Luzerne County

Historical Society

 

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Annual Meeting - Friday, April 24, 2009, call 823-6244 for details.
 
Last Update:  04/18/2007 Home  

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Welcome to the official Web Site of the Luzerne County Historical Society, formerly known as the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.  

 

About the Luzerne County Historical Society

 

On February 11, 1858 a group met at the Old Fell Tavern in Wilkes-Barre to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first known successful burning of anthracite coal in an open grate by Judge Jesse Fell.   During the ceremony General E. L. Dana suggested the founding of an historical society.  A resolution was passed unanimously, and the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society was incorporated in May of 1858.

By 1877, the Society had acquired rooms in the Odd Fellows Hall and was able to open its collection to the public on Friday evenings.  It later added a meeting room and library, and memberships and donations increased.

In 1882 Isaac Osterhout directed that space for the Society be included in the free library that was to be established under his will.  The Osterhout Free Library trustees voted to erect a separate building behind the library to house the collections of the Society.  The money was appropriated, and building opened in 1893.

With the acquisition of the Swetland Homestead in 1958 and the Bishop Library in 1971, the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society reached its present stature.

The Society maintains the storehouse for the collective memory of Luzerne County and its environs.  It records and interprets the history, traditions, events, people and cultures that have directed and molded life within the region.

Our mission is to promote and preserve Luzerne County's collective history.  In 2000, the Society adopted a new name to better reflect its mission:  the Luzerne County Historical Society..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research Policy
 

Please Select Below to Learn More About Our Research Policy

 

 

 

Society Staff
 

Anthony T. P. Brooks

Executive Director

 

Amanda Fontenova

Librarian/Archivist

 

Pam Volk

Administrative Assistant

 

Mary Ruth Burke

Swetland Homestead Administrator

 

 
Board of Directors

Frank E. P. Conyngham

President


Patricia McCarthy Last

1st Vice President


Gary Stack

2nd Vice President


Gregory Weaver

Treasurer


Frank Burnside Jr.

Secretary


Madeleine Volpetti

Geraldine T. Nesbitt

Jane Kanyock

Janet Flack
Betsy Bell Condron
Sally Teller Lottick
Richard Smith
Stephen B. Killian, Esq.
Thomas Kosmala
Larry Newman
Joel Zitofsky
John Ruckno
Louise Robinson
Michael Zimmerman
Sandra Panzitta

 

 

 

Copyright © 2006 ~ Jim Smith