All the Saltsburg Academy school children had to be grinning from ear to ear. They'd just given their headmaster a leather-bound album full of those new-fangled photographs, many of which happened to include Saltsburg scenes--not to mention their own faces!! It apparently included a picture of friends and a salt well here. The gift meant a lot to Professor J. W. Foster, and he took care to see that it would last. Foster nor his students probably had no idea, that day in 1865, the book would still be around 140 years later.

from Prof. Foster's album: photo of salt well derrick (upper left) is rare

Fast-forward to the mid-1900s, in Saltsburg. The little girl's mother put away the Christmas cards carefully, next to the embossed postcards. There was quite a collection the mom had saved during the first half of the 20th century, and one day she would give them to her little daughter. That little girl, Mary Gladys, grew up and became a first-grade teacher, keeping the assortment of cards that now reflected the entire 20th century. And sitting in one of Mary Gladys McPhilimy Ferguson Hazlet's first grade classrooms was little Jack Maguire.

Hang on, the pieces and players all come together. Really.

Cards from Mrs. Hazlet

The Rebecca B. Hadden Stone House Museum in Saltsburg is full of interesting memorabilia about Saltsburg and our nation's history--you never know what you might find there. They have an editor's desk from the old newspaper (now on microfilm at the Museum) from a century ago.

There is a big sleigh in the middle of the floor. Items related to the salt industry from TWO centuries ago. A Civil War dagger and gun. A bottle of petroleum drilled from the Alle-Kiski region and sold as medicine guaranteed to heal the lame and cure the blind—yikes! And even a display about my personal AK Hero of Heritage, Samuel Kier, whose bottling the oil as medicine played a big part in America's first big oil strike in Titusville, PA. (You can read about it in the Our Local Heritage archives at http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com)

Mary Ellen Neff-Miller, in costume, holds a reproduction of Professor Foster's book

Now the card collection, and a reproduction of the 1865 photo album are on display at Saltsburg's Hadden Stone House Museum. The Saltsburg Area Historical Society recently obtained the card compilation and the professor's actual 1865 photo album keepsake (they've reproduced the fragile album for use in public viewing.) and their story is fascinating.

Mary Gladys McPhilimy Ferguson Hazlet kept the cards and lived in the area through her 90s. Hazlet, a distant relative of Mary Ellen Neff-Miller (the current Historical Society President) was also a trustee of the Society as well as a teacher. She gave the card collection to the Museum. It is an interesting chronological pictorial American history.

This isn't Prof. Foster, but this Victorian Gentleman showed up at the Society's Light-Up night

Professor Foster's photo keepsake album has a more complicated story. It is not clear where Headmaster Foster or the album went after 1865. Saltsburg Academy eventually closed in the early 1900s after morphing into the local public school and moving, but the actual building still stands. You'll never guess who owns it (HINT: it's one of our players.) The entire album was forgotten to history…until the Internet.

Enter eBay.

The Hadden Stone House Museum's pump organ, almost a century-old, was featured at the event

One day out of the blue, someone contacted the Borough secretary about a book of pictures about Saltsburg for sale online at eBay. They noted it on a piece of paper and gave it to Jack Maguire, retired civil engineer (he's the guy helping push those beautiful Saltsburg parks and trails), Saltsburg historian, and—the little guy from Mrs. Hazlet's first grade I mentioned earlier. And Jack JUST happens to own the storage building that was, yep you guessed it, Saltsburg Academy. Who woulda thunk it?

Maguire, who'd just returned from vacation, checked it out online. It was still for sale by a New York seller who'd picked it up at a New York auction (how the book got there is still a mystery.) He'd already sold some photos from the book he thought perhaps unrelated. The book still had photos of a Captain Weaver, and others who were Saltsburg students, such as hardware store owner J.C. Moore. But the photo of the salt well was gone. It was for sale on eBay separately, and there was little time left!

Maguire had to move fast but was able to buy it. Good thing. It may be one of the only photos of Alle-Kiski salt wells in existence. In it, the salt derrick was next to some men standing next to a building. On the back of the photo, it read "Saltsburg House inmates to Prof. J.W. Foster from WEM." (Maguire believes the photo was from W. E. Martin, and the "inmates" reference was a humorous way of talking about residents of Saltsburg House, which was similar to a boarding house for Academy students who were from out-of-town farms.)

Obtaining Professor Foster's complete book, however, would be difficult—there was some big money involved. Jack Maguire immediately talked to the Society President, Mary Ellen Neff-Miller, and to the rest of the Society. "We were all in one mind: we need to bring that back to Saltsburg," Jack says. Mary Ellen, recently retired after teaching Math for 36 years in Saltsburg and Blairsville, remembers thinking, "It was too good to pass up. We may never get another opportunity. You get one crack, one chance in a lifetime, it may never come home again." She told him "We'll get the money somehow."

They did get it, over 700 dollars—and enough to buy the book, a gold mine of pictures and information about various historically prominent Saltsburg families. "It's kind of exciting to have it back in Saltsburg," Mary Ellen says. In some need of restoration, the reproduction is on display for now. You can see Professor Foster's amazing Saltsburg book and Mrs. Hazlet's astounding card collection at Saltsburg's Rebecca B. Hadden Stone House Museum on Wednesdays from 10am to 2pm. Call 724-837-4303 for more information.

You're invited to a Christmas party!! The Saltsburg Area Historical Society had it's Christmas Party at the Museum the day after Thanksgiving, but you're still welcome to stop by the party online! Our Local Heritage visited the party as the Society sang carols to melodies piped by the Museum's antique pump organ and decorated the Christmas tree. We videoed the festivities and featured the Professor's picture book and Mrs. Hazlet's cards. Check out the online video, A Saltsburg Christmas Party At The Haddens, at http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1624