Currents

Peale in Phila­delphia

Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825) devoted himself almost exclu­sively to still life painting at the turn of the eighteenth century-despite the fact there was little financial incentive to do so. Only commissioned portraits offered artists in America livelihoods. Yet Raphaelle Peale, the eldest son of Charles Willson Peale dog­gedly and tragically pursued this subject in his professional painting, with no precursors and little financial renumera­tion. Had he lived in England or Europe, where academic dogma elevated history paint­ing to the top of the hierarchy of subjects and relegated still­-life painting to the bottom, he surely would have been scorned and his work rarely shown. But in America he exhibited frequently at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, re­ceived encouragement from his family and garnered some critical notice. Nevertheless, he was generally overlooked and under-patronized and was soon forgotten. Only within the last twenty-five years have scholars and art historians begun to examine his work and reevaluate his place in the history of American art and still life painting.

The work of Raphaelle Peale – now considered Ameri­ca’s first great still life painter­ – will be featured in an exhibition of thirty-two paint­ings on view through Sunday, April 16 [1989], at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. “Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes” was organized by the Acad­emy and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it opened last fall.

Raphaelle Peale’s still lifes are of tremendous importance in the history of American art. His beautiful paintings are significant because they repre­sent the work of the country’s first “professional” still life painter. Since the artist’s death in 1825, there has been only one exhibition of his work, and no exhibition has been dedi­cated to the still lifes that were his greatest effort and most significant contributions to posterity.

Raphaelle Peale painted approximately one hundred and fifty still lifes during his brief life (he died at the age of fifty-one), of which only about fifty survive. “Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes” includes many of these extant works, including the famous After the Bath, considered a masterpiece of trompe l’oeil. Also featured in the exhibit are three works by Peale’s father, Charles Willson Peale; four by his uncle, James Peale; and Rubens Peale with a Geranium by his brother Rem­brandt Peale, suggesting the popularity of still life painting in the prolific and prodigious Peale family.

“Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes” is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by the National Gallery of Art. In addition to critical essays, the catalogue includes a com­pilation of texts and docu­ments relating to the artist and a checklist of works he exhib­ited during his lifetime.

Located two blocks north of City Hall in center-city Phila­delphia, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is convenient to all public trans­portation and parking. The galleries are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.; and Sunday, 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. There is an admission fee.

For additional information, write: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Broad and Cherry Sts., Philadelphia, PA 19102; or telephone (215) 972-7642.

Founded in 1805, the Penn­sylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the oldest art institu­tion in the United States (see “The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: An Ideal and a Symbol” by Academy re­search associate Jeanette M. Toohey in the spring 1988 edition of this magazine). The Academy’s collection of more than ten thousand pieces of American art includes works by Mary Cassatt, Henry O. Tanner, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, George Luks, Theodore Robinson, Benjamin West, Charles Demuth and, of course, the Peales. The build­ing, designated a National Historic Landmark by the federal government, is one of the nation’s finest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture. It was designed by master Amer­ican architects Frank Furness and George Hewitt.

Jewish Community

“The Jewish Community in the Delaware Valley,” a new museum exhibition created by the staff of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, in collabo­ration with the Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center and the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia, will open to the public on Saturday, April 22 [1989].

The exhibition will explore and describe the history of the regional Jewish community and touch on all aspects of Jewish life and culture. It will showcase the collections of the Jewish Archives and illustrate the processes through which the Archives identifies, lo­cates, acquires and preserves the history and heritage of the Jewish community. In fact, the collection of the Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center­ – which includes photographs, prints, paintings, posters, ceremonial objects, docu­ments, illuminated manu­scripts, textiles and crafts – will be the main feature of ‘The Jewish Community in the Delaware Valley.” The exhibit will provide the first major public showing of items which the Archives has collected since its founding seventeen years ago. The Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center holds the distinction of being the first community-sponsored Jewish archives in the United States.

The items selected for the exhibition will be examined from the perspectives of social and cultural history. The his­tory and development of the Archives Center’s will be a central theme of the exhibit. By representing numerous early social agencies whose collec­tions and records are housed at the Archives Center, the exhibition will, at the same time, offer an opportunity to educate visitors about the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia, which today constitutes an alliance of many of these groups and organizations.

“The Jewish Community in the Delaware Valley” will include historical and vintage photographs, agency charters, illustrated ledgers, correspon­dence and a variety of docu­mentary material. It will also feature art objects made for religious uses, such as a heav­ily embroidered velvet Ark cover (from the museum collection of the Balch Institute) and unique hand-crafted items. One of these items will be a beautifully hand-lettered and illustrated World War I journal written by a Jew living in Germany. Philadelphia’s Yiddish theater will be repre­sented with playbills and posters, while the art and design of the labor movement will be illustrated with posters and strike placards. Several portraits of prominent Phila­delphia area Jews will be featured, accompanied by relevant documentary mate­rial. Approximately one hun­dred photographs and one hundred and fifty artifacts will comprise the exhibit.

“The Jewish Community in the Delaware Valley,” address­ing a broad constituency from varying economic and social strata, will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. The exhibition will continue through Tuesday, July 11 [1989].

Visiting hours at the Balch Institute are Monday through Saturday, 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. There is no admission charge.

To obtain additional infor­mation, write: Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 18 South Seventh St., Philadelphia, PA 19106; or telephone (215) 925-8090.

Upside Down

“Turning the World Upside Down,” an exhibition com­memorating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, the first independent female political organization in the United States, will open Wednesday, March 15 [1989], at the Library Com­pany of Philadelphia.

A decade before the first Woman’s Rights Convention of 1848, the anti-slavery ladies defied public opinion, church censure and male scorn to insist that women could-and should-play an active and public role in the reform move­ment, and speak their own thoughts with their own voice. The first Convention met in New York in 1837, and in Phil­adelphia in 1838 and 1839. At the 1838 Philadelphia Conven­tion, the stalwart women faced not only general recrimination but also violence when a mob of more than ten thousand attacked and burned the lec­ture hall at which the meeting was staged (see “The Friends Fight for Freedom” by William C. Kashatus m in the summer 1988 edition of this magazine.)

This first public political enterprise by American women was the first signifi­cant racially integrated organi­zation. The anti-slavery ladies, moving beyond many of the anti-slavery men, identified racial prejudice as a main support of slavery, and pledged themselves to fight it by encouraging inter-racial associations. Luminaries of the conventions included Philadel­phia’s Lucretia Mott, well known writer Lydia Maria Child and one of the the most effective public agitators of the movement, Abbey Kelley. Among the several Black par­ticipants were Philadelphians such as educator Sarah Mapps Douglass, essayist and poet Sarah Forten and Harriet Pur­vis, wife of the principal Un­derground Railroad leader.

“Turning the World Upside Down” will examine the many personalities involved in the abolitionist movement, as well as such significant issues as the role of women, free speech and urban violence, and the contributions of the anti­slavery ladies to other reform efforts. Examples of original printed and graphic works from the Library Company’s extensive Afro-Americana Collection will portray the people, the issues and the temper of the times.

The exhibition will be high­lighted by a symposium, “Turning the World Upside Down: The Anti-Slavery Con­ventions of American Women, 1837-1839,” on Saturday, April 15 [1989]. Scholars and lecturers will present varied topics, includ­ing “The World the Agitators Made: The Counter-Culture of Agitation in Urban Philadel­phia”; “The Philadelphia Fe­male Anti-Slavery Society and the Conventions of Anti­Slavery Women: The Chal­lenge to Racism and Sexism in Antebellum America”; “Anti­Slavery According to Sojourner Truth”; “Petitioning”; and “Comparisons Between British and American Women at the London 1840 World Anti­Slavery Convention.” The keynote address will be given by Molly Yard, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW).

Admission to both the exhibition, which continues through Thursday, June 15 [1989], and the symposium is free, but reservations are required for the April symposium.

Visiting hours at the Library Company of Philadelphia are Monday through Friday, 9 A.M. to 4:45 P.M.

