Information
Landmark: Centre County Historical SocietyCity: State College
Country: USA Pennsylvania
Continent: North America
Centre County Historical Society, State College, USA Pennsylvania, North America
Overview
The Centre County Historical Society (CCHS) works to preserve, share, and celebrate the story of Centre County, Pennsylvania-from its earliest Indigenous traditions to the clang of iron forges, the rows of corn in summer fields, the halls of its schools, and the rhythm of modern community life.It gathers artifacts, old letters, faded photographs, and recorded stories, runs historic sites, and offers programs that teach and inspire visitors of every age.Founded in 1904 by local civic leaders and Penn State faculty, its governance still carries the stamp of that early blend of hometown vision and academic rigor.We’re a chartered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, led by a 21-member volunteer board, with a skilled staff handling day-to-day operations and curating everything from exhibits to gallery spaces.We’re part of the Pennsylvania Federation of Museums and Historical Organizations, a network that shares stories from weathered barns to gilded galleries.Headquarters and main site are at the Centre Furnace Mansion, 1001 East College Avenue in State College, where brick walls glow warm in the afternoon sun.Built between 1830 and 1840, the mansion once served as the ironmaster’s home for Centre Furnace, the county’s first charcoal ironworks, established in 1791.Between 1992 and 1998, it was restored to its Greek Revival–Victorian look and filled with 19th‑century decorative arts, along with ironmaking tools still cool to the touch.It holds interpretive exhibits, a reference library, archives, offices, and a small museum store that smells faintly of polished wood.The grounds feature a restored 1842 summer kitchen, a neat Victorian garden lined with roses, and a thriving heirloom vegetable plot.Built in 1877, Boogersburg School is a one-room rural schoolhouse in Patton Township, furnished just as it was in the 1920s, with slates on the desks and a potbelly stove; it’s open for tours and living‑history programs.Linden Hall Historic District support: CCHS works with partners to plan preservation of the ironmaster’s grand home, rows of workers’ cottages, and the towering Oak Hall Furnace stack.The Collections & Archives hold over 40,000 cataloged items-textiles, furniture, tools, maps, business ledgers, personal diaries-and more than 150,000 photographs and negatives, from crisp black‑and‑white portraits to faded snapshots.We specialize in iron industry artifacts, founding papers from Penn State, glimpses of Bellefonte’s Victorian-era culture, and military service records spanning from the Civil War to the dusty boots of Iraq.The archival reading room is open by appointment, and researchers can browse the digital catalog on-site, complete with crisp, high-resolution scans.Permanent galleries feature *Forging Ahead: Ironmaking in Centre County*, *From Frontier to University Town*, along with parlors and bedrooms dressed in period furnishings, from worn oak chairs to lace-covered tables.The exhibits rotate twice a year, with past themes ranging from Centre County women in science to Depression-era farming and the quiet mystery of local Indigenous archaeology.Schools and libraries can host traveling panel exhibits, from vivid photo displays to hands-on history boards.Each month, the “Sunday Afternoon at the Mansion” series brings historians, authors, and artisans together-sometimes with the scent of fresh ink still on a newly printed book.Celebrate the Annual Old-Fashioned Fourth of July with lively colonial games, toe-tapping music, and guided tours through the grand old mansion.The Heritage Garden offers hands-on workshops in heirloom seed saving, buzzing beekeeping, and the rich flavors of 19th‑century foodways.The Fall Stocking Stuffer Antiques & Fine Art Sale-complete with gleaming silver frames and hand‑painted porcelain-is the society’s biggest fundraiser.School outreach includes field trips that tie directly to the curriculum, traveling trunks packed with hands‑on materials, and live virtual sessions that bring the lesson right into the classroom.The Centre County History Quarterly, a semi-annual journal, publishes peer-reviewed articles-sometimes featuring vivid accounts of local landmarks and events.Guided walking tours through the historic districts of Bellefonte, Milesburg, and Boalsburg, where brick sidewalks lead past centuries-old buildings.Recently, we’ve worked on collaborative local history books, including the 2023 release *Iron, Timber, and Town: The Making of Centre County*, with its crisp maps and old photographs tucked between the pages.More than 200 dedicated volunteers pitch in-guiding visitors through exhibits, sorting fragile archival papers, tending garden beds, and helping run special events.From Student to Patron, each membership tier offers free admission, a monthly newsletter, event discounts, and even reciprocity at Time Travelers partner museums-so your card might get you into that quiet, sunlit gallery across town.Funding & Support runs on a $600,000 yearly budget, fueled by 40% from memberships and donations, 25% from events, 20% from grants, and the remaining 15% from museum store sales and facility rentals-the hum of the gift shop’s cash register adding its share.The Centre Foundation manages an endowment that keeps preservation projects thriving for years, like restoring the weathered bricks of a century-old library.The Visitor Information Centre at Furnace Mansion is open Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., with group tours available by appointment.We offer free parking right on-site, and the CATA Red Link bus stops just a few steps away.We suggest a $5 donation, but CCHS members and kids under six get in free.Everything’s on the first floor, with ADA-compliant restrooms and smooth garden paths; if you need the archive lift, just give us a heads-up.By 2026, the project will digitize 10,000 glass-plate negatives, each holding a century-old image captured in silver and shadow.Work will start in 2027 on a new collections annex with climate control, its sleek steel frame ready to rise from fresh-turned soil.We’re teaming up with Penn State’s Center for Virtual/Material Studies to produce crisp 3D scans of important artifacts, letting visitors explore them online as if they were turning them over in their own hands.
