Chronicle - Summer 2007

Rivers of Steel Archives Expands Online Services

The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area has launched a new, online site to make it even easier for the public to search the archives for historic images, documents, maps and artifacts. Instead of an exact “key” word to locate images and documents, the new site requires only a name, place or a few descriptive words to execute a search of archival records. Users can further filter their search by choosing from six different record types; objects, library, archives, photos, images, search terms. Researchers can now browse hundreds of archival images and locate primary resource materials before planning their visit to the archives located on the lower level of The Bost Building, the Visitors Center for the National Heritage Area in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The new online database provides around-the-clock access to a wealth of materials relating to southwestern Pennsylvania's industrial and cultural heritage.

The first phase of the site’s development took nearly five years to complete with thousands of records entered into the database that powers the research site. With most of the archives now online, the addition of images, photos, documents and maps will be an ongoing project.

Click here now to explore the new site or visit it later by going to the Rivers of Steel website, clicking on Research then Collections under Museum and Archives.

From Your Attic to Our Archives

The Rivers of Steel Archives collection continues to grow because of the donations of artifacts, documents, and personal memorabilia from the hundreds of men and women who lived in southwestern Pennslvania communities and worked in steel mills, foundries, mines and other related industries. Rivers of Steel gratefully acknowledges those who have donated cherished pieces of their past to Rivers of Steel, knowing they’ll be preserved for future generations. We invite others to consider the Rivers of Steel Archives as a repository for artifacts, documents and photographs that document living and working in southwestern Pennsylvania.

For more information contact Ron Baraff, Director of Museum Collections and Archives at 412-464-4020 or rbaraff@riversofsteel.com

hotmetalhappening

hotmetalhappening kicked off its 2007 season at the Pump House in a fiery blaze on Saturday, May 26. The program’s creators, artists Carley Hill and Ed Parrish, demonstrated a centuries-old process of iron smelting in a traditional cupola (furnace), casting molds of work gloves that were assembled on-site into a sculpture.

Click here to view more photos from the event.

USWA Gives Life on a $1.65 a Day an A+

As part of the United Steel Workers of America’s (USWA) Bring Your Child to Work Day, two dozen young people arrived at the Pump House on the morning of April 26 to participate in a new Rivers of Steel educational program, Life on a $1.65 a Day. The USWA gave the program a thumbs-up and plans to book it again next year.The highly interactive program provides student groups (age 12 and older) with hands-on activities that demonstrate what life was like for the immigrants who poured into southwestern Pennsylvania at the turn-of-the-century. Eight activity stations present a different domestic task or industrial job. The students fetch water, peel potatoes, shovel slag, tighten bolts, and “hook” pipe. They learn about the 1892 Battle of Homestead and race against the clock to pump more water in a minute than the Pump House did when it was in full operation at the U. S. Steel’s Homestead Works.

Rivers of Steel developed Life on a $1.65 a Day as part of the day-long educational program “Mansion to Mill Town” offered in partnership with the Frick Art and Historical Center.

To learn more about the innovative field trip or to book it call 412-464-4020 or visit www.riversofsteel.com.

Best Practices in Sustainable Heritage Development Presented by French Delegation at 2007 International Heritage Development Conference

In June, the 2007 Alliance of National Heritage Areas’s biannual International Heritage Development Conference (IHDC) took place in Detroit. Rivers of Steel and other Alliance members benefit from relationships built by the international conference and exposure to best practices of sustainable heritage development from other countries.

This year the Parcs Naturels Regionaux (PNR), a system of more than 40 regional parks in France that share many similiarites with National Heritage Areas, sent a delegation to present two sessions. The Alliance of National Heritage Areas and the Federation of PNR also signed a Memorandum of Agreement during a ceremony at the conference. (A companion signing ceremony is planned for the Federation’s annual meeting, October 3rd - 5th, 2007 in the Loire Valley at Anjou Touraine PNR). This agreement will outline the activities and goals of the two organizations to share best practices and provide opportunities for technical assistance and professional development.

Like many National Heritage Areas the PNR uses a landscape-scale, grassroots driven, partnership based approach to foster resource conservation, sustainable economic development, and community capacity-building. The two educational sessions will highlight the PNR approach to regional development and heritage tourism with discussions on how to adapt elements of the French process in the United States.

The French system of Parcs Naturels Regionaux (Regional Nature Parks) presents some of the most successful examples of sustainable development in the world. Truly a model of grassroots organization, these locally driven initiatives in heritage landscape preservation are built upon unique 12-year charters, negotiated between citizens, municipalities and managed by the regional parks. With this scale of cooperation at the inception of the charters, these living landscapes ensure that elected officials and residents are part of the solution.

The French PNR also presents a noteworthy example of sustainable heritage tourism. The parks focus on the inhabitants and the landscapes, but the results are authentic places that are increasingly sought out and valued by cultural tourists. The French PNR recognizes that surrounding environment, ordinary architecture, and contextual landscapes are as important to preserve as individual historic structures.

Learn more about the IHDC at http://www.IHDC2007.org.

Carrie Furnaces photo courtesy of Randy Harris