Additional information regard­ing “Turning the World Upside Down” is available by writing: Library Company of Philadel­phia, 1314 Locust St., Philadel­phia, PA 19107-5698; or by telephoning (215) 546-3181.

Bowdlerizations

Problems with length and language affect every director who attempts to mount a Shakespearean production on the contemporary stage. Yet, while no audience particularly wants to sit through six hours of Hamlet, neither does the theater-going public appreciate modern – and, often, inappropriate – tampering with Shakespeare’s text. In fact, such “revivals” provoke a general outrage and charges of sacrilege. However, editing Shakespeare is by no means a new or modern approach; it was practiced during the bard’s lifetime, probably with his approval and possibly with his assistance. During the Restoration, just fifty years after Shakespeare’s death, the wholesale revision and exten­sive rewriting of his works became common practice.

Through an exhibition entitled “Editing Shakespeare: The Taming of the Text,” the Rosenbach Museum and Li­brary, Philadelphia, displays some of the most interesting and significant versions of William Shakespeare’s plays dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. On view through the month of May, the exhibit features the favorite dramas of the Restora­tion period audience, still popular today, as they were adapted for performance: The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, The Tempest and Coriolanus. Accom­panying these texts, and on loan from the Furness Memo­rial Shakespeare Library of the University of Pennsylvania, are a number of original play­bills advertising productions of these same plays at London’s Covent Garden and Drury Lane theaters. Several contem­porary engravings on loan from the Furness collection depict scenes enacted by the famous actors and actresses of the eighteenth century stage.

With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the London playhouses – closed by an edict of a Puritan Parliament – were allowed to reopen their doors. While Shakespeare’s dramas were still in great demand, the tastes of the theater-going aristocracy, after nearly twenty years of exile in France, had undergone change. Restora­tion playwrights, theater man­agers and actors then began to edit Shakespeare in order to conform to the current fash­ion. They revised the literary structure of the dramatist’s texts to appeal to a contempo­rary taste for French Classi­cism. They added music, dance and pageantry to satisfy a penchant for spectacle. They injected new characters or rendered minor characters more central to accommodate the appearance of actresses on what had been a male­-dominated stage. They cen­sored or revised Shakespeare’s language, then considered crude and blasphemous, for an audience which preferred more refined diction. What these post-Restoration editors produced was a King Lear with a happy ending, The Tempest as an opera, a not-so-bloody Macbeth, a bloodier Coriolanus, a Taming of the Shrew in which the husband – not the wife – ­acts the shrew, and a less com­plex and more melodramatic Romeo and Juliet. For the present-day audience, these versions are sometime humor­ous, sometimes artistically astute.

Well more than one hun­dred post-Restoration versions of William Shakespeare’s plays form part of the literature collection of the Rosenbach Museum and Library. For Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach (1872-1952), the institution’s founder, the plays of Shakespeare al­ways appealed to his literary appetite as he both collected and traded. The editions on exhibit, most of them bound by earlier owners, remain in excellent condition. Like the collector, the motive behind the post-Restoration editor of Shakespeare was not an as­sault upon the text, but rather a conscientious attempt to preserve it.

To complement “Editing Shakespeare: The Taming of the Text,” related material from the extensive Rosenbach collection is on view throughout the three story Delancey Place townhouse. These displays include correspondence trac­ing Rosenbach’s pursuit of a major Shakespeare collection during his illustrious career as a rare book dealer, expurgated versions of Shakespeare pre­pared during the Victorian era for young girls and Maurice Sendak drawings for two of George MacDonald’s Victorian period fairy tales.

(A full-length and color illustrated article chronicling the life and career of A. S. W. Rosenbach by Linda Kowall, entitled “The Man Who Bought Alice in Wonderland,” appeared in the winter 1988 issue of this magazine.)

Visiting hours at the Rosenbach Museum and Library are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 A.M. to 4 P.M. There is an admission charge.

For additional information, write: Rosenbach Museum and Library, 2010 Delancey Pl., Philadelphia, PA 19103; or telephone (215) 732-1600.

