Codorus Valley preservation group promotes history of other towns, too
This ticket to the nation’s Centennial celebration of 1876 is part of Robert Shaub’s collection. It was recently printed in the Codorus Valley Chronicles, a monthly publication of the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society. The newsletter wraps up the society’s activities each month and reports on events of other historical groups. Background posts: Good stuff found in Codorus Valley Chronicles, Who was that slain Yankee messenger at Green Ridge? and Abandoned Codorus Railroad not just any railroad.
The Codorus Valley Area Historical Society does something that other local historic groups miss.
The Jefferson-area group (Codorus is the name of Jefferson’s post office) gives other historical societies an opportunity to report on their activities – Northern Maryland and West Manchester are two of those groups.
They do so in the business part of their meetings.
And in their newsletter… .
The Codorus Valley Chronicles, edited by Robert Shaub, also gives updates of the activities of counterparts in other towns. For example, the July 2008 edition told of the death of W. Eugene Taylor, president of the Red Lion Historical Society from 2006 to 2008.
Often, a certain territorialism is apparent between historical societies in one town and those in others. Many of this area’s numerous historic groups devote their attention almost entirely on their own projects. To be fair, many historic groups have fallen prey to the graying effect that has struck so many other community organizations: Too few people do all the work, and it’s all many groups can do to preserve and interpret history in their own town.
Perhaps the Codorus group’s ecumenism stems from the interest of Robert Shaub and other of its leaders in other groups.
But it’s a refreshing part of Codorus Valley’s offerings.
In other neat discussions at the July Codorus Valley meeting:
– No one could answer why the Jefferson square honors World War I, rare if not unprecedented in York County. I conjectured that some towns might have sent World War I artifacts for scrap to aid the defense effort in World War II. That certainly happened in Spring Grove with that town’s ornamental World War I field piece.
– There’s a plaque marking Dr. George Holtzapple’s residence in Seven Valleys. A pioneer in the use of oxygen to treat pneumonia, Dr. Holtzapple practiced in that borough for several years. This use of a plaque might be a way to mark unsung historical sites around York County rather than going through the grueling process to obtain a historical marker.
– Thomasville’s Robert Rauhauser is a collector of all all kinds of things, including A.B. Farquhar Co. memorabilia. He raised a question about the company’s namesake. How did A.B. get his nickname “Polly.” “Everybody worked at Polly Farquhar’s (factory), not A.B. Farquhar,” he said. He conjectured that Farquhar might have shown a tendency to repeat himself, like a parrot. If anyone knows, contact Robert at P.O. Box 324, Thomasville, Pa., 17364.
