Coalport Area Coal Museum
961 Forest Street
PO Box 248
Coalport, PA 16627
(814) 790-0984  ​(voice or text)
snyder.richard333@gmail.com (email)
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Visit Us:
Sundays-- 1:00 to 5:00 PM
Thursdays -- 1:00 to 5:00 PM
(*Contact us for a tour or special request)

COALPORT MUSEUM COMMISSION PLANS FOR 2023
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(COALPORT) – At the October 25th meeting of the Coalport Museum Commission, President Bob Counsman talked about the Commission being totally dependent on an ALL-volunteer group of individuals to keep the Coalport Area Coal Museum open—didn’t start back up again until March of 2022.  This year, with the Coalport Center for Active Living now residing next door in the Coalport Community Building, it keeps the building accessible and warm enough daily throughout the winter -- thus allowing the coal museum to also be open earlier in 2023.   The museum will be closing for the mid-winter hiatus on November 20, 2022, and are now planning to tentatively reopen as early as Sunday, January 15, 2023.  Counsman asked the attendees to look at the calendar to see which of the two days—Thursdays or Sundays—the museum is operational they would like to come in from 1:00 to 5:00 PM.  Counsman plans to reach out to our dedicated group of volunteers to see which days they might be able to fill in, announcing to the community there’s a critical need for more volunteers to keep us open.  The 2023 meeting dates in of the museum commission will be on Tuesdays at 7:00 PM in the Senior Center room on:  January 24, April 25, August 29 and October 24, 2023.
 
The board members had an opportunities to view the latest CCTP Grant-purchased items:  updated coal museum brochures, hundreds of fold-over notecards with (4) ink-drawn designs completed in 1999 by area artists with historic scenes of Coalport and mining operations,  and postcards with the same identical illustrations.  These advertisement items will be all utilized to increase awareness of the Coalport Area Coal Museum.  These items will be for sale for the following prices:  4-pack of museum notecards for $5.00 and $1.00 for each of the four illustrated postcards (made of heavy cardstock).
 
Curator Richard W. Snyder II announced that with a new influx of 274 obituaries, the total collection of all local obituaries has swollen to an amazing 8,393 total.  After the 2-volume alphabetized index is completed, it will be digitized for faster search on the museum's two computers—and also printed for museum notebooks.  Pages will be updated with the new obits very soon.
 
A new display of pipe machinery was just installed by John Kucharcik and  Bob Counsman, who discussed the purpose of pipes in a typical coal mine to help remove excess water.  In addition, he showed a new moveable display of medical supplies from the past (donated by Faith and David Hegarty) that he created using a wooden box with glass cover. 
 
In other news, the commission board:
  • received a $100 contribution from visitor Lyn Beroth of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, who was amazed at the reference room material.
  • was donated an original Coalport-Irvona High School Class of 1938 graduation program and class pennant from Brian Stacey of Altoona.
  • received a donation an original 1957 calendar with an advertisement of Hugh McNulty’s Hardware from board member Trina Troxell Corson.
  • learned that new LED lights in the vestibule and in the tracklights were purchased by secretary Rita Hahn and installed by Counsman and Kucharcik.
  • heard from Hahn about the acquisition of mailboxes being placed at the Coalport Community Building, which means the new Coalport Area Coal Museum mailing address will be 961 Forest Street, Coalport, PA 16627.
  • Viewed an original “statement of land sale” document dated July 1864 between Joseph Hegarty and Thomas Cowan written by attorney H.B. Swoope of Coalport – from the estate of Bob Robeson.
The next meeting of the Coalport Area Museum Commission is set for Tuesday, January 24, 2023, at the Senior Citizen’s Center in the community building at 961 Forest Street, Coalport beginning at 7:00 PM.  All individuals interested in the early days of bituminous coal mining heritage or local ‘Glendale Valley’ genealogy are encouraged to attend.  Bring a friend!

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