State grants help preserve records at Bethlen Home, Heinz History Center
Bethlen Communities’ Heritage Center in Ligonier and the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh have received state grants for preserving and organizing historical records in their possession.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission recently awarded an $11,600 Historical and Archival Records Care grant to Bethlen Home of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America for its Museum and Archives Advancement Project.
Heritage Center staff at the Bethlen Home senior living community will use the money to categorize, catalog, scan and store original documents and photos that relate to early Hungarian-American life.
Directed by an experienced archivist, the project will preserve photos and records of historical value and make them accessible to the public.
The Heinz History Center received a $4,959 historic records grant to reunite the Harper Family Papers, which were donated in 1933, with additional material the family provided in 2017.
The center staff also plan to transcribe a portion of letters received by John Harper from Dorothea Dix concerning the management of Dixmont State Hospital, and to digitize selected correspondence and family photographs. The digitized content will be made available online.
PHMC awarded 16 grants totaling nearly $110,000. They ranged from $1,500 awarded to the Erie County Public Library, to digitize handwritten biographical sketches of Erie County Civil War veterans, to $15,000 awarded to Cumberland County, to enhance the accountability, accessibility and preservation of approximately 5,000 papers documenting proceedings of the county’s colonial civil court.
Competitive historic records grants fund projects designed to improve the preservation and accessibility of historically significant records maintained by local governments, historical societies and academic institutions.
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.
Jeff Himler is a TribLive reporter covering Greater Latrobe, Ligonier Valley, Mt. Pleasant Area and Derry Area school districts and their communities. He also reports on transportation issues. A journalist for more than three decades, he enjoys delving into local history. He can be reached at jhimler@triblive.com.
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