The Mechanicsburg
Museum Association

New Museum Hours
Wednesday - Saturday 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.
Sunday 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

"Keeping Our History Alive"

2 Strawberry Alley
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
(717) 697-6088

The Mechanicsburg Museum Association owns and houses thousands of artifacts and documents of and about Mechanicsburg.

The Norman Hunter Collection is one of the Mechanicsburg Museum Association's prized possessions. Hunter collected over 200 pictures and photographs of Mechanicsburg.

In the mid-1940s, Norman Hunter began his photography career as an assistant to James Childers, from whom he later bought what has since been called "Hunter's Studio." During his four decades of photography work, Norm duplicated all "old Mechanicsburg" pