Brockway, PA – The Taylor Memorial Museum will be open during the Old Fashioned Fourth of July celebration in Brockway, and it is looking for both visitors and stories.
The museum is open from 1-5 p.m. on July 3 and 4. As is tradition during the Old Fashioned Fourth, the museum hopes people will come in, see the history of Brockway, and learn about the community.
The museum was founded in 1953. Brockway Area Historical Society’s Fay Trentini said that visitors come looking for ties to the community, and the history preserved in the museum allows them to do so. People come to Brockway for the Fourth who may have grown up there but moved away, and the museum allows them to reconnect with the past. Anyone who has not visited the museum in a few years will find that it recently got a facelift. It also added some new artifacts from the community and expanded its genealogy section to help those researching their connections to Brockway. It is also handicapped accessible now, which is something that was added during renovations in 2018.
The museum is not just looking visitors, however. The historical society is working on a second volume to Lew Reddinger’s The Brockway Story. The Brockway Story covered events from the settling of Brockway in 1822 to the book’s publication. While Reddinger’s book encompasses 164 years, the new volume will seek to fill in the events of the last 36 years.
The Museum’s Bob Tami said that the museum itself houses the history of Brockway, but The Brockway Story summarizes that history. It is important to update both the collection and the summary, which is why the historical society is asking the community to join in gathering the story of Brockway.
The goal of the historical society is to make the process of telling stories as easy as possible for residents. Any events from 1986 to the present can be chronicled, and the volunteers editing the book have multiple ways of incorporating what the community tells them. Stories can be emailed to the museum, or residents can set up a time to dictate the information. The writing will all be edited, and if someone wishes to share a story orally, the recording will only be used to create the typed entry and not shared with the public. Anyone wishing to join in the storytelling can choose to include their names in the entry or remain anonymous.
Anyone who wants more information on telling stories or would like to set up a time to talk to the volunteers can email [email protected] or call 814-265-8519 or 814-265-1906.
The museum is located on Park Street in Brockway, right beside the swimming pool.
Listen to the quote from Fay Trentini from the Brockway Historical Society.
