Latest news with #LackawannaHistoricalSociety
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Waverly Community House acquires remaining Scranton Lace Co. archives
WAVERLY TWP. — New materials from the heyday of the Scranton Lace Co. complete a collection detailing the history of what was once a major employer in the city. The Waverly Community House received the remaining Scranton Lace Co. archival materials from the Lackawanna Historical Society last week. The boards of both entities approved the transfer earlier this year. The seven boxes include treasury reports, meeting minutes, Department of Defense contracts and blueprints, which Delayne DePietro, the community house's archive coordinator, has been sorting through. She said many of the items are records the center didn't have in its archives of the company, such as meeting minutes from the 1960s. Established in 1891 as the Scranton Lace Curtain Manufacturing Co., the company, located on Meylert and Albright avenues, was the largest manufacturer of Nottingham lace in the country. In addition to lace, other products made there included tablecloths, napkins, valances and shower curtains. It closed in 2002. The former factory, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now Lace Village, a mixed-use residential and commercial complex. The Waverly Community House, which was created in 1919 by the family of Henry Belin Jr., one of the company's early leaders, began acquiring company records and archives in 2012. Gia Tugend, the center's director of advancement and digital marketing, said the organization has received calls from people whose relatives worked at the company, as personnel files are among the collection. Among the names listed in the materials is Hugh Rodham, father of former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was briefly employed by the company. 'It's really something that's here that's a testament to our dedication to preserving local history,' Tugend said. DePietro, who has worked on the archives for nearly two years, said the most interesting items are the Defense Department contracts from the time when the company made parachutes and camouflage netting during World War II. 'It's interesting to see what the government required and what Scranton's role was in World War II,' she said. Also included among the new materials are a pricking board for lace making and a few bobbins. Tugend said once DePietro finishes looking through the items, they will be archived and materials such as boxes will be ordered to ensure the process is in line with historic preservation standards. The center plans to open the Scranton Lace archives once a week in the summer to allow the public to look at and do research with them. Tugend said with all the materials in place, there is potential for them to be viewed more widely by the public, such as future exhibits and blog posts about them on the community house archives website. The Lackawanna Historical Society handled digitization and the center regularly works with them, Executive Director Michelle Hamilton said. 'The potential is endless,' Tugend said. 'Right now, it's just a matter of going through everything.' DePietro said having all the materials gives her more of an insight into the scale of the factory — which at one time employed 1,400 people — its operations and what it was like to work there. 'It's hard to conceive of the size of such a huge industry,' she said. 'You get the whole story and it's more of a picture than a vague notion.' Tugend, who was one of the community house's first archive employees, said having the remaining materials completes the collection. She added it shows how much the Scranton Lace Co. was part of people's lives and how innovative Belin was as the company president, providing employees with onsite recreational activities. 'I feel like it's all come together now,' she said. 'We're excited to continue to work with it. It's important to the history of our region and we're just thrilled to have it here, and we're thrilled to be able to preserve that history and continue to tell the story and keep it alive.' A pricking board from the remaining archives from the Scranton Lace Factory now located at the Waverly House in Waverly on Thursday, May 1, 2025.(REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Archive director Delayne DiPietro shows items from the remaining archives from the Scranton Lace Factory at the Waverly House in Waverly on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Archive director Delayne DiPietro talks about the archives from the Scranton Lace Factory that were added to the Waverly House collection on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Gia Tugend, director of advancement and digital media, talks about the addition of the remaining archives from the Scranton Lace Factory at the Waverly House in Waverly on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Archive director Delayne DiPietro shows paperwork highlighting the Scranton Lace Company's role in WWII at the Waverly House in Waverly on Thursday, May 1, 2025. The documents come from the remaining archives from the factory that were recently added to the group's collection. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Yahoo
Key witness in art heist trial sentenced for his role in theft ring
