Welcome to the premier issue of the Allison-Antrim Museum newsletter.

Our organization, with the help of your generous donations, has finally been able to start moving forward since we received our tax exempt status in the spring.

The Board of Directors and I wish to "thank you" for your support.

What are our goals?

The memberships have come not only from Pennsylvania but also Maryland, Vermont, Oregon and the state of Washington. Our last mailing of membership letters was during the first part of September and each week, to my surprise, we continue to receive new memberships in the mail.

I'd like to challenge each member to bring in one new member in 1998.

In order to purchase and maintain a facility, we need to have sufficient funds in our treasury. General membership donations, alone, will not cover those costs.

A capital campaign will be started after the beginning of the year. At that time we will approach businesses and industries in the Greencastle-Antrim area. This is an endeavor of great magnitude but I believe that together the community of Greencastle-Antrim - its current and former residents, businesses and industries - can make it happen.

Bonnie A. Shockey

On Monday, October 6, 1997, the AAMI board of directors accepted 15 paintings of the well-known Greencastle artist, Walter Washington Smith, from the estate of Nedra Bigosa, Smith's sister.

Joining the board members to receive the paintings were Peggy Lewis, South Jefferson St., Greencastle, niece of Smith and Levester Taylor of Chambersburg, nephew of Smith.

Pearl Anderson, longtime friend of Mrs. Bigosa and executrix of the estate, brought the paintings back to Greencastle from Philadelphia.

Mr. Smith, 1887 - 1950, lived in Greencastle during his early childhood and early adulthood. The paintings are all oil except for one watercolor self-portrait. There are four florals, nine landscapes, one street scene and one self-portrait.

Eight of the landscapes are from places around Greencastle and one depicts his Philadelphia neighborhood and home at 222 West Penn St. in Germantown, PA. The street scene, located on Market Street in center city Philadelphia, is unfinished because Smith never got around to putting in the people's faces.

Among the collection are two of Smith's most famous paintings - Snowing, which he started during the blizzard of 1929 and Love's Walk, Smith's favorite, depicting a scene in Spring Field near where the old creamery and Baptist church used to be located. Snowing has hung on exhibit in Paris, France; St. Louis, MO; and Atlanta, GA.

All the paintings will require cleaning and some will need restoration work when funds become available. AAMI is planning to exhibit the paintings during Old Home Week 1998.

This is what Allison-Antrim Museum, Inc. is all about! - providing a home for the artifacts, treasures, and history of Greencastle-Antrim's past. Many items of historical value to our area have already been "lost" for a variety of reasons. When a suitable property is found, the future of our historical legacy will be secure.

The initiation of our speaker program series has been well received. The July and October quarterly meetings were well attended. October's meeting had 21 members in attendance and six guests.

The two speakers, Ted Alexander and Jack Burns, both had very interesting and informative presentations - Alexander's on Greencastle-Antrim's Roots and Burn's on the Conestoga Wagon Industry. Our gratitude goes to both of them for getting our speaker program off to a great start.

At the October board of directors' meeting, it was voted upon to make the dinner/speaker program a monthly event from September through May with exception of December. Ted Alexander has agreed to chair the program series.

On Thursday, November 13, 1997 at the Antrim House, Martin West, Executive Director of Ft. Ligonier, Ligonier, PA was the program speaker. His topic was on The French and Indian War in Pennsylvania.

A slide program covered the Braddock and Forbes campaigns and contained rare images from the period of warfare and Indians. West discussed the tactics of the opposing forces and the roll of frontier forts including Ft. Loudon and Ft. Ligonier. West also looked at the culture of the Eastern Woodland Indians.

A couple of West's credentials include his position as Executive Director of Ft. Ligonier since 1981 and the appointment as a Commissioner to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission by the U. S. Department of the Interior.

Reservations are not required for those only attending the meeting and presentation.