|
May 2002, Volume 5,
Issue 3 From
the President's Desk Part of
Allison-Antrim Museum’s mission statement says, “Allison-Antrim Museum
will serve as an educational resource and develop partnerships for and
with the Greencastle-Antrim School District and other educational
institutions enhancing the study of local and regional history.” It’s very
important that a connection is established with the Greencastle-Antrim
students of today, because tomorrow they will be the curators of our local
history and Allison-Antrim Museum. Since
opening in August 1998, AAMI has worked with individual elementary and
middle school teachers on projects and opened the museum for tours for
their students. Each time AAMI
connects with the students of Greencastle-Antrim, we work toward
fulfilling an important part of the mission statement.
By times,
it has seemed, to me, as though AAMI is moving at a snail’s pace in
connecting with more teachers who may be able to take advantage of what
the museum has to offer. Working
on a daily basis with the museum, I wonder how anyone cannot yet know that
Greencastle-Antrim has a museum. It seems like it’s always time to put
the newsletter together and write the press releases for the monthly
meetings and the open house exhibits. Many families do not buy newspapers
and do not, therefore, have the opportunity to read the notices. I’ve
learned that the only way to overcome this problem is to have patience -
word-of-mouth is the second best advertisement.
Eventually, the phone will start ringing. AAMI was
invited, in March, by the Greencastle-Antrim High School to sit in on a
brainstorming and planning session to help create a new, comprehensive
local history curriculum for students in grades 6 – 12. AAMI director,
Jim Thomas represented the museum. Mrs. Jamie
Shirk, GAHS teacher, was the catalyst behind the idea. Having been born
and raised in Shippensburg, she very much appreciates the local history of
her own hometown. Because of
the value she places on knowing one’s roots, she wants every student who
graduates from the GASD to learn about and understand the history of
Greencastle-Antrim. As a
partner in this endeavor, AAMI will be an educational resource for
Greencastle-Antrim’s local history and will open its doors for tours
allowing the students access to the museum during the school day. I have
also agreed to be a presenter during teacher in-service training to better
familiarize the faculty with AAMI, its mission and goals, and to teach
them a little bit about the history of Greencastle-Antrim. Two years ago in the May 2000 issue of the Annals,
I asked, “How does our yesterday connect with our today and our
tomorrow?” The true connection is the story that each artifact
and archive has to share with those who cross our threshold. The phone
rang two more times. The last
full week in April was “Local History Week” for the GA third grade and
middle school students. Field
trips (walking and bus) were made throughout the week to various historic
sites in Greencastle-Antrim. Mrs. Terry Young, a native of
Greencastle-Antrim and a GAMS history teacher, made arrangements for the
seventh graders to do walk-through tours of the museum on April 26.
Mrs. Young has, for all of her teaching career, included local
history as part of her curriculum for her students.
She has used, as the basis, Conococheague, A History of the
Greencastle-Antrim Community 1736-1971, written by the late William P.
Conrad specifically for the purpose of educating GA students. Unfortunately,
the third call came on too short a notice to be able to accommodate the
third graders. As an
alternative, I suggested they take virtual tours of Allison-Antrim Museum
via our Web site during their computer classes.
I hope it was successful and unique enough to pique their interest
in an actual visit with their parents. Whether it
was via the walk-through or virtual tour, I hope that each visitor looked
differently at our yesterday, and in some way, it will change how they
think about our tomorrow. Hopefully, each person, young or old, found a
connection and said, “Wow, I never thought about that,” about just one
thing that they saw in the museum on their visit. I will conclude again with the last paragraph in my letter from the March Annals. It is my belief that if the members of the Greencastle-Antrim community share in taking an active part in Allison-Antrim Museum's 'process of history', they will feel and claim more ownership for what it is - their museum, and I’ll add – their heritage. Resident
Genealogist One morning
in mid April, my phone rang at home. It was serendipity again. Bonnie
Bingaman, Greencastle, was doing genealogy research for a gentleman in the
mid-west who is looking for information on his Snively ancestors. And,
“Oh by the way, do you have any information on the other side of my
family descended from Alexander L. Irwin?”
