Even in 2020, new documents, both in my family history and at work have been discovered.
I am here to share some new family historical documents.
. . .
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Sunday, December 13, 2020
A Story of Newly Discovered Historical Family Documents
One of the things that excite me, personally and professionally, is discovering and bringing to light new historical documents.
Even in 2020, new documents, both in my family history and at work have been discovered.
I am here to share some new family historical documents.
Even in 2020, new documents, both in my family history and at work have been discovered.
I am here to share some new family historical documents.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Niagara Falls Through the Generations Story
Are there tourist destinations that generations of your family have visited?
For my family, it is Niagara Falls.
As an archivist who specializes in ‘reading’ photographs, I like to take in the details of photos.
For photos taken at Niagara Falls, that detail is the distinctive ornamental design of the wrought iron railing along the parapet walls.
According to the Niagara Parks Commission, the first section of this wall was begun in 1904 and completed in 1923. It was extended to other sections in the 1930s.
The ornamentation of the wrought iron may have been the work of blacksmith Frederick James Flatman (1876-1957), who worked for the Commission in the 1930s and 1940s.
The accompanying slideshow depicts 4 generations of my family visiting Niagara Falls from 1948 through 2000, and all with the same railing detail in the background. Postcards and photographs in the collections of the City of Niagara Falls Museums also include this same railing detail.
For my family, it is Niagara Falls.
As an archivist who specializes in ‘reading’ photographs, I like to take in the details of photos.
For photos taken at Niagara Falls, that detail is the distinctive ornamental design of the wrought iron railing along the parapet walls.
According to the Niagara Parks Commission, the first section of this wall was begun in 1904 and completed in 1923. It was extended to other sections in the 1930s.
The ornamentation of the wrought iron may have been the work of blacksmith Frederick James Flatman (1876-1957), who worked for the Commission in the 1930s and 1940s.
The accompanying slideshow depicts 4 generations of my family visiting Niagara Falls from 1948 through 2000, and all with the same railing detail in the background. Postcards and photographs in the collections of the City of Niagara Falls Museums also include this same railing detail.
Monday, October 12, 2020
The Oil Spill Summer and the Beginnings of My Environmental Awakening
My “Up at The River” Story described my time during the mid-1970s to mid-1980s at my maternal grandparent's house along the upper end of the Felix Dam recreation pool of the Schuylkill River, Muhlenberg Township, Berks County, where they had built a house in 1967-1968.
In that story, I wrote that "in July 1980, somewhere along the Schuylkill River, significantly upriver from the Ernesto’s, there was a major industrial oil spill, which covered the Felix Dam recreational area pool in black and ending that summer’s activity in the river.”
I had one fact incorrect. The oil spill likely occurred no more than 2 miles upriver from my grandparent's house, from an industrial plant. As a July 26, 1980, Reading Eagle photo caption of me and my brother describes, the spill came from a Reading Industries, Inc. plant in Ontelaunee Township, along the Pottsville Pike (Rt. 61). Reading Industries was a refiner of copper scrap and a manufacturer of copper tubing and had multiple plants in Berks County. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1981 and was acquired in 1982 by new ownership.
Here is the rest of that portion of the story.
For the remainder of that summer, we relied on a baby pool and hoses to have water fun!
As a kid, I was never concerned about water quality in the river I was swimming in; until the summer of 1980. At the age of 13, the oil spill began to awaken my environmental consciousness. During my 8th grade school year of 1980-1981, I entered the school’s science fair regarding the oil spill. There once was a family photo of the poster board I entered, which, unfortunately, has been lost for many years.
As I described in the “Up at The River” Story: “The river’s water quality seemed to decrease during the 1980s, after the oil spill. We still swam in it; a lot during the early 1980s. But, increasingly, especially during the mid-1980s, you would see groups of white bubbles with loose brown ‘stuff’ underneath them floating down the river, spanning the entire width of it. Sometimes, we would be in the river, and splash the stuff floating toward us away. We did not think it was sewage, but it baffled us: what was it and where did it come from?”
