×
×
homepage logo

RELIC RETRIEVED

By Staff | May 12, 2009

Thanks to the generosity of publisher Bernard Oravec, ELHS received a relic used at The Luminary in the not so distant past.

A tilt-top wooden desk stood unused for about eight years where articles on typewritten paperwere hand cut to fit spacings, pasted onto lined sheets photo-readied for print.

Slots in the desks lower section held large tablets of artwork used in combination with wordedadvertising including seasonal and holiday scenes.

Used computers handed down from big sister sources made the desk obsolete. Each change within the newspaper industry causes employees to hold their collective breath as new chapters evolve.

A few may recall consolidation of the town’s “Hughesville Mail” into “The Muncy Luminary” in mid 1944. A similar fate brought an end to “The Montgomery Mirror.”

It was then “The Muncy Luminary” became “The Luminary” including news from the two towns.

In the Hughesville area, local correspondents wrote for what was named, “The Hughesville Page.” They consisted of women who had their ‘finger on the pulse of their communities’ including Huntersville, Lairdsville, Opp, Picture Rocks and Unityville

The current ‘locals’ correspondent is Mary Meghan Wolfe whose predecessor was Reba Fry. Most know them and perhaps their maiden names of Ritter and Shaner.

But who were those individuals of yesteryear? During the 1950s, a sign of the times were byline signatures void of given or maiden names. Neither was their photo used asis done today. They were known simply as Mrs. Plotts of Huntersville; Mrs. Long of Unityville; Mrs. Donald Burgett of Opp and so on.

Families of those penning local columns in the past can aid in providing a future display of the area’s newspaper history by furnishing complete names and photo for scanning. Donations of early issue of “The Luminary” have been arriving.

VisitYOUR East Lycoming HistoricalMuseum with your knowledge on this or any other subject during the 2009 opening Sunday and Monday, May 24 and 25, noon until 4 p.m.Bring along the out-of-town alumni.The same schedule will continue weekly through Labor Day.