Bonnie and
I spent a couple hours that afternoon exchanging information on the Irwin
family. Out of Irwin’s eight
children, we only know of one, Jane Elizabeth Grace(y) Irwin, who married
and had children of her own. Jane
married Scott Kennedy Snively and moved west.
This is very exciting news and I will keep you informed of the
details. AAMI
receives many genealogy inquiries. Ken and I do a search in the few books
we have available, and then direct the people to the other area historical
organizations which have more extensive genealogy resources.
We would like to provide better service through AAMI. Out of this
chance meeting, the AAMI board asked Bonnie Bingaman if she’d be
AAMI’s resident genealogist. She
consented. Bonnie has been
doing genealogy work for some time and, along with a partner, has
established a business, Conococheague Connections.
Bonnie can be reached at 717.597.9080 or at bmbing@onedomain.com.
If you’ve reached a dead end in your genealogy research or do not
have the time to pursue other genealogy avenues, we hope you’ll consider
calling Bonnie and hiring her. Open
Houses May and
June: “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something
Blue, and a Sixpence in Her Shoe.” Antique wedding dresses will be the
featured exhibit for the May open houses on Mother’s Day, May 12, 1 –
4 p.m. and Thursday, May 16, noon – 3 p.m..
Rebecca
Manifold, Greencastle-Antrim Elementary Art teacher and well-known local
authority on vintage clothing, will have seven to eight period wedding
gowns from her collection on exhibit.
The earliest is dated c. 1834. Vintage bridal accessories from
Manifold’s collection, including a veil, floral coronets, wax flowers,
and shoes, will also be on exhibit. Manifold,
since the early 1980's has been a volunteer, supporter, and exhibiter at Shippensburg University Fashion Archives
and is a member of the SUFA Board of Directors.
A number of dresses from her private collection have been exhibited
at the Fashion Archives and AAMI is honored to have the wedding dresses in
her collection on exhibit during May and June. Five
wedding gowns from the Greencastle-Antrim area, including two from
AAMI’s collection and three on loan from AAMI members Nancy Pensinger,
Janet and Harry Meyers, and Jean Zimmerman, will enhance the exhibit.
Accompanying
the ladies’ dresses from the museum’s collection will be two wedding
tails, 1901 and 1909. The
tails belonged to Walter Reed Sloan, father of Tillie Wine, and the other
tails belonged to Chalmers Omwake. Mr. Omwake’s wedding tails will be
along side Miss Snively’s wedding dress as they were 101 years ago.
The tails were gifts from Tillie Wine and Robert and Jean Reymer. The second
wedding dress in the museum’s collection belonged to Elsie Gump who
married Weimer Bert, great aunt and uncle of Grace Bert Cannon and Charles
White. The dress was a gift from Cannon and White. From
Becky's collection, the ‘something blue’ is a c. 1885 - 1887 blue
silk faille wedding gown that was worn by a Pennsylvania Lieutenant
Governor’s wife, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The
‘something new’ will be the wedding gown of Victoria Beard Johnson who
wed Carl Johnson on August 18, 2001. Vicki is the daughter of AAMI members
Ed and Pat Beard. Bonnie will
be wearing the wedding dress of Barry Thomas’ maternal grandmother, Mary
Fringer Crouse, married February 23, 1911. And,
“…a sixpence in her shoe.” was for luck. This
exhibit will also extend through June. Calendar of Events Thursday, May 9, 7 p.m., Monthly
Meeting, Evangelical Lutheran Church: Sunday, Mother’s Day, May 12, 1 -
4 p.m. and Thursday, May 16, noon - 3 p.m.: Thursday, June 6, noon - 3 p.m. and
Sunday, June 9, 1 - 4 p.m.: Thursday, June 13, 7 p.m.,
Evangelical Lutheran Church: Sunday, July 14, 1 – 4 p.m. and
Thursday, July 18, noon – 3 p.m.: Have You
Seen… …and
visited the necessary? The answer
to March’s “Have you seen…” is the ceramic creamware cup in the
glass display case in the dining room. Its design
is hand-painted polychrome, stylized floral sprigs with heart
"flowers", ca. 1750 – ca. 1770 (before handles were attached).
