Executive Director’s Message

Written by in the From the Executive Director category and the June 1977 issue Topics in this article:
From the Executive Director features news and reflections on the work of PHMC by its chief administrator.

The Pennsylvania Trail of History comes to full life every spring, but in 1977 there also is the signal of the end of a long, hard winter. People seem more than ever to want to get out and enjoy the sights.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission staff is preparing for a heavy visitation as the new season gets underway for the Commission’s various museums and historic properties throughout the Commonwealth.

Something different will be in evidence this season. Visitors to a number of the PHMC cultural properties will see the fruits of a major restoration and capital improvement program either completed or advanced enough to demonstrate how this special work is carried out. Where the visitor’s safety is assured, we welcome his interest as we demonstrate how the agency responds to its preservation responsibilities.

Some of the properties also mark special events in their history this year. For example, Brandywine Battlefield State Park is observing in the fall the 200th anniversary of the Revolutionary battle there on Sept. 11, 1777, with pageantry and other events in cooperation with the Chadds Ford community. Ephrata Cloister, which served as a field hospital for the wounded from that battle, will join in marking the anniversary.

The Pennsylvania Farm Museum, Lancaster, always a pleasant place to while away an hour or even a day, is doing something different this year that offers the possibility of combining a vacation with learning a craft. In cooperation with nearby Franklin and Marshall College, the museum is sponsoring a Residential Early American Crafts Program between June 27 and July 1 [1977]. College dormitories will provide housing.

Join us for what promises to be a most interesting summer in a renewed discovery of our Pennsylvania heritage. For details on the location of museums and historic sites, write to me for a folder: Pennsylvania Trail of History, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, P. O. Box 1026, Harrisburg 17120.

William J. Wewer
Executive Director