How Did We Get Here?

Wanting to plan your weekend? The May program listings can help. Wondering which sites are open on Memorial Day? There's help for that, too.

As I may have mentioned once or twice, today (May 15) is the grand reopening for the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum (background info and details are in the official press release). The ribbon-cutting is at 10 am today but the celebration will go on throughout the weekend with music, walks on the sustainable forestry trail, a program about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and much more. Oh, and free admission.

The part of the project that I have been most directly involved in is the new core exhibit, "Challenges and Choices in Pennsylvania's Forests." The new exhibit builds on the research and collections of the original exhibits (focused on the history of lumbering in Pennsylvania and the role of the CCC in reforestation and state parks) and adds other topics, including contemporary efforts to balance recreation, conservation, and economic issues.

In posts earlier this year, curator Lauren Jaeger wrote about freezing textiles, and her colleague Rachel Yerger wrote about vacuuming and housing textiles. Here are a few more behind-the-scenes photos of the museum installation, courtesy of Lauren, Rachel, and regional curator Susan Hanna. I hope this will whet your appetite to see the exhibit for yourselves.

Exhibit walls going up

More walls and lighting

Lots of photo murals!

Info about early settlement in the forests of PA

Getting ready to install a 40 ft band saw blade