Hail to the Chief!

The Lehigh Valley’s fascina­tion with the presidency of the United States is brought to life as the Lehigh County Histori­cal Society presents an exhibit entitled “Hail to the Chief! 200 Years of American Presidency, 1789-1989” to commemorate the bicentennial of George Washington’s election and inauguration as the nation’s first president. On view through Sunday, June 11 [1989], the exhibition – drawing from the collections of area individuals, museums and libraries­ – examines the ways in which the presidency has been de­picted, commemorated and revered. “Hail to the Chief!” features a vast array of objects, artifacts and souvenirs gener­ated by campaigns, inaugura­tions and administrations of the country’s chief executives.

“Hail to the Chief! 200 Years of American Presidency, 1789-1989” is unusual in that items were selected only from local collections, many of which relate specifically to the greater Lehigh Valley. Featured are photographs from the “whistle stop” tours made to Allentown by presidents Harry S. Tru­man, John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. One memo­rable photograph captures Pres. Theodore Roosevelt addressing Allentonians from a balcony of the Hotel Allen on October 26, 1914. In 1909, area residents remembered the contributions of Abraham Lincoln on the centennial of his birth with commemorative services at Allentown’s Salem Reformed Chapel and the Lyric Theatre; programs for these special services are on display. Also on exhibit are silk mourning ribbons worn by Lehigh Valley residents on the deaths of William Henry Harri­son in 1841 and James K. Polk in 1848, and programs for memorial services held at Zion’s Reformed Sunday School in 1881 for James A. Garfield and in 1901 at the Lyric Theatre for William H. McKinley.

“Hail to the Chief!” in­cludes correspondence to local residents from presidents whose signatures confirmed patents and government ap­pointments. Other items­ – many on public view for the first time – are: sheet music of Slatington composer Evan J. Williams entitled Martyrs of Columbia (copyrighted in 1901), postcards, autographs, newspaper headlines, cam­paign posters, convention hats, inaugural invitations and campaign buttons echoing slogans for William H. Taft (“The Safest”), Franklin De­lano Roosevelt (“A Gallant Leader”) and Woodrow Wilson (“Win with Wilson”). Of more recent vintage is a bumper sticker for Richard M. Nixon (“Nixon Now”).

The society and lenders, both public and private, are showing several early and rare objects, such as a smoking Ulysses S. Grant promotional sales model, a George Wash­ington doll and a circa 1844 board game by W. and S. B. Ives, which was based on a campaign for the presidency. To win, a player must beat the opponents to a space num­bered “63” (or the White House), while avoiding politi­cal pitfalls en route. The exhi­bition also features tools and household wares bearing the image of past presidents, in­cluding a Stahl pottery bowl depicting Lincoln and a bottle cork and clock, one of four produced, emblazoned with the likeness of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the inscription, “Man of the Hour.”

As part of the ongoing lecture series coinciding with “Hail to the Chief!,” Kurt D. Zwikl, guest curator for the exhibition and PHMC chair­man, and Frank Whelan, his­torian and writer for The Morning Call, will discuss issues pertinent to the Lehigh Valley in two important elec­tions in “Electing Lincoln and Kennedy” on Sunday, March 19 [1989], at 3 P.M. On Wednesday, April 12 [1989], at 8 P.M. , Dr. William Seale, nationally recognized authority on the White House, will present a talk entitled “At Home with the Presidents: A History of the White House.” Noted author of the biography entitled Abigail Adams, Phyllis Levin will offer further insights in her lecture, “Abigail Adams: Patriot, Historian and Feminist” on Tuesday, May 9 [1989], at 8 P. M. The lectures, which will be held in the Gold Court­room of the Old Courthouse in downtown Allentown, are open free to the public.

Visiting hours at the Lehigh County Museum, located in the Old Courthouse at Hamil­ton and Fifth streets, Allen­town, are Monday through Friday, 9 A.M. to 4 P.M.; Sat­urday and Sunday, 1 to 4 P.M. For additional information, write: Lehigh County Histori­cal Society, P. O. Box 1548, Allentown, PA 18105; or tele­phone (215) 435-4664. There is no admission charge.

