Historical societies back to normal without COVID limits
By CHRISTINE HAINES
chaines@yourmvi.com
Most area historical societies are returning to normal operations now that COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted in Pennsylvania.
The Rostraver Township Historical Society resumed weekly hours last month, but found there wasn’t much demand on weekdays.
“We knew that weekday hours probably weren’t going to work. So we switched to Sunday, 11 to 2,” said Rostraver Historical Society Vice President Stu Boyd.
Boyd said the Sunday hours are already drawing visitors. The historical society is also back to having meetings on the second Tuesday of each month from 5:30 to 8 p.m. with speakers and light refreshments.
“We’re getting new furnaces and air conditioning within the next two weeks. We like to make it comfortable for people,” Boyd said. “One of our goals is to help our aging population. We want to give them an inexpensive place to come and have an enjoyable time once a month.”
Boyd said the historical society has been adding to its collections over the past year, bringing in examples of all of the weapons used during the Civil War and growing the military uniform collection to include a Revolutionary War uniform and a U.S. Marine Corps uniform.
“We get weekly contributions to our Rostraver Room. That was the whole purpose of having the museum,” Boyd said. “We’re focusing more and more on honoring those who have served our country. We’re going to develop a veterans garden along the corner of the property.”
The McKeesport Regional History and Heritage Center has done its best to maintain regular programming throughout the pandemic, with the exception of required shutdowns and moving some programs to a virtual format. Museum Director David Moore said the virtual days should be behind the center at this point.
“We were doing all-virtual programming until June. We’re now restarting our in-person programs,” Moore said.
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