About the Berwick Historical Society

The Berwick Historical Society was incorporated on July 26, 1940 to carry out the following objectives in the  Berwick, Pennsylvania area:

• Identify and encourage the preservation of historical sites and buildings.
• Collect records, documents, and artifacts that pertain to local history.
• Collect and preserve documents and records significant to research in genealogy.
• Encourage the development, writing, and publication of local historical research.
• Maintain a library and museum of relevant Berwick historical information and material.
• Promote fellowship among those who have an interest in the Berwick area and its history.

Founders of the Society

The fifteen persons who attended the first meeting of the Berwick Historical Society, held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Harder on January 8, 1938, shall be known as "Founders of the Society." Their names are Robert L. Harder, Miss Sarah Crary, Miss Martha Crary, Rev. Ammon W. Smith, Miss Elma Bishop, Mrs. Morris Evans, Mrs. S. W. Snyder, Mr. Roy Paden, Mr. Frank Whitman, Mrs. Herman T. Waldner, Mr. Thomas Corbett, Mr. Ray McBride, Prof. M. E. Houck, Mrs. Robert L. Harder, and Mrs. Scott E. Fenstermacher.

Organization 

• PURPOSE - The purpose of the Berwick Historical Society shall be to identify and to encourage the preservation of historical sites and buildings; to collect records, documents and artifacts that pertain to the history of the Berwick area; to collect and preserve documents and records significant to research in genealogy; to encourage research in the history of the area and the writing and publication of the results of such research; to maintain a center containing a library/museum; to promote a sense of community pride and interest in the Berwick area and its history.
• INSIGNIA AND COLORS - The colors of the Berwick Historical Society shall be colonial blue and gold. The insignia of the Society shall be the car foundry surrounded by an Indian teepee, a log cabin and the profiles of a Susquehannock Indian and a pioneer settler.
• SEAL - The seal of the Berwick Historical Society shall bear the following words, "Berwick Historical Society, Incorporated July 26, 1940," the arrangement thereof and the design to be approved by the board of directors.
• TAX EXEMPT STATUS - The Berwick Historical Society shall strive to maintain its tax exempt status.

Russel Fahringer,
Designer of The Berwick Historical Society Logo

The Berwick Historical Society is fortunate to have had our logo designed by such a distinguished member of Berwick and world history. The logo shows the American Car and Foundry (ACF) surrounded by an Indian teepee, a log cabin and the profiles of a Susquehannock Indian and a pioneer settler. Along with designing the Society’s logo, Russel also painted two murals in The First Baptist Church on Front Street in Berwick, and designed and copyrighted in 1936 a Romance Map commemorating the Berwick Sesquicentennial (1786-1936). He also did a mural of the Liberty Bell which still hangs in the Hotel Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA. Russel was the second eldest of nine children born to Harry and Nellie Fahringer on August 4, 1908 in Berwick, PA.

The following is Russel Fahringer’s obituary, published Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2001 in the St. Augustine Record, St. Augustine Florida: Russel Fahringer, a 26 year resident of St. Augustine, 92, a commercial artist and World War II veteran, died February 17, 2001, after a life well-lived. He studied as a commercial artist at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art in the 1920s, and he traveled the Midwest throughout the 1930s painting murals and illustrating historical maps. He was a combat engineer in World War II in the European theater where he moved with Allied Forces from North Africa into Italy and into Europe, leading a unit tasked to clear the beaches of obstacles the morning of the D-Day invasion.  Russel worked for studios in New York City after the war and studied at the New York Art Students League, painting and illustrating for magazines and galleries. He worked later as the director of an art department for a U.S. Government facility and retired to St. Augustine in 1975, where he was a member of the St. Augustine Art Association for 25 years. He said the measure of a man’s life was that he left the world a better place than when he entered it; his life measured up well.