I attended a liberal arts college which required 1 full year of a science course. To meet that requirement, during my freshman year, I took an environmental science class. College chemistry, physics, or biology did not appeal to me and just seemed too hard. In the end, it was one of the better class choices I made.
The course was taught by Professor Candie Wilderman, who founded Dickinson College’s Environmental Studies Department/Program in 1981. There was extensive fieldwork during the course. We gathered water samples from local area streams and brooks and tested them back in the lab. We wrote field notes in our K&E issued yellow covered field notebooks. We visited a farm that produced electricity using trapped methane gas from cow manure; likely an innovation for the mid-1980s. We visited a trash landfill.
I fully enjoyed it, and still apply some basic science knowledge from this class as an archivist today, especially regarding watersheds.
Taking this class also sparked a general interest in trying to discover the root cause of the pollution floating down the river. My grandfather was semi-active in an organization called the Schuylkill River Greenway Association, and likely a member. The SRGA was founded in 1974 (incorporated in 1977), and until 2003, had its offices in Berks County. In the early 1980s, he had an SRGA newsletter, and I possibly recall that he also had a letter from them regarding a water quality test for that portion of the river, and he even possibly may have introduced me to someone regarding my water quality concern.
I even hatched a plan in my head that I would row my grandparent’s canoe upriver until I found the source of the pollution, have it tested, bring the wrongful party to justice, and restore the water quality of the river. I never actually went through it.
However, I do recall that through my studies and conversations, one theory developed around the potential of high levels of phosphates (from detergents?) as a potential cause of the white bubbles; and the brown stuff being excessive algae due to the phosphates. I am not a scientist and these theories were discussed while I was a young adult.
The decrease in the Schuylkill River’s water quality during the early 1980s likely had some role in my grandparent’s decision to install an in-ground pool in fall 1985, overlooking the river. Beginning in the summer of 1986, the pool would become the extended family's summer recreational gathering spot, rather than the river. From then on, we only used the river for boating, which, by the late 1980s, was a pontoon boat, rather than a speed boat. The traditional seasonal docks were no longer installed by the late 1980s.
While I am not an environmental activist, I have been concerned with environmental issues throughout my adult life. As an archivist and historian for a state forests and parks agency and a state metropolitan region water supply system, environmental records and issues surround my professional work.
In that story, I wrote that "in July 1980, somewhere along the Schuylkill River, significantly upriver from the Ernesto’s, there was a major industrial oil spill, which covered the Felix Dam recreational area pool in black and ending that summer’s activity in the river.”
I had one fact incorrect. The oil spill likely occurred no more than 2 miles upriver from my grandparent's house, from an industrial plant. As a July 26, 1980, Reading Eagle photo caption of me and my brother describes, the spill came from a Reading Industries, Inc. plant in Ontelaunee Township, along the Pottsville Pike (Rt. 61). Reading Industries was a refiner of copper scrap and a manufacturer of copper tubing and had multiple plants in Berks County. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1981 and was acquired in 1982 by new ownership.
Here is the rest of that portion of the story.
For the remainder of that summer, we relied on a baby pool and hoses to have water fun!
As a kid, I was never concerned about water quality in the river I was swimming in; until the summer of 1980. At the age of 13, the oil spill began to awaken my environmental consciousness. During my 8th grade school year of 1980-1981, I entered the school’s science fair regarding the oil spill. There once was a family photo of the poster board I entered, which, unfortunately, has been lost for many years.
As I described in the “Up at The River” Story: “The river’s water quality seemed to decrease during the 1980s, after the oil spill. We still swam in it; a lot during the early 1980s. But, increasingly, especially during the mid-1980s, you would see groups of white bubbles with loose brown ‘stuff’ underneath them floating down the river, spanning the entire width of it. Sometimes, we would be in the river, and splash the stuff floating toward us away. We did not think it was sewage, but it baffled us: what was it and where did it come from?”
I attended a liberal arts college which required 1 full year of a science course. To meet that requirement, during my freshman year, I took an environmental science class. College chemistry, physics, or biology did not appeal to me and just seemed too hard. In the end, it was one of the better class choices I made.
