s local governments. The project is funded by a federal grant of $213,539 awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Between twenty and thirty thousand data sheets will eventually be entered in the official records of the Pennsylvania Department of Education by the state Department of Labor and Industry. The Reading engineering/consulting firm of Gilbert/Commonwealth is currently evaluating the storage needs of seven counties – Allegheny, Bedford, Chester, Cumberland, Erie, Lackawanna and York – to generate the three model plans to be shared with other county governments desiring to renovate existing structures or construct new storage facilities.
Throughout the entire process., fifteen archivists will be involved in the various stages of this project. The program was endorsed by the statewide County Records Committee, representing six hundred county officials, and the State Historical Records Advisory Board, a committee representing historical records interests in the Commonwealth.
For additional information, write: Dr. Roland M. Baumann, Project Director, County Records Survey Project, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, P.O. Box 1026, Harrisburg, PA 17108-1026; or telephone (717) 787- 2761.
Exhibit Celebrates First Textile College’s 100th Anniversary
Nineteen eighty-four marks the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the nation’s oldest and only private textile college, the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. The institution traces its beginnings to a woolen yard merchant, Theodore C. Search, who visited the 1876 Centennial Exposition in the city’s Fairmount Park and was greatly disturbed by the poor quality and unimaginative design of American textiles, especially when compared to European imports.
Search’s dream was to establish an institution that would train textile workers with modern equipment and in advanced designs. He approached the Philadelphia Textile Manufacturers Association in 1883 with a plan to raise $50,000 from local textile manufacturers to finance the institution. Unfortunately, Search’s plan coincided with an economic downturn and a reduction in the tariff on worsted goods, impairing his own business and many others. He was able to raise only $35,000 but, undeterred and optimistic, he rented a room in downtown Philadelphia in the spring of 1884. He enrolled five students and taught evening classes. His enterprise caught the attention of fellow businessmen and a second fundraising attempt was more successful, enabling the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science to gain a firm footing and become the nation’s first textile college.
After the school’s founding it became affiliated with the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (now the Philadelphia Museum of Art) and in 1894 the institutions shared quarters at Broad and Pine streets, now the home of the Philadelphia College of Art. In 1949, prompted by expanding enrollment, the school relocated to the East Falls section of the city. Known as the Philadelphia Textile Institute and severed from its ties with the museum school, the college launched an active campaign to further expand. In 1960 the institute became the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science.
Today, 3,000 day and evening students are enrolled in the college which offers degrees in business, the sciences, and textiles and apparel. One-third of the student body is enrolled in textile-related curriculum, and the college remains a major source of trained graduates for the $50 billion United States textile and apparel industries. NASA’s space shuttle astronauts use hand heat-shields developed and manufactured by the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, and faculty members selected and tested the fabric used for the “Great American Flag,” the 21-story, 8-ton flag kept in Washington, D.C., and unfurled on national holidays. Other research developments include triaxial woven fabrics for aerospace and industrial uses, and composites used for artificial heart valves, bones, tendons and ligaments.
To celebrate the landmark year, the college’s Goldie Paley Design Center will open an exhibition documenting the history of the textile industry in Pennsylvania on Thursday, September 20 [1984]. “The Philadelphia System of Textile Manufacturers, 1884-1984,” on view through November 24, will depict a highly specialized industry in which skill and flexibility played extremely important roles. The history of one mill will be explored, and the decline, as well as the strategies for the survival of the industry, will also be addressed. The Paley Center is the college’s repository of historic fabrics and serves as its gallery. The facility is located at 4200 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia. Visiting hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. Admission is free. For additional information, telephone (215) 951-2861. This exhibit is only one of the college’s special events sponsored in conjunction with the one hundredth anniversary celebration.
Anthracite Region to be Studied
Pennsylvania’s anthracite region – basically encompassing Lackawanna, Luzerne, Schuylkill and Carbon counties – represents, in many respects, a microcosm of nineteenth century industrial society. The area was the principal source of hard coal from the 1820s onward and the availability of employment in the deep mines and in auxiliary services attracted a succession of immigrants. Welsh, English, Irish and German immigrants who began settling in the area as mines opened were followed after 1870 by waves of Poles, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Italians, Ukrainians, Russian Jews and other nationalities from Eastern and Southern Europe. By 1900, sixty-three percent of the population consisted of immigrants or children of immigrants, representing more than twenty-six different ethnic groups.
