From the 1999 American Association of Museums Guide to Museum Giving, "Supporting America’s museums will help build communities, tell stories of the human experience, bring the wonders of the natural world to all, and provide a rich, educational experience for all generations."

Museums are embassies within their communities with ambassadors that greet all visitors who enter their doors. Museums are an integral part of their communities. They become effective forces and resources not only on the historical and educational level but also on intellectual, cultural, environmental, aesthetic, and economic levels.

A recent American Association of Museums survey has shown that 87 % of Americans trust museums more than any other source of information. Books come in second at 61% with broadcast and print media and the Internet lagging far behind in trustworthiness and as sources of objective information. Three themes form the basis for the public's trust. The themes are museums present history, museums are research oriented, and museums deal in facts. The facts that almost evenly divide people on making their decision that museums are trustworthy are because museums present first-hand interaction with past events and history and/or that they offer independent and objective information.

In people's views, after schools, museums and libraries are next among institutions as important educational resources in the education of children. A 1996 survey showed that museums rank in the top three family vacation destinations.

Within the past year, nearly 60% of Americans say they have visited a museum of some kind whether it was art, history, science and technology, zoo, or botanical garden. Tourists who visit museums spend nearly twice as much on their travel as those who do not.

Museums honor the past. If we do not remember our past, then our today and our future will have no meaning or purpose. I believe that Allison-Antrim Museum is honoring Greencastle-Antrim's past, is an excellent resource for the education of our children, and is an ambassador for our community.

With the 34^th triennial Old Home Week upon us, and, also, as having the honor of being featured on the badge, I believe Allison-Antrim Museum will have the opportunity to demonstrate these facts to family and friends, both from out of town as well as from our community. I invite you and your family and friends to visit your museum. There's always something different from the past to see since the last time you visited. Welcome again to Allison-Antrim Museum!

Allison-Antrim Museum will again be sponsoring the very popular Reminiscing Series that was begun during Old Home 1998. The old highline train station, now headquarters for the scouting program, will be hosting the series this Old Home Week. The reason being that AAMI's collection has grown over the past three years so much that we no longer have the space to set up chairs for visitors in the rooms. This also gives AAMI an opportunity to work co-operatively with other non-profit organizations in the community.

We have a wide variety of topics lined up that include the following: Founding of Grove Manufacturing, Growing Up on the Square, Copenhaver and Goetz - Meats and Groceries, Growing Up in Shady Grove, WW II Pilot Experiences, The News Agency, Growing Up in the East End of Town, Growing Up in the West End of Town, Saturday Night on the Square, Growing Up in the North End of Town, Growing Up in the South End of Town, and Remembrances of Coseytown.

The series will be held on three days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday), two hours each day, with four interviews each day. Check the OHW program or our Web site for a complete listing and please plan to stop by for one of the interviews. The train station is wheelchair accessible.

AAMI's downtown window display during OHW will be Greencastle-Antrim area family antique heritage quilts, comforters, and woven coverlets that will be placed in the window of Bob's Florist and Gift Shop on East Baltimore Street. His windows receive no direct sunlight and we thank him very much for allowing us to use his windows.

We will be borrowing some of the same pieces that were on display for the very popular May 2000 Mother's Day open house exhibit.

The 2001-2002 membership letters will go out the beginning of July. AAMI's membership year runs from July 1^st to June 30^th. Please be sure to complete and return the application as soon as possible to help aid in our record keeping. The membership dues are essential for covering the day-to-day operating costs throughout the year.

Allison-Antrim Museum is in the process of establishing a volunteer recognition program. The details have not yet been determined but could include an all-expense paid bus trip or other type of event for those who volunteer their time at AAM. Watch the Annals for further details.

PPA Grant Update

Eight hundred and twenty-one dollars in Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA) grant money was received by AAMI. The ten display panels were ordered and arrived on June 1. Several of the panels were immediately put to use displaying part of Shirley Baker's lace collection. AAMI will share any panels not needed for our own purposes during Old Home Week with the Greencastle Area Arts Council. The GAAC has a Clothesline Hung Art Exhibit scheduled for Special Events Day on Saturday, August 11.

The PPA program is a partnership initiative between local arts organizations and the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, a state agency. State government funding for the arts comes through an annual appropriation by Penna.'s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by Chambersburg Area Council for the Arts.

(Picture to the right) One of the ten 3' x 6' display panels, seen here, was used to exhibit some of the lace aprons for the month of June.

On July 15 the local archaeological group will be opening up a trench near where we think the Irwin's first privy was located (just north of the wheelchair ramp). The site will remain open during Old Home Week providing visitors with a great educational opportunity to see how a dig is conducted and what kinds of artifacts are found. Interesting artifacts from the last dig in 1999 are on display in the dining room.

Three maroon notebooks will be added to the library shelves. The first will contain the most recently updated information with color photographs on the Pennsylvania Governors' Signatures Collection. I would like to extend a personal 'thank you' to AAMI member Gloria Pugliano for editing the text of the "Signatures" notebook.

The second notebook is designated for past monthly exhibit background information and the last will begin a collection of local family genealogy information that has been given to AAMI from various sources.

• A new sidewalk spanning the distance between the garage and St. Mark's Catholic Church sidewalk was installed during May. It is a very positive and aesthetic improvement.
• During the last week of May the Glessner security system at the museum was upgraded. The replacement parts for the system that was already installed when AAMI bought the house are no longer being made. It is increasingly difficult to find parts when something no longer works. Two additional motion detectors were added for increased security. As in the past, Glessner is continuing to donate costs the monitoring and service calls.
• On June 6, three of Mr. Olson's seventh grade classes visited the museum. Frank and Louise Mowen and Jim Thomas were the docents. Marty Zimmerman III, a seventh grader and one of AAMI's docents, took over from Thomas when the class visited the dining room.
• A new air conditioning system was installed on June 25 to accommodate the first-floor level of the museum. There was an existing A/C system for the second floor when the house was bought. Opening and closing the door for visitors during the summer months put a strain on the upstairs unit and it did not help us meet museum standards for constant temperature throughout the house for the preservation of artifacts, textiles, and documents.

The board chose the Space Pak system that is very adaptable to historic houses because of the small diameter ductwork. The diffusers (i.e. registers) are also much smaller than the traditional A/C system registers and are stained to match the floors making them much less obvious in an historic house.

• David Gibney, of Hagerstown, Maryland an architectural restorer, has started the process of restoration of the floors in the museum.
• Ken and Bonnie traveled to Philadelphia to get the 1715 James Logan document after conservation measures were done. It was cleaned and encapsulated in a polyester (Mylar) envelope. Ellen Collins at Howard's Art Supplies placed it in a double-sided acid-free mat for display.
• Seven Pennsylvania Governors' signature paper documents were cleaned, tape removed, and tears repaired by Sue Nash, a paper conservator in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. They were mounted, according to conservation guidelines, on acid-free rag board with rice paper and rice starch paste.

• Another resume was received for a curator's position AAMI - this time from Bulgaria.
• More information was sought on the Henry Beatty and Johnston families of the G-A area. They also planned on visiting the museum sometime in June to see the exquisite lace exhibit.
• From New Jersey, information was requested on the Rankin and McDowell families in the area. They were kind enough to send us the family genealogy information, so far collected, on both the Rankin's and the McDowell's.
• A family that's relocating to this area from South Carolina requested information such as the history, weather, and a map for the Greencastle-Antrim area.

• "The Collector - A Magazine for Autograph and Historical Collectors", January 1940, New York. A gift from Tom Brumbaugh that has an article written by him while in college about his Pennsylvania Governors' signatures collection.
• From Nan Flaherty, two books - "The New Normal Mental Arithmetic" copyrighted 1873 and Swinton's "Fifth Reader and Speaker". Both books are quite interesting and challenging. Be sure to pull them off the library shelf and read through them.
• One pair of painted and decorated wooden bookends handmade by Benjamin Whitmore who taught science, biology, and physics at the original Greencastle High School. A gift from Ethel M. Neal.
• A Pen Mar edition of "The Lady of Winderslee - A Saintly Romance and Other Poems" by George W. Kettman. One of the poems is entitled "Dolly Harris" who was Greencastle's own flag-waving patriot during the Civil War. The book was a gift from William H. Payne.
• In response to our request in the May Annals for gifts or loans of old photographs of Greencastle-Antrim area landmarks, places of business, family homes, etc., AAMI received from Tom Brumbaugh numerous photographs of bridges of the area.

Please don't forget to keep the museum in mind when going through old photo albums.

Thursday, July 5, 2001, noon to 3 p.m. & and Sunday, July 8, 2001, 1 - 4 p.m.: Open Houses - TBA

Thursday, July 12, 2001: Quarterly meeting, Antrim House Restaurant, 6:30 p.m., Ralph Donnelly speaking on "The Mason-Dixon Line". Reservations for dinner are required by Monday, July 9 and may be made by calling Bonnie Shockey at 717.597.9325.

Sunday, July 15, 2001: Digging begins to open a trench in search of archaeological treasures from the Irwin property.

Saturday, August 4, 2001 to Sunday, August 12, 2001: Old Home Week Open Houses, check the OHW program or our Web site (greencastlemuseum.org) for times each day. The exhibit will be Kathleen Grosh's OHW collection of programs and badges dating from 1905 to 1998. Also on permanent exhibit is Philip Baer's grand piano, photographs, pieces of music he composed, and one of this concert jackets.

No monthly meeting is planned for August.

Thursday, September 6, 2001, noon to 3 p.m. & Sunday, September 9, 2001, 1 - 4 p.m.: Open Houses - tea cup and tea strainer exhibit, and on Sunday, a tea party is planned.

Thursday, September 13, 2001: Monthly meeting, 7 p.m., Evangelical Lutheran Church downstairs social room, wheel chair accessible. Ted Alexander will present "Part II of When War Passed This Way".

Thursday, October 11, 2001: Annual Membership Meeting, Antrim House, 6:30 p.m., Shawn Meyers, a Mercersburg attorney, will speak on Frank Feathers and his canes.

...the late 1800's, Masonic, engraved item given to the men who achieve the position of the Grand Commander of the local chapter?

The answer to May's "Have You Seen…" is the size 10 thimble that was unearthed during one of the first archaeological digs in 1999. The end of the thimble was cut out on purpose.