Red Clay Valley History Talks: Vignettes of Marshallton

A few weeks ago I passed along the news that the Red Clay Valley History Talk Series was returning for its third year, beginning with the Lost Motion Pictures of Brandywine Springs. The presentation (there ended up being four "shows") was fantastic, and great thanks go out to Tommy Gears and Ray Harrington for finding the movies and putting together the presentation. I hope that some of you got a chance to check it out, but if you didn't I understand that the plan is to have a DVD of the movies available for purchase at some point in the near future. I'll be sure to let you know if/when that happens.

But now, I want to invite everyone to the second installment in the series, to be held at the Historic Red Clay Valley Education Center (Wilmington & Western's Marshallton office, 1601 Railroad Ave.) on Monday, February 13, at 7:00 PM (doors open at 6:30). The talk is entitled Vignettes of Marshallton, and will be presented by yours truly, Scott Palmer. The program will be a look at some of the institutions, places, and people who have helped to shape the area over the past few hundred years. It won't be an complete, exhaustive history of the village, but instead a pointed look at some key sites and people, of course illustrated with lots of old photographs. Okay. Don't tell anyone, but it's kind of just an excuse to show a lot of cool, old pictures. I hope you won't mind.

Of course it won't just be a slideshow of historic photographs. I'll be telling the stories and histories that go along with the pictures as well. Some of the material has been included in the blog over the past five or six years, but much of it I've never presented before. I hope there will be something for everyone to enjoy. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Hope to see you there!

2017 Red Clay Valley History Talk Series -- The Lost Motion Pictures of Brandywine Springs

Yes, it's that time of year again. After great successes the past two years, the Red Clay Valley History Talk Series is back again, with three more presentations. I'll have more information on the second and third installments (set for early February and March) in the next week or two, especially since I'll be participating in the February talk. But right now I wanted to let you know that there are still tickets available for the first in the 2017 series, and I think it's pretty special.

This Sunday, January 8, 2017, the Red Clay Valley History Talk Series is proud to present The Lost Motion Pictures of Brandywine Springs. The program will take place at the Wilmington & Western's Greenbank Station at 2:00 PM. Featured will be motion pictures taken at Brandywine Springs Amusement Park during the summer of 1903. The park's entertainment director, N. Dushane Cloward, invited one of the Edison Company's top directors to come to the park and film some shorts there. I had mentioned this in a post about four years ago, and even embedded one of the films. The others, however, were not easily available. I knew that some other films had, at least at one time, existed, but I didn't know if they were still around. Turns out, they were!!

A dedicated team of volunteers, led by Tommy Gears, traveled to the National Archives in Washington, DC and recovered this exciting piece of Mill Creek Hundred history. After having the old films transferred into an easier to work with digital format, they are finally ready to unveil these century-plus old films to the public. It's almost certain that these have not been seen by anyone else in this region in at least a century.

The first program, scheduled for Saturday, has already sold out, so the second showing on Sunday has been set up. This, too, may sell out, so get your tickets soon. To help defray some of the costs involved in obtaining, restoring, and transferring the films tickets are $20. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets may be purchased through this link.

I'm personally very excited to see these films, as I really expected them to have disappeared. This is a fantastic piece of history and a special event. Hope to see you there!