The social disorganization inherent in immigration was intensified in the anthracite region by the boom-and-bust cycles which characterized the industry and also by abuses, such as company-owned stores and housing, typical of single-industry economies. Immigrants responded by creating complex subcultures and vesting special importance in the traditional structures of their ethnic communities: the church, the ethnic press, and fraternal and social societies.
The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia, is conducting a two-year project to survey and collect ethnic source materials in northeastern Pennsylvania’s anthracite region. The Anthracite Region Ethnic Archives Project will identify and survey the records of ethnic organizations in the area, as well as papers and documents of selected immigrants and ethnic leaders. The project will also attempt to transfer significant material to archival custody for safekeeping. Upon completion of the project, a guide to ethnic source materials will be published. The project is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and cooperating institutions include the Anthracite Museum Complex administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; the University of Scranton Library; the Archives of Industrial Society, University of Pittsburgh; the Lackawanna Historical Society; the Scranton Public Library; and the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.
Information regarding the project may be obtained by writing: Susan McKinney, Anthracite Region Ethnic Archives Project, The LUCAN Center for the Arts, 232 Wyoming Ave., Scranton, PA 18503; or by telephoning (717) 344-7088.
Historic Fallsington Events
The village of Fallsington in Bucks County is one of the earliest settlements established in Pennsylvania. Settlers arrived during the 1680s and the village grew up around a Quaker meeting house built in 1690. The earliest houses were constructed of logs, followed by stone. Today, the village’s structures represent distinct architectural styles once popular in America, and evidenced by large, Federal-type buildings and extravagant Victorian period structures. At least two dozen eighteenth century houses survive without much alteration.
Historic Fallsington, Inc., was created in 1953 by a group of residents to save the Burges-Lippincott House. The structure was listed for sale and faced an uncertain future. Preserved intact by the organization, the Burges-Lippincott House was built in four stages, from about 1700 to 1829, and is noted for its elegant interior appointments, particularly a delicately carved fireplace and a stairway boasting a handsome wall bannister.
Residents will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Historic Fallsington Day, which features tours of the house-museums, several private residences, carriage rides, crafts demonstrations and sales, and other special events, on Saturday, October 13 [1984], from 10 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Admission is charged.
On Sunday, November 11 [1984], from noon to 5 P.M., the village’s museum buildings will be festively decorated with freshly cut greens, holly, fruits and garland for “A Fallsington Christmas.” In addition to the holiday decorations, objects and artifacts from the museum collections not normally exhibited will make up a special display. Crafts demonstrations and performances of holiday music are also planned.
Further information may be obtained by writing: Historic Fallsington, 4 Yardley Ave., Fallsington, PA 19054; or by telephoning (215) 295-6567.
Impressionist Exhibit Reveals New Hope School
Opening September 16 [1984] at the Allentown Art Museum and continuing through November 25 [1984] is an exhibition of eighty paintings by eleven artists associated with the New Hope school. The exhibit, entitled “The Pennsylvania School of Landscape Painting: An Original American Impressionism,” traces the development of the artists’ colony from the turn of the century when the picturesque small town on the Delaware River attracted artists William L. Lathrop (1859-1938), Edward Redfield (1869-1965) and later Daniel Garber (1880-1958). These artists produced a type of painting in the impressionistic style, but one which was identified by critics at the time as being particularly American. This is the first comprehensive exhibition to treat the Pennsylvania impressionists.
Significant second-generation painters in the exhibit are Charles Rosen (1878-1959) and Robert Spencer (1879-1931). John Fulton Folinsbee (1892-1972) and Walter Emerson Baum (1884-1956) are the major third-generation painters associated with the Bucks County art colony. Artists Rae Sloan Bredin (1881-1933), Morgan Colt (1876-1926), Walter Elmer Schofield (1867-1944) and Henry Bayley Snell (1858-1943) are also featured in the show for their associations with New Hope.
Although they were among the most celebrated painters of their time, exhibiting in large number at the PanamaPacific International Exposition, San Francisco, in 1915, the artists’ essential conservatism relegated them to progressive critical oblivion during ensuing decades. “The Pennsylvania School of Landscape Painting” seeks to redress this neglect by providing a retrospective look at their work which spans the years 1898 to 1940.
In conjunction with the exhibit, the museum is organizing a day-long symposium on American impressionism for Wednesday, October 24.
Following its Allentown showing, the exhibition will travel to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., December 14 [1984] through February 10, 1985; the Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, March 2 through May 5 [1985]; and the Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, June 1 through September 2 [1985]. A catalog accompanies the show.
The Allentown Art Museum is located at Fifth and Court streets. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.; Sunday, 1 to 5 P.M. For more information, write: Allentown Art Museum, P.O. Box 117, Allentown, PA 18105; or telephone (215) 432-4333.
“A Growing American Treasure” to Debut in Philadelphia
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in center-city Philadelphia, is the oldest art institution in North America. For nearly two centuries the Academy has collected, exhibited and taught art, and its building, a richly decorated edifice at Broad and Cherry streets designed by Frank Furness, is considered, in itself, a great masterpiece.
A new exhibition of recently acquired pieces in the Academy’s distinguished permanent collection of American art will open on September 21 [1984] and continue through April 28, 1985. “The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: A Growing American Treasure” features selections from the institution’s collection of 1,550 paintings, 250 pieces of sculpture and more than 5,000 works on paper – watercolors, drawings and prints. The varied collections contain works spanning three centuries of the nation’s artistic growth and maturity.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated 32-page catalog containing a complete checklist of accessions since 1977 and essays by the Academy’s curators discussing highlights in the areas of contemporary art, nineteenth century painting, sculpture and graphic arts. The catalog and accompanying museum programs will focus on the Academy’s history as a repository of American art, and its role in the present as collector and exhibitor. The “how” and “why” of museum acquisition, including scholarly research, will be discussed in an effort to tell the story of the Academy.
More information regarding the exhibition is available by writing: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Broad and Cherry Sts., Philadelphia, PA 19102; or by telephoning (215) 972-7600.
Pennsbury Manor’s Fall Forum
Historic preservation for the homeowner will be addressed during the twentieth annual fall forum conducted by Pennsbury Manor, the re-created country plantation of founder William Penn on the banks of the Delaware River in Bucks County. The event will be held Friday and Saturday, September 28-29 [1984].
Owners of old houses usually are enchanted with the space and decoration of their properties, but often are baffled by the history and how to interpret or enhance it. The forum will discuss these issues by combining a scholarly look at historic preservation with practical workshops on dealing with an individual older or historic structure. Workshops will include practical advice to approaching comprehensive planning and actual implementation, and exhibits and demonstrations will augment the technical assistance aspects.
Other subjects are social trends and their influence on house design and architectural styles; use of rooms and houses; researching a building’s history; a survey of architectural styles; and theoretical and practical approaches to preservation. Interior design and decoration and landscaping will also be discussed by expert panelists and speakers.
Forum information and registration applications are available by writing: Fall Forum, Pennsbury Manor, 400 Pennsbury Memorial Rd., Morrisville, PA 19067; or by telephoning (215) 946-0400.
Millersburg Hosts Arts and Crafts Fair
Millersburg’s former railroad passenger station, built in 1897, will benefit from the fourth annual arts and crafts fair sponsored by the Historical Society of Millersburg and Upper Paxton Township on Saturday, October 6 [1984]. The structure has been acquired by the society and is being painstakingly restored.
The event will also support a major project locating, identifying and microfilming old area newspapers. Current microfilm holdings exceed 40,000 newspaper pages dating to 1856 and are available to the public for research and study at the Johnson Memorial Library in Millersburg.
Founded in 1807, Millersburg is situated twenty-eight miles north of Harrisburg at the confluence of the Susquehanna River and the Wiconisco Creek in the verdant Lykens Valley. One of its most popular visitors’ attractions is the Millersburg Ferry, established prior to 1817, which still operates daily from dawn to dusk. Two boats – the “Falcon” and the “Roaring Bull” – each transport four cars and sixty passengers across the mile-wide river. The ferry is the last in operation on the Susquehanna River and is the only wooden-stern, paddlewheel ferry in the country.
More information about the arts and crafts fair or historic properties in the area is available by writing: Historical Society of Millersburg and Upper Paxton Township, P.O. Box 171, Millersburg, PA 17061.