Dedication of new center to celebrate northwestern Pennsylvania's oil heritage

A well in the region is the spot where oil was first discovered in North America.
OIL CITY, Pa. -- Dedication activities for the Barbara Morgan Harvey Center for the Study of Oil Heritage will take place Oct. 18 and 19 in a newly renovated section of the Charles L. Suhr Library at Clarion University-Venango Campus.
Bruce Wells will present a dedication lecture, "Links to the Past: The Importance of Oil History Collections," at 7 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Robert W. Rhoads Center. Wells established the American Oil & amp; Gas Historical Society in June 2003 and maintains its Web site. He also publishes a quarterly newsletter, Petroleum Age, and regional publications, American Oil & amp; Gas Families.
Wells was an editor and reporter at Petroleum Independent magazine and also produced the quarterly Network News newsletter for the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council. He was a senior associate at Technology and Management Services Inc., where he conducted historical research and interviews for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy.
This talk, deemed the Barbara Morgan Harvey lecture, will be an annual event on a topic of importance to the region's oil heritage.
Other features
On Oct. 19, "Material Culture: How Objects Tell the Oil Story" will be featured at the Drake Well Museum, south of Titusville. The well is the spot where oil was first discovered in North America. Wells, along with Susan Beates, curator and historian, and Barbara Zolli, museum director, will answer questions. There will be free admission and refreshments. Call (814) 827-2797 for more information and reservations.
"The Art of the Oil Field" shown through paintings and books will be from 2 to 5 p.m. at Venango Museum of Art, Science and Industry.
The Barbara Morgan Harvey collection includes some 400 books documenting the history of the region, newspaper clippings from the early 1900s, minutes from meetings of early oil companies from the late 1800s, maps and photographs. The center is a clearinghouse for scholarship and research of the oil region's history and heritage. The late Mrs. Harvey, who had a great interest in oil history, amassed the collection. A personal tie to oil history was her great-grandfather, Gib Morgan, who was known as "minstrel of the oil fields."