The course was taught by Professor Candie Wilderman, who founded Dickinson College’s Environmental Studies Department/Program in 1981. There was extensive fieldwork during the course. We gathered water samples from local area streams and brooks and tested them back in the lab. We wrote field notes in our K&E issued yellow covered field notebooks. We visited a farm that produced electricity using trapped methane gas from cow manure; likely an innovation for the mid-1980s. We visited a trash landfill.
I fully enjoyed it, and still apply some basic science knowledge from this class as an archivist today, especially regarding watersheds.
Taking this class also sparked a general interest in trying to discover the root cause of the pollution floating down the river. My grandfather was semi-active in an organization called the Schuylkill River Greenway Association, and likely a member. The SRGA was founded in 1974 (incorporated in 1977), and until 2003, had its offices in Berks County. In the early 1980s, he had an SRGA newsletter, and I possibly recall that he also had a letter from them regarding a water quality test for that portion of the river, and he even possibly may have introduced me to someone regarding my water quality concern.
I even hatched a plan in my head that I would row my grandparent’s canoe upriver until I found the source of the pollution, have it tested, bring the wrongful party to justice, and restore the water quality of the river. I never actually went through it.
However, I do recall that through my studies and conversations, one theory developed around the potential of high levels of phosphates (from detergents?) as a potential cause of the white bubbles; and the brown stuff being excessive algae due to the phosphates. I am not a scientist and these theories were discussed while I was a young adult.
The decrease in the Schuylkill River’s water quality during the early 1980s likely had some role in my grandparent’s decision to install an in-ground pool in fall 1985, overlooking the river. Beginning in the summer of 1986, the pool would become the extended family's summer recreational gathering spot, rather than the river. From then on, we only used the river for boating, which, by the late 1980s, was a pontoon boat, rather than a speed boat. The traditional seasonal docks were no longer installed by the late 1980s.
While I am not an environmental activist, I have been concerned with environmental issues throughout my adult life. As an archivist and historian for a state forests and parks agency and a state metropolitan region water supply system, environmental records and issues surround my professional work.
It has been fascinating to learn about and talk to co-workers about forests and trees, and their pests; watershed management for a water supply system; the water quality of drinking water, of rivers and brooks, lakes and ponds, and beaches; and the value of open space.
© Sean M. Fisher, 2020
Oil Spill Summer Story Slideshow
© Sean M. Fisher, 2020
Oil Spill Summer Story Slideshow
Resources
The 1982 acquisition of Reading Industries is told in two articles by one of the buyers, Mark Furstenburg.
Mark Furstenburg, “One Man's Mission: To Save the Soul of an Old Machine,” Washington Post, July 10, 1983
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1983/07/10/one-mans-mission-to-save-the-soul-of-an-old-machine/ae45d9ea-a242-4473-858b-bf17529ff775/
Mark Furstenburg, “In Search of Survival,” Inc. Magazine (January 1, 1984)
https://www.inc.com/magazine/19840101/3965.html
“It was November 15, 1982, when Reading Industries became ours. Suddenly, I owned more than 20% of a company with three plants, 420 employees, a company that refined copper from scrap, extruded it, and finished it, a company that produced about 12% of the water tube made in America and had revenues of about $85 million a year.”
The 1982 acquisition of Reading Industries is told in two articles by one of the buyers, Mark Furstenburg.
Mark Furstenburg, “One Man's Mission: To Save the Soul of an Old Machine,” Washington Post, July 10, 1983
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1983/07/10/one-mans-mission-to-save-the-soul-of-an-old-machine/ae45d9ea-a242-4473-858b-bf17529ff775/
Mark Furstenburg, “In Search of Survival,” Inc. Magazine (January 1, 1984)
https://www.inc.com/magazine/19840101/3965.html
“It was November 15, 1982, when Reading Industries became ours. Suddenly, I owned more than 20% of a company with three plants, 420 employees, a company that refined copper from scrap, extruded it, and finished it, a company that produced about 12% of the water tube made in America and had revenues of about $85 million a year.”
