The Cameron County Historical Society Celebrates 100 Years!
In recent years, members of the Cameron County Historical Society have been working to plan a year long celebration in honor of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the organization’s founding.
The Historical Society was officially established on February 12, 1921, at the Cameron County Courthouse after a group of local individuals decided that the history of the community should be preserved. One hundred years after the board was established and the first meeting was held, society members are still preserving the ongoing history of the community and its residents, and making it available to the public.
One hundred years is an impressive amount of time for a non-profit, volunteer-run organization to remain up and running within a community. Current members are excited to celebrate this achievement in a way that helps share some of the history and information about this community’s past with residents.
The Historical Society’s first event of the year will be a window display set up at the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and Artisan Center in Emporium. The window display will be unveiled in February, and will portray each of the founding board members and how they created history in their own lives. Their foresight was the root of the Historical Society’s beginnings, and moved the community toward larger preservation efforts that are being undertaken today.
Each month, a different, newly-themed display will be set up in the Chamber window, to include vintage businesses, local schools, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Historic Bus Tour planned for July, and the creator of the Little Museum in Sterling Run, Mamie Bowser.
There will be a monthly contest where an artifact from the museum is placed with a sign that reads, “What Is This?” To make a guess, go into the Chamber and record your vote along with your name, address and telephone number. At the end of each month, a winner will be randomly selected from the correct answers and they will win a $10 gift certificate from the Cameron County Historical Society.
Once the Covid restrictions have been lifted and safety concerns have eased, a number of festivities have been planned within the community, including a Kickoff Celebration, unveiling of the Sylvania Pennsylvania Museum Commission (PMC) Historical Marker at the Sylvania Club, a “Night at the Museum” to include burial of a time capsule, unveiling of a commemorative plaque honoring Mamie Bowser, and the Weekend in the Wilds Historical Bus Tour, a Vintage Sale at the Little Museum.
Additional activities are being planned to launch in the fall, like the Community Historic Table Talks that will involve community members.
“Our plans are tremendous and give us a golden opportunity to share within our community what we have accomplished by holding a year-long historical and educational awakening of our past,” said member Susan Hoy.
Members are working to create several new publications for release during the Centennial Year Celebration.
Expected to be completed this year are a Historical Activity Book, a Historical Tour of Cameron County publication, and a book on the History of Sylvania.
In addition to the new books based on local history, artist Bernie Oswald is hand-painting replicas of historic buildings in Cameron County that will be placed for sale in the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and Artisan Center in the near future.
Over the next few months, look for information in the newspaper on upcoming events and historical information that will be published on the Cameron County Historical Society’s first Board of Directors.
This is absolutely wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteGreat article. I think the "established date" in the third sentence should be 1921, not 2021.
ReplyDelete