College announces archives open house

The archives at Penn State Erie will host an open house at 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 9, in the Archives Room of the John M. Lilley Library, as part of the kickoff of the campus' yearlong 60th anniversary celebration. The archive comprises three permanent collections: the Behrend Family Collection, the Hammermill Paper Co. Collection and the Penn State Erie Collection.

Parking will be available in the Reed Union Building lot.

July 9 also is the arrival day for the two-day visit to the campus by the Penn State Board of Trustees. The Trustees' meeting in Erie is the official start of Penn State Erie's 60th anniversary, which will be celebrated throughout the 2008-09 academic year.

Two years ago, Penn State Erie began an intensive effort to preserve, interpret and display historical objects and documents related to the Behrend family; Hammermill, the paper company the family founded; and Penn State Erie, which was established on the grounds of Ernst and Mary Behrend's estate. The archival project is supported in part by Ernst and Mary's grandsons, Richard H. Sayre of Winchester, Mass., and his brother, William B. Sayre of Williamsburg, Mass.

"Our thanks go to Dick and Bill Sayre, who supported the research, staff and materials needed to prepare this important collection of Erie history and their family’s legacy," said Penn State Erie Chancellor Jack Burke. "It is truly a benefit to have these three collections available to access and draw upon going forward." The Sayres will be in attendance at the open house.

The Behrend Family Collection contains birth certificates, wills, deeds, photographs, scrapbooks, portraits and home movies. Some of the memorabilia relates to the family’s hobbies and extensive travels.

The Hammermill Collection includes business correspondence, family papers, personal letters, annual reports, ledgers, company magazines, advertising posters, tensile strength testers, Army and Navy production awards, and the original Hammermill watermark seals.

"Hammermill's records are a first-person walk through the early part of the last century," Jane Ingold, campus archivist, said. "They touch on the influenza epidemic of 1918, the Mill Creek flood of 1912 and the World War II-era bias against German-Americans. There are files on a number of local organizations that the family was involved with, such as the Erie Playhouse and Hamot Hospital, and records of early efforts to protect Lake Erie from industrial pollution. There’s material of historic significance to a number of audiences."

The Penn State Erie Collection begins with Mary Behrend's 1948 donation of Glenhill Farm, the family’s 400-acre estate, to Penn State. It includes documents associated with the donation, Mary Behrend's correspondence with college administrators, early advisory board minutes, records from the Faculty Women and Wives organization, two dozen scrapbooks, videotapes, oral histories and thousands of photographs.

The archives open house is free to attend, but reservations are appreciated and can be made to the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at (814) 898-6089.

For information, visit http://behrend.psu.edu.