Penn State Behrend Archives Open House
Mary Behrend’s grandsons to attend July 9th event
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| Mary Behrend |
The archives at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will host an open house on Wednesday, July 9, as part of the kick-off of the college’s yearlong 60th anniversary celebration. The archive comprises three permanent collections: the Behrend Family Collection, the Hammermill Paper Company Collection and the Penn State Behrend Collection.
The open house will be held in the Archives Room of the John M. Lilley Library and begins at 3 p.m. Parking will be available in the Reed Union Building lot.
July 9 is also the arrival day for the two-day visit to the college by the Penn State Board of Trustees. The Trustees’ meeting in Erie is the official start of Penn State Behrend’s 60th anniversary, which will be celebrated throughout the 2008-09 academic year.
Two years ago, Penn State Behrend 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 Behrend, 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 Behrend 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, college 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 Behrend 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 Penn State Behrend Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 814-898-6089.
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a comprehensive residential college offering 33 baccalaureate, six associate, four pre-professional and two graduate degree programs with 22 minors to more than 4,400 students. Focused on providing a student-centered environment, Penn State Behrend is the link that connects its students to a major research and land-grant institution on a campus enriched by more than 110 clubs and organizations, 21 NCAA varsity teams and 19 intramural sports.
Penn State Behrend is named as such due to a donation by Mary Behrend, widow of Ernst Behrend, who founded the Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie in 1898. The Behrend family lived on the 400-acre Glenhill Farm, which is the core of the Penn State Behrend campus today.
For more information, visit behrend.psu.edu.