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It's time to renew your annual membership! You will receive a notice in the mail, and you may renew by sending a check, by credit card or through our website. You are important to us and memberships help us conduct our mission of preserving and sharing the history of Clinton County.
Mark your calendars for Sept. 14's concert by David Pinelli at the Poorman Gallery. He will be performing original songs about coming of age in Lock Haven during the '60s and '70s. This event is free and begins at 1:30 p.m.
While you have your calendars out, mark Oct. 8 for a Spaghetti Dinner Take-Out-Drive Thru. Tickets are on sale at the Heisey House Museum and from board members. Pick up will be at the Sons and Daughters of Italy, 1 N. Henderson St., Lock Haven, from 5 to 7 p.m. Cost is $10. Proceeds benefit the Clinton County Historical Society.
New to the Collection: an "Old Photo Album" clipping of a detailed photo of a Fallon placemat (See "From the Collection"), over 50 posters advertising traveling circus companies from the 1970s to 1990s.
From the Collection
By Kathy Arndt
Recently, the historical society received donations from Tim Decker, of Flemington, a volunteer who is inputting descriptions of our collection items into the PastPerfect database. Tim has spent his career working as a curator, registrar and other administrative positions for several museums and historical societies in the eastern U.S. Tim's donations included circus posters and the newspaper advertisements for shows that visited Clinton County from the 1950s through the 1990s. In addition to the standard elephants, horses, clowns, acrobats and aerialists, there were several specialized entertainers. Carmen Del Leide -- "Spain's Lovely Goddess of Balanced Flight; Tex Maynard's Rock & Roll Jamboree; Mongo -- the first gorilla on tour in 20 years; and, The Aguilars -- "Europe's Top Stars of Sensational Death Delving Perch Pole Dexterity" were just some of the stars who performed under the big top. The average price for an adult ticket over the years was $1.75.
Tim also donated his father's clippings of "Old Photo Album" pictures and news articles from The Express. Mr. Francis Decker, a trimmer for the New York and Penn Company (later Hammermill) loved circuses, parades, travel, local history, music, family and Marilyn Monroe movies. His photo clippings ranged from the flood of 1889 to the redevelopment of Bellefonte Avenue in 1970. Copies of photos of community life in the county included homes, businesses, churches, schools, musicians, theaters and playgrounds are being added to our subject files at the museum.
On a personal note, one of Mr. Decker's clippings was of an Old Photo Album picture of a Fallon House placemat that had a close connection to my family. Drawn by Eric Sloane probably in the late 1930s, the placemat depicted the lower end of town including the airport, the Piper Aircraft plant and "McElhattan Island." When I read the names on the placemat, I recognized them as being the names of the workers from Bradford who followed Mr. Piper to Lock Haven in 1937 after his plant in McKean County burned. My aunt, Virginia Hungiville, was one of those workers. She worked in sales. Her first name was on the mat twice. Once on the bottom right side and once in a speech balloon for a departing pilot saying that "Virginia got my license."
I then became curious about who Eric Sloane was. The result of that search surprised me as much as the placemat did. Eric Sloane's real name was Everard Jean Hinrichs. As an art student, he, like other students, was advised to change his name so that any early paintings could not damage his reputation in his later career as a painter. He chose Eric from the word "America" and he chose Sloane as his last name as a tribute to his mentor, John French Sloan, a well-known painter who was born in Lock Haven. Eric Sloane was an admired painter and author until his death in 1985 at the age of 80.
I'm looking forward to going through the next 200 clippings. Our thanks to the Decker's for their contribution to our collection.
Please: Pick up after your dog when you walk past the Heisey. Not doing so makes mowing unpleasant!!