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Racing Models Up at The River Story
Reading, Pennsylvania was once home to a well-known race car track called the Reading Fairgrounds, located in Muhlenberg Township, just over the northern end of the Reading city line.
It was a ½-mile oval dirt racetrack that hosted races from 1924 to 1979. Beginning in 1955, weekly races were held for the next 25 years.
One of our hobbies, inspired by our older cousin, was to buy car model kits and transform them into our favorite cars/drivers from the Reading Fairgrounds.
It was a ½-mile oval dirt racetrack that hosted races from 1924 to 1979. Beginning in 1955, weekly races were held for the next 25 years.
One of our hobbies, inspired by our older cousin, was to buy car model kits and transform them into our favorite cars/drivers from the Reading Fairgrounds.
Read the Story and see the associated Slideshow.
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Update No. 1 to "Up at The River" Story
Based on the release of “Up at The River” story, some new historical facts have come to my attention. These mostly pertain to the Dietrich period of ownership of Willow Bank Farm, off of Stoudt’s Ferry Bridge Road; and to a 1971 proposed subdivision development behind my grandparent’s house.
The Dietrich update is fascinating because 1964 plans have been found that document the laying out of building lots for bungalows along their shoreline of the Schuylkill River. The 1971 subdivision proposal calls for townhouses(?) in the cornfields!
All of these plans have been found in the files of Muhlenberg Township. Municipal archival records are an excellent source of land development history.
The text and slideshow PDF’s linked below are only for the updates. A new updated version of the full "Up at The River" story and the historical documents slideshow are uploaded to the original post.
Update No. 1 to Up at The River Story in Historical Documents
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| Both Plans, Courtesy Muhlenberg Township |
Saturday, September 12, 2020
“Up at The River”
Introduction
From the time I was about 8 years old and through my late teens, there was one place that was central in my life experience, and that was "up at the river" at my maternal grandparents house and property. This is a story not only about those times but also how historical events along that river made this experience even possible. It is also a story of the changes in the landscape since that time, and what I experienced lives in photographs, and, in the absence of photos, in my memory.
The full experience of this story is best with the accompanying slide presentations; one entirely using family photos, and the other using newspaper clippings, aerial photographs, maps, plans, government reports, postcards, and webpages. The full experience is also best on a computer or laptop screen rather than on a phone screen.
From the time I was about 8 years old and through my late teens, there was one place that was central in my life experience, and that was "up at the river" at my maternal grandparents house and property. This is a story not only about those times but also how historical events along that river made this experience even possible. It is also a story of the changes in the landscape since that time, and what I experienced lives in photographs, and, in the absence of photos, in my memory.
The full experience of this story is best with the accompanying slide presentations; one entirely using family photos, and the other using newspaper clippings, aerial photographs, maps, plans, government reports, postcards, and webpages. The full experience is also best on a computer or laptop screen rather than on a phone screen.
Each link below opens a PDF, the first one is the story in text, and the other two are PowerPoint Slideshows.
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Profile - Expanded
As an archivist, historian, and genealogist I share a love of history and family stories, travel, the ocean beach, walking, architecture, and old movies with my wife Anne. I am from Reading, PA. In fact, my entire family heritage in the U.S. is in three Pennsylvania counties: Berks, Lancaster, and Philadelphia (city). When I moved to Boston to attend graduate school, I fell in love with Boston, Anne, and New England, pretty much in that order.
Professionally,
I am an archivist and historian, work which never ceases to excite me
throughout the day. I have been an archivist for more than 28 years.
Personally, I enjoy watching documentaries, and old movies on Turner Classic
Movies (especially film noir), reading the print edition of the Boston Globe
every morning and listening to my wide-ranging musical tastes, mostly when I am
alone in the car.
Stories in Archives, History and Life will both look back as I share insights from my life experiences; and will look forward as I talk about what I am trying to accomplish in life and as an archivist/historian. Some stories will be short, sometimes very short, while others will be long. It will also include academic-style stories and articles about family history and historical subjects that interest me personally and professionally, that are connected to me personally, and through my work as an archivist.
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