October 2019 News From the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum

Last Updated on Sunday, 29 September 2019 19:34

A Stroll Through History: How Donora’s Smog Gave Birth To Cleaner Air

On Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP,) Venture Outdoors and the Donora Historical Society are teaming up to take hikers on a trek through the past, present, and future of air quality in Southwestern PA.

Donora's Killer Smog - 1948

We’ll take an easy paced walk along the Monongahela River in the footprint of what was once Donora’s mighty Zinc Works. Then we will visit the Donora Smog Museum to learn more about the 1948 Smog event that took the lives of over 50 people and helped spur on the clean air movement in the United States. The total walk is roughly two miles.

GASP is a non-profit citizens’ group that works to improve air quality to protect human, environmental, and economic health, and a healthy, sustainable environment in Southwestern Pennsylvania.Founded in 1969, GASP has been a diligent watchdog, educator, litigator, and policy-maker on many environmental issues, with a focus on air quality in the Pittsburgh region.

Venture Outdoors of Pittsburgh organizes outdoor adventures that involve hiking, biking or kayaking, but could also include museum tours, food and beverage tours, rock climbing and snow shoeing.

This “Stroll Through History” is part of GASP's “Athletes United for Healthy Air” campaign. The main goals of that campaign are to get people who are active outdoors to understand that they are uniquely affected by air pollution, learn some ways to minimize their exposure while being active outside, and to get them interested in taking a stand for cleaner, healthier air.

Registration through Venture Outdoors at www.ventureoutdoors.org/events/7520348/ (members $10 and non-members $15) includes the hike, admission to the museum and lunch. Space is limited to 25 walkers. We sold out last May during our first hike. You’ll be notified by October 31 by Venture Outdoors of the GPS location of where the walk will start.

We Can Do It! WWII

The Donora Historical Society and Donora Public Library, in partnership with the Senator John Heinz History Center of Pittsburgh, will once again be hosting a traveling exhibit –“We Can Do It! WWII.” Starting on Saturday, February 1, 2020 and running for nine and a half weeks thru Tuesday, April 7, 2020, the exhibit will be available to the general public, school groups, and social clubs. This 500 square foot traveling exhibit started its journey in Pittsburgh during a preview at the Heinz History Center in April 2017, will travel throughout Western Pennsylvania including a stop in the West Virginia panhandle, and will finish with us in April 2020.

Due to its size and just like we did with the travelling Civil War exhibit in 2015, the exhibit will be on display in the lower level Community Room at the Donora Public Library. To give it some Mid-Mon Valley flavor, the exhibit will be supplemented with Donora-related artifacts and presentations, as well as artifacts and presentations from other historical societies from neighboring Mid-Mon Valley towns. During this time, special events, presentations, and living history demonstrations will be scheduled.

If you have an interest in WWII history, enjoy public speaking and have a subject that you would like to present, or if you are a living history re-enactor or WWII Veteran and would like to discuss your uniform, weaponry or experiences as a presentation or for school students, please contact us. Please click on our “Civil War Exhibit 2015” tab on our website to get an idea of how we schedule our presentation lineup. This is a Donora community and Mid-Mon Valley exhibit and we look forward to sharing it with you all. To watch the calendar of events unfold, please click on our “WWII Exhibit 2020” tab. Local and neighboring schools have already been invited and are currently signing up to visit.

ADDITIONAL INFO

If you have additional questions about the subjects mentioned above, the historical society, museum, presentations or possibly volunteering, feel free to stop by on Saturdays or by special appointment (with at least a week’s notice), email us at DonoraHistoricalSociety@gmail.com, call us at 724-823-0364 and leave a message, visit us on the web at www.DonoraHistoricalSociety.org, or follow us and Like Us on Facebook at “Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum.”