Press Releases

The Susquehanna River Valley Visitors Bureau (SRVVB) and its members honored the Friends of the Joseph Priestley House Museum with the Dan Baylor Award at their Annual Membership Dinner at Tedd's on the Hill in Shamokin Dam on Thursday, May 6.

The Award, named for Dan Baylor, honors the entrepreneurial spirit of one of the founders of tourism promotion in the Susquehanna River Valley. The Visitors Bureau created the Dan Baylor Award for Entrepreneurship in Tourism in May of 2007. Past recipients of the award include: Ard's Farm Market in 2008 and the Susquehanna Heartland Wine Trail in 2009.

The formation of the Friends of Joseph Priestley House (FJPH) was discussed first in April 1992 with the group incorporating in 1993 and gaining 501 c3 non-profit status in 1994.  The Friends is a membership organization with over 100 members and no paid staff.  The Friends group has several missions -- to expand the legacy of Joseph Priestley, to promote the activities at Joseph Priestley House museum, and to raise funds to support educational activities.  Over the years the FJPH has sponsored a variety of events including summer history camp and participation in local historical activities such as Northumberland History Day.  The organization has also been able to raise funds to restore the laboratory in the house and remodel the George Pond Building adjacent to the House which served for years as the Visitor Center.

In response to Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's (PHMC) August 2009 closing of the museum, the Friends and PHMC revised their existing Associates Agreement to permit the Friends to operate the site using volunteer staff.  The revised Agreement was signed and announced at the Friends annual meeting in September 2009.  Under the terms of the agreement the Friends would provide site administrative services including opening the site to the public on a regular basis and custodial duties.  PHMC would maintain the site, cut the grass, plow snow and pay utility costs.

The site was officially reopened on Nov 1, 2009 as part of the Museum's annual Heritage Days celebration.  The site is currently open weekend afternoons from mid-March until the end of November and for special tours with advance notice. 

The Friends Group expects to operate the site with volunteers for at least the next 5 years on a similar schedule while creating an endowment in cooperation with the American Chemical Society and others.  If successful the endowment will provide sufficient funding to hire permanent or part time staff for the site.  This will expand hours of operation and programming.

The award was presented by Pat Hess, owner of Colonial Candlecrafters (in center) and Vice President of SRVVB's Board of Directors, and was presented to Tom Bresenhan (at left) and JoAnn Long (at right).