“Sorting Out”

The eleventh annual Gene­alogy Conference sponsored by the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society will convene on the campus of the Lancaster Mennonite High School on Saturday, April 1 [1989]. The confer­ence, featuring more than twenty sessions and work­shops, is open to the public.

For beginning, as well as intermediate level, genealogists, the workshop sessions will probe a number of sub­jects to sharpen research skills: cemetery restoration, historical society resources, organization of data, the use of computers in record-keeping, photogra­phy in family history, methods of initiating family history research, library holdings and the use of church, land and legal records. Private consulta­tion with expert and profes­sional genealogists will also be offered.

The keynote address, “Sort­ing Out the Brethren,” will be delivered by historian Donald F. Durnbaugh, author of nu­merous scholarly articles, pamphlet and books, of which the most widely read is proba­bly The Believers’ Church: The History and Character of Radical Protestantism (1968). The pre­sentation will provide histori­cal background on the distinguishing features of various Brethren groups.

The conference will be divided into four sessions. Speakers and topics for the first session are Geri L. Gil­bert, “Courthouse Research”; Adalbert E. Goertz, “Tracing Mennonite Roots in Prussia and Eastern Europe”; Lloyd Zeager, “Genealogical Re­sources at the Lancaster Men­nonite Historical Society”; and Myron S. Dietz, “Anabaptist Groups.” The second session features Janes L. S. Davidson, “Beginning the Search”; Sa­linda M. Matt, “Research Sources at the Lancaster County Historical Society: An A to Z Overview”; and David J. Rempel Smucker, “Genealo­gies: The Good, the Bad and the Average.” For the third session, speakers and topics include Jane L.S. Davidson, “Organizing the Data”; L. Lemar Mast, “A Genealogist Snaps the Shutter”; and David L. Klees, “Mixing German and English Languages in Genea­logical Records.” The final session concludes with James Hess, “The Hans Hess Ceme­tery Restoration Project”; Jane L. S. Davidson, “Historical Research Definitions and Handwriting”; Jackson Sonne­born, “Genealogical Research at the Mormon Library in York County”; Curt S. Tomlinson, “Computers: A Genealogical Resource”; and John W. Heisey, “Research in Lancaster County and Related College Libraries.” A private, profes­sional consultation with John W. Heisey will follow the first three sessions.

The day-long event will conclude with a banquet and a concert by the Ephrata Cloister Chorus. The concert will fea­ture music written by Conrad Beissel, founder of Ephrata Cloister, and selections from similar communal groups of nineteenth century America.

For more information, write: 1989 Genealogy Confer­ence, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 2215 Mill­stream Rd., Lancaster, PA 17602-1499; or telephone (717) 393-9745. Registration is re­quired.

Maritime Mementos

How does a museum de­cide which are the most “clas­sic” items in its eight thousand piece collection of maritime treasures? Does it display an Olympic Games oar and row­ing shirt because of its associa­tion with the premier competition for amateur ath­letes from around the world­ – to say nothing of rowing’s close ties to the area? Perhaps it might select a piece such as a Paul Clet drawing of the Penrose Avenue Bridge, be­cause it offers a unique per­spective on one of Philadelphia’s familiar land­marks? Or does it present a diving helmet as being em­blematic of the worlds of knowledge that have been opened as a result of advance­ments in underwater explora­tion?

These items, together with nearly one hundred objects and artifacts from the Philadel­phia Maritime Museum’s ex­tensive holdings, are on view in a recently mounted exhibi­tion, “Philadelphia’s Maritime Mementos: Classics from the Collection.” Included in the exhibit are items that reflect the diversity and comprehen­siveness of the museum’s collections, including an unu­sual sneakbox constructed by David Beaton and Sons, Man­taloking, New Jersey, espe­cially for the Philadelphia Maritime Museum. Measuring fifteen feet in length, the sneakbox is a traditional duck­-hunting boat indigenous to both the Delaware Bay and Delaware River.