A federal judge sentenced a Dunmore man for his role in a high-profile theft ring that targeted art, sports memorabilia and other valuable items. United States District Judge Malachy Mannion sentenced Thomas Trotta, 49, to eight years in prison, followed by a term of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $2,759,073 in restitution Thursday. Prosecutors said he led nine people in the theft ring that spanned two decades and stole millions of dollars' worth of art, antique coins and firearms, World Series rings, golf trophies and more from museums, galleries, halls of fame, estates and jewelry stores in Pennsylvania, other states and Washington, D.C. Items stolen locally included Jackson Pollock's 'Springs Winter' and Andy Warhol's 'La Grande Passion' from the Everhart Museum in Scranton; Factoryville native and baseball great Christy Mathewson's contracts and other memorabilia from Keystone College; a century-old Tiffany lamp from the Lackawanna Historical Society; and professional golfer Art Wall Jr.'s trophies from the Country Club of Scranton. Last month, jurors found Nicholas Dombek, 54, of Thornhurst Twp., Damien Boland, 48, of Moscow, and Joseph Atsus, 48, of Roaring Brook Twp., guilty of conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment and disposal of major artwork, and interstate transportation of stolen property, as well as multiple related offenses. They await sentencing. They found Atsus' brother Alfred Atsus, of Covington Twp., not guilty on all counts. Three other Lackawanna County residents — Thomas Trotta's sister Dawn Trotta, Frank Tassiello and Ralph Parry — pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment and disposal of major artwork and interstate transportation of stolen property. Mannion sentenced Dawn Trotta, 53, also of Dunmore, to 15 months in prison, Tassiello, 52, of Taylor, to six months' imprisonment, and Parry, 47, of Spring Brook Twp., to three years of probation and a period of home confinement earlier this year. A fourth man, Daryl Rinker, of Thornhurst Twp., pleaded guilty but died in April 2024. Authorities said the men transported the stolen items to Northeast Pennsylvania, often to Dombek's home, and melted them down into metal discs or bars. They then sold the raw metal to fences in the New York City area for hundreds or a few thousands of dollars, significantly less than the sports memorabilia would be worth at fair market value. The whereabouts of many of the paintings and stolen objects are unknown. Trotta, who appeared on an episode of '60 Minutes' about the art theft, pleaded guilty in July 2023 to a count of theft of major artwork and cooperated with the government in return for a reduced sentence.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Scranton native to present ‘A Love Letter to My Sister Soldiers'
SCRANTON — Janice Gavern lives to tell the story of her sister soldiers and to ensure their history will be remembered. Gavern, a Scranton native and Air Force veteran, will don her uniform Sunday to present a lecture titled 'A Love Letter to My Sister Soldiers' at the Lackawanna Historical Society, sharing the history of women in the military story by story. Gavern, now of Montrose, said telling those stories has become her life's passion, partly because many have never been told before. She said that until well into the 1960s, community news about the gathering of female military veterans appeared not under 'veterans' news,' but in the social or women's sections of local newspapers. One of Gavern's favorite stories is that of World War I Army nurse Gladys Watkins, who worked at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton before joining the service. Watkins died of the Spanish flu in France, but her friends back in Scranton organized and named an American Legion post in her honor. Gavern learned of the existence of the all-female post after finding a woman's hat, which would have been worn by a deputy commander in the American Legion. She tracked down the number on the hat and uncovered the existence of the Gladys Watkins American Legion Post in Scranton. She then went into newspaper archives and discovered that the post met regularly. 'They were a paper post, so they didn't have a permanent building,' she said. 'But they would meet at different sites.' At one time, she said, the post had 117 members, veterans of World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Challenges of service Gavern enlisted in the Air Force after graduating from Scranton Central High School and spent four years on active duty before joining the Air Force Reserve, serving for another 22 years. Gavern went from airman basic to technical sergeant, then later received a commission through the Deserving Airmen Commissioning Program. She became a second lieutenant and aircraft maintenance officer and retired as a captain. Gavern, who joined the service during the Vietnam era, said that being a member of the military doesn't always come with honor and appreciation. Instead, she remembers avoiding talking about her service for fear of negative response from those who objected to the war. Now, she speaks proudly of all veterans and active military members, who have sacrificed to protect and serve the country. Making great sacrifice Gavern tells the stories of female veterans who have made great sacrifices and contributions to their country. On Sunday, she will share the story of Capt. Lacie 'Sonic' Hester, an F-15E instructor weapons systems officer and the first woman in the Air Force to receive the Silver Star — the nation's third-highest award for valor. Hester received the award for her performance during a drone flight. Mary Ann Moran-Savakinus, of the Lackawanna Historical Society, said the organization is excited to welcome Gavern back to speak at the Valentine's Day-themed event. 'She's always looking for more people to tell her their stories,' she said. 'She makes it a very engaging program and fun to listen to.' As a veteran, Gavern has a personal attachment to the women she finds because she truly views them as her 'sisters in service' and feels dedicated to their military history, Moran-Savakinus said. 'Those are the kind of stories we love,' she said. 'Anyone who calls us asking for information about women in the military, we know who to call.' 'A Love Letter to My Sister Soldiers' will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Catlin House, 232 Monroe Ave., and is free to the public.