It is the cup portion of a cup and deep saucer.
It was a German custom to pour the drink into the cup and then into
the deep saucer. The person then drank the liquid from the saucer. What’s
Been Happening ·
AAMI director, Shirley Baker attended both the Penn
Ambassador program in Harrisburg on March 10 and 11 and represented AAMI
at the statewide museum conference in York on April 28. Allison-Antrim
Museum thanks State Representative Patrick Fleagle for the opportunity for
both Shirley and me to attend the Penn Ambassador program through
nomination of our names. ·
Did you know that Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania?
A woman who works at the state-run site, Daniel Boone Homestead,
found our Web site and called to set up an appointment for a tour.
She occasionally takes her children on trips around Pennsylvania to
visit historic and other places of interest. She and her daughter arrived
on a Thursday afternoon and found the museum interesting along with the
local history. While
showing her the four Pennsylvania governors’ signatures on display in
the case, I was impressed that she knew who James Logan was.
Except for Pennsylvanians who have lived in the Philadelphia area
or students of Pennsylvania government, not many people know who James
Logan was. During our
conversation, she told me of a book, Hannah Penn and the Proprietorship
of Pennsylvania, written by Sophie Hutchinson Drinker, 1958.
The
book includes transcripts of 58 of 115 manuscripts written by Hannah Penn
and parts of letters written in response from James Logan and others.
This book tells of the love story of William and Hannah Penn and
the extraordinary relationship they had with James Logan. Thinking
it nearly impossible to locate a copy of such a seemingly obscure book
written 44 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised when I located a $20 copy
of the book for the museum at a used-book Web site, www.bookfinder.com.
The book report will follow later. Recent
Acquisitions ·
Four Foster Gray watercolor prints: Martin’s Mill Covered
Bridge; Jefferson Street Railroad Station; North Carlisle Street,
Greencastle; and Tayamentasachta Environmental Center Five 13” x 20” framed Grove Manufacturing crane Three
miscellaneous framed pieces: pictures of early Grove cranes (about #3 and
#4); truck cranes loading rubbish compactor on a railroad car; newspaper
article on Page Armel and scale model of crane
Gifts from John L. and Cora I. Grove ·
Two-piece wedding dress of Nellie Snively Omwake; one book
– “The Omwakes of Indian Spring Farm”, 1926; silver, heart-shaped
bookmark engraved “Nellie”; photographs of the Omwake house and
gardens in Shady Grove.
·
The wedding tails of Chalmers Omwake who married Nellie
Snively of Shady Grove. Mr.
Omwake was co-founder of Omwake and Oliver, one of the predecessors of
today’s Antrim Builders.
·
Newspaper article with an account of the skirmish on June
22, 1863 just north of Greencastle during which Corporal Rihl was killed
and two black and white photographs of the monument. A
typed transcription of the diary of Charles Hartman which chronicles his
early life, names of his parents and siblings, and his arrival in
Greencastle in March 1824, various mention of specific people in town,
happenings, and written accounts of Greencastle during the Civil War.
A member of the German Reformed Church, he gives details on
ministers, congregational members, and the building of the new brick
church.
Gifts from Tom Brumbaugh, a relative of Hartman. Web
Site Inquiries ·
Does anyone remember what the original phone number of Site
A was, that is, before the seven-digit phone number system was
established? If you know,
please call 597.9010 or leave a message. ·
A fourth grade student from Levittown, PA utilized the
historic information on AAMI’s Web site about the Ulster Scots
(Scot-Irish) for a school research project. ·
A descendant of Dr. Franklin A. Bushey, Greencastle, contacted us.
He has a number of family artifacts and archival pieces that might
be shown in a special exhibit in the future. Phone
Inquiries ·
Someone from Virginia was seeking information on an
authentic WWII nurses uniform. |
