Goal: $30,000.00

Specific Need

This year for Crawford Gives, you may have been expecting the same letter from the Historical Society requesting donations asking for your support to restore or rehabilitate historical sites in our area. This year, America’s 250th, we have a special request - would you please help us continue to keep history alive in Crawford County by supporting our engagement of children and people of all ages. Take a look at a few examples of events and activities showing “history being made” right here in Crawford County just this year…courtesy of the Crawford County Historical Society!

Mission

OUR MISSION

The mission of the Crawford County Historical Society is to protect and share our past in order to enrich our future! We're working tirelessly to use our shared stories and the artifacts that go with them to inspire young people, educate residents, and inform decisions for a better Crawford County, Pennsylvania.

Profile

…IN OTHER WORDS

The Crawford County Historical Society was the lead agency organizing America’s 250th activities throughout the county on behalf of the State of Pennsylvania. The parade on July 3rd attracted hundreds to downtown Meadville to celebrate.

In addition to the parade, we hosted thousands on July 4th at Allegheny College’s Robertson Athletic Complex for a day of rides, food vendors, kids activities, and the largest fireworks display seen in Crawford County in many years. In addition to these activities, we organized a bus trip to Philadelphia in April and several free speakers throughout the Semiquincentennial year.

The Society’s annual kids summer camp, this year called “Camp 1776,” puts Crawford County’s history quite literally in the hands of the next generation. From period games and dressing up with reenactors, to gravestone cleaning and cemetery tours, to making homemade apple butter, area youth learn first hand where they came from and what life was like for their ancestors.

This year, the Society’s annual Eleanor Davies Croquet Classic welcomed 26 teams (over 75 players) as well as two live bands, plenty of spectators, and over a dozen volunteers to the front lawns of Mount Hope: The Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum, Holland Hall, Shryock Memorial Park, and private homes along Terrace Street for a chance to enjoy two meals, cocktails, and an opportunity to step back in time and compete for the coveted “Davies Cup.”

Our History on the Road Program, in coordination with PA Humanities and Visit Crawford, quite literally drives a 105 year old mobile classroom from corner to corner of our thousand plus square mile county. We work hard to show the community how their past is a source of pride - and have headed to every county library in Crawford within 2026 (in a Model T!) as well as several other locatons to do so!

Local youth cleaning and restoring historic gravestones (including those of some of their own ancestors) in local cemeteries as part of summer camp and preservation workshops offered on multiple occasions each spring and summer.

Dozens of local residents are interviewed each year to preserve and record their stories - part of our Oral History Program operated by Oral Hsitory Coordinator, Paula Brown.

Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum and Grounds used by the community for weddings and other special events. Not only are these functions useful to assist in operating expenses, they are wonderful ways to get the public to interact with their history in unique and exciting ways.