To The Editor

Dear Editor:

The Cameron County Historical Society is puzzled by the article in last week's paper by Ken Gerg about moving the Little Museum to Emporium. Bringing this dead issue before the community would only seem to serve to create controversy over an idea that the Historical Society cannot possibly take on.

Our officers believe the community deserves to hear our side of the story. The Historical Society became aware of this plan when Mr. Gerg presented it to Rotary. It was at that meeting that it was suggested to Mr. Gerg that he discuss it with the Historical Society.

In a letter dated June 8, Mr. Gerg was invited to present his idea to the Board of Directors. The letter contained 11 groups of questions to which we needed answers in order to make an informed response.

Mr. Gerg presented his idea at the July 20 meeting. He did not supply answers to any of the questions. The questions were important:

--Who would acquire the grants to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to relocate the museum?

--Who would manage this project, including responsiblity for the financial aspects?

--Who would negotiate the acquisition of the land?

--Who would inventory, pack, secure, move, store, move again, unpack and redisplay our 25,000 items?

--Who would write the requests for proposals, manage the bidding process, hire and supervise the contractors?

--What would happen if, in moving the historical building, it would collapse or otherwise be damaged?

--What was the budget for securing the land, preparing the property for the building, preparing the artifacts and building for the move, moving the structure, building the addition, restoring the displays, blacktopping the parking lot, etc?

--How would the museum be staffed after the move?

--Where would the funds for a necessary full-time staff person come from?

--Who would solicit and manage the volunteers?

--Who would be responsible for the security?

--What steps would need to be taken to prevent vandalism and theft?

--Who would be in charge of creating the necessary interest in the project and how would local support be generated?

The Historical Society would have been irresponsible to act on this plan without this information.

In a letter to Mr. Gerg on Aug. 4 , the Board of Directors explained in detail why it could not take on this project. These are only some of the many issues with this plan.

First and foremost is the "right of reverter" clause in the deed to the land and the schoolhouse, presently known as the Little Museum.

The board received a letter from the Lumber Township Supervisors indicating that any hint of moving the Museum from its present location would result in that board asserting its right to reclaim possession of the land and the buildings now owned by the Cameron County Historical Society.

Mr. Gerg's original plan would have left a gaping hole in the ground and an abandoned McNarney room on the site where now sits a Sterling Run landmark of 75 years.

Second, this is a huge project, beyond the capacity of the Historical Society and the present level of participation of its members. There is no indication that the membership would step up to take this on, nor did Mr. Gerg identify a group of people who would. Even if there was a group of people ready to take on this project, it would still mean considerable work for the Board of Directors, none of whom are in a position to take on an additional workload, nor assume the responsibility of this daunting task.

Third, it was the board's opinion that moving the collection would put it in jeopardy, both during the move and once it was in place in Emporium. Much of the collection is one of a kind and valuable. Volunteers "off the street" would not be the appropriate people to inventory, pack, and move the fragile collection -- a project that would take months to accomplish.

After the move, area senior citizens would not be the appropriate people to maintain any level of security at the proposed location if they were overwhelmed by street kids or thieves. The building and the collection could not be adequately secured from vandals or thieves during off hours, as indicated by the level of vandalism and break-ins in Emporium. At its present location, it is out of sight and out of mind of such people.

While board members understood that detailed answers were not possible at this stage, they had at least anticipated that some of the details would have been thought through; that some of the people Mr. Gerg had talked to would have offered to step up and take on parts of the project; and/or funds would have been pledged or at least offered. Apparently, they hadn't, which sent up a red flag for the board. All this and more gave the board no option but to turn down Mr. Gerg's plan.

It may be easy for people who are not familiar with the day-to-day work needed to maintain the Little Museum to declare Mr. Gerg's plan a good idea, but for those who are actually in the trenches doing the work, this plan is utterly overwhelming.

Mr. Gerg's article seems to indicate that the Historical Society is against progress -- nothing could be further from the truth. In the past two years your Historical Society has invested more than $10,000 of its own money in professional landscaping, mowers, exhibit cases, and most recently a new coat of paint. Work is being done to enhance existing exhibits and create new ones. Visitation is up five to ten times what it was four years ago, due to ongoing promotion.

The Little Museum is included in plans for both the Pennsylvania Wilds and Lumber Heritage Region initiatives which should result in increased visitation.

Last year, the Historical Society purchased the Greenwood Street property (again with its own money) that will be turned into a state-ofthe art research library, making the society's vast holdings available to the public for the first time. The organization has received a donation from the Emporium Foundation expects to secure in excess of $100,000 in grants to make this library a reality.

The Society maintains two websites -- one for genealogy ( w w w. r o o t s w e b . c o m / ~pacamero ) that has free access to more than 500 pages of Cameron County historical data. In the past six years that site has received more than 69,000 hits, averaging in excess of 11,000 hits a year. The other site promotes the Little Museum (www.thelittlemuseum.org ). During the past two years, that site has received over 10,000 hits.

In the past three years, more than 130 third-graders have toured the Little Museum. This exposes the children to their history at an impressionable age. The society also participates in the 4th Grade Pennsylvania Days, judging Cameron County related projects and supplying awards to the top entries. There has been a significant increase in Cameron County related projects because of the children's exposure to the museum in the third grade.

This summer, thanks to the members of the Historical Society, the museum has been open Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The extra day has helped increase visitation significantly, resulting in over 500 hours of volunteer time and more than 550 visitors to date with two more months to go.

Your Cameron County Historical Society is very active, healthy (with over 300 members) and financially responsible. The directors take their charge to preserve, protect and share the rich history and heritage of Cameron County very seriously. They trust you will agree with their decision.

Michael S. Wennin

Director Historical Society