Other objects on display include a presentation epee, or small sword, presented to distinguished nineteenth cen­tury naval hero James Biddle by a group of fellow Philadel­phians, and Peace, the only known full-length ship’s fig­urehead carved by the re­nowned sculptor William Rush. “Philadelphia’s Maritime Mementos: Classics from the Collection” also features a host of watercolors, lithographs, prints and oil paintings, one of which, Francis Holman’s eighteenth century ship por­trait, The True Love of Philadel­phia, will be publicly exhibited at the museum for the first time.

“Philadelphia’s Maritime Mementos: Classics from the Collection” will remain on view through April 1990. Mu­seum admission is a suggested donation of one dollar. Visiting hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.; Sunday, 1 to 5 P.M.

Located in Philadelphia’s Old City historic district, the Philadelphia Maritime Mu­seum is a treasure house of maritime legacy and lore, including marine art, ship models, navigational tools, ship building equipment, scrimshaw, weaponry, figureheads, presentation silver and photographs. The museum, founded in 1960, offers an extensive maritime history library, and regularly conducts a number of special activities and events.

For more information, write: Philadelphia Maritime Museum, 321 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106; or telephone (215) 925-5439.

Johnstown Flood Anniversary

To commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the Johnstown Flood – a landmark in American history, as well as in folklore – on May 31, the Johnstown Flood Museum and the Johnstown Flood Centen­nial Committee will coordinate special activities and events throughout the summer. The programs will be clustered around Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.

On Wednesday, May 31 [1989], the actual date of the 1889 catastro­phe (see “A One Night Stand to Remember – Or to Forget” by John L. Marsh in the spring 1989 is­sue), the new Johnstown Flood Museum and the new visitors center at the Johns­town Flood National Memorial will be dedicated. The Johns­town Flood Museum, which chronicles the story of the flood as it occurred in the community, is housed in the former Cambria Library, built with funds given by industrial­ist Andrew Carnegie following the tragedy. The Johnstown Flood National Memorial is located on the site of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club (of which Carnegie was a member); it was the dam at the club which collapsed, deluging Johnstown with a wall of water, towering fifty to sixty feet high.

Throughout the spring, and preceding the centennial ob­servances, a number of lec­tures and programs will be offered in Johnstown. On Thursday, March 16 [1989], Dr. Rob­ert J. Hunter, professor emeri­tus at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, will give a talk entitled “Daniel J. Morrell: Businessman, Iron­master and Civic Leader” as part of the community’s Heritage Lecture Series. Morrell, an often overlooked but key figure in the development of the area’s iron and steel indus­try, steered the Cambria Iron Company from a small com­pany to one of the leading corporations in the country. Architect Benjamin Policicchio will discuss “The Historic Aspects of Johnstown’s Archi­tecture” on Thursday, April 13 [1989]. His presentation will empha­size Johnstown’s architecture as it developed from the early nineteenth century to the present. “Johnstown: Its In­fluence on the Human Spirit” will be delivered on Thursday, April 27 [1989], by former Johnstown resident Michael Novak, au­thor and diplomat who cur­rently holds the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Reli­gion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. The speaker will discuss the 1889 Johnstown Flood, as it repre­sented the sort of adversity that many Johnstown resi­dents grew up expecting in life. The lectures, beginning at 8 P.M., will be given in the Lee Hospital Auditorium (former Embassy Theatre), 320 Main Street.

Johnstown’s Pennwood Players will open its perform­ances of A Night Off, the nine­teenth century comedy by Augustin Daly that was per­formed in the community the evening before the tragic flood, on Friday, May 27 [1989]. On Friday, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra will also officially open the Johnstown Flood Centennial Commemoration with a varied program, the highlight of which will be the premier of a special selection on the 1889 catastrophe espe­cially commissioned for the anniversary commemoration.

The title of the six month long commemoration is “A Triumph of the Human Spirit.” For additional details, write: Johnstown Flood Centennial Commemoration, Johnstown Flood Museum, 304 Washing­ton St., Johnstown, PA 15901; or telephone (814) 539-1889.