SHENANDOAH — The importance of ethnic history of Shenandoah and its connection with religious life prompted the creation of a special room in the local historical museum.
The Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society will unveil the roomful of treasures on Saturday during the combined Kielbasi Festival and Heritage Day event at its headquarters at 201 S. Main St. The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visitors to the museum will also have the opportunity to view the many murals created by Shenandoah Valley students as part of the “783 Points of Light” project sponsored by the Walk In Art Center in Schuylkill Haven.
The idea of creating the Ethnic/Religious Room developed over time with ideas from professional display artist Peter P. Cieslukowski, historical society Vice President Andy Ulicny, who authored “My Shenandoah, 1966,” and his wife, Debra Ulicny, who is the society’s curator.
Andy explained that having an empty room available provided the opportunity for the ethnic displays.
“We always wanted to make the room a display area,” he said. “You get artifacts in and then you also balance what you have. We have a lot of ethnic and religious items, and if you’re Lithuanian, you’re tied to St. George’s Church, and if you’re Polish, you’re tied to St. Casimir and St. Stan’s churches.
“We wanted that display, but not having it spread out all over the museum. We figured that room is good. This has been four years in the making.”
Andy said the room had been used for storage, including lumber and other items, so the first step was to open the door on the former garage to clear it, though a leak led to repeated cleanings. After debating how to improve the room, carpeting was added and the garage door was replaced with a wall using bricks from the former Swift & Company building when it was razed in 2019.
“We had bought 26 banners with all the churches in town,” Andy said. “There was a debate how to hang them. It was Peter’s idea to have them hung chronologically, which keeps the history of the town there. There are not many of them that are active. Ten years ago, more than half of them were active. When we got them up, then we let Peter go to town with the pictures and artifacts, bits and pieces. He has such a wonderful eye. He and Bob Yudinsky and Deb and myself worked on it, and since the time we put in the carpeting in May, it has been an amazing transformation of the room.”
Andy pointed out that while people think of the ethnic makeup of Shenandoah, immigrants from non-English-speaking countries are thought of, but the borough was first settled by English speakers.
“We don’t think of our English-speaking immigrants as ethnicity,” he said. “But the fact is that your Protestant churches, and the Annunciation church, and the Presbyterian church that would have represented the Scottish, represent the early immigration that was 60, 70, 80 percent of Shenandoah before 1900 and has remained. The first in town was the Welsh church. We don’t have that much Irish or Scottish artifacts. What is an English artifact? We should at least look to get some Irish and Scottish and Welsh.”
JACQUELINE DORMER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Andrea Pytak, president of the Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society, talks about the Ukrainian dolls she donated on display in the new Ethnic Room at the society in downtown Shenandoah on Aug. 3.
The historical room goes a bit beyond the confines of the borough, such as representation of the former St. Mary Magdalene Roman Catholic Church in Lost Creek and the William Penn Methodist Church, both in West Mahanoy Twp.
“We used the Shenandoah centennial book as a guide for the churches,” Andy said. “There is the Holy Family German Catholic Church and we’re proud we were able to get the research and the pictures.”
He said the artifacts have been donated over many years, explaining that some are found by people who have a family member who dies and the items are discovered when the house is being cleaned out.
“They have them and they think of us,” Andy said, adding that there are more items than space available, so displays get changed to show those items in storage and keep the displays fresh.
Currently, the historical society is developing a military area thanks to the efforts and ideas by Cieslukowski.
Society President Andrea Pytak is pleased with how the room has worked out.
“It’s a great addition to the museum and now they’re working on the military area. It’s going to be greatly improved,” Pytak said. “We had steps with a banister put in to better get into the ethnic room.”
The historical society gratefully accepts donations to continue its work in preserving the past of Shenandoah. Make checks payable to the “Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society” and mail to: P.O. Box 327, Shenandoah, PA 17976.
Contact the writer: jusalis@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023
Caitlin Heaney West is the content editor for Access NEPA and oversees the Early Access blog in addition to working as a copy editor and staff writer for The Times-Tribune. An award-winning journalist, she is a summa cum laude graduate of Shippensburg University and also earned a master’s degree from Marywood University. Caitlin joined the Times-Shamrock family in 2009 and lives in Scranton. Contact: cwest@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5107; or @cheaneywest
