Museum to celebrate benefactor's birthday

WARREN -- Staff of the Sutliff Museum, on the second floor of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, will be celebrating the birthday of Phebe T. Sutliff.
The observance is set for 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 19 with punch and cookies on the main floor of the library, 444 Mahoning Ave. N.W.
Miss Sutliff (1859-1955) was a scholar and lecturer. She was considered an authority on both national and international issues. She received degrees with honors from Vassar and Cornell and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She also studied in Switzerland.
After teaching at Ohio's Hiram College and heading the departments of history and English literature at Rockford Seminary (Illinois), Sutliff became president of the seminary. Among her accomplishments there was piloting the change from the seminary as a girls preparatory school to an approved girls college.
The Sutliff Museum was established by a bequest of Sutliff. She left the residue of her estate to a private group, the Warren Library Association, requesting that they create and maintain a museum in honor of her parents, Levi Sutliff and Phebe L. Marvin Sutliff.
The Sutliff Museum offers a re-creation of a Victorian parlor (1830-1900) with many original furnishings from the home of Miss Sutliff's parents.
In addition to the museum, a permanent exhibit, "Nurturing Pathways to Freedom in Trumbull County," was established in 2003 to give the community a glimpse into the historical realities concerning local anti-slavery sentiments from the 1820s to the 1850s. It is available to the public during library hours.
The Sutliff family was very active in the Underground Railroad movement locally.
Sutliff Museum tours are welcome by appointment. The museum is accessible, free and open to the public routinely Wednesday through Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m.
For more information or to schedule a tour, call (330) 399-8807, Ext. 121 or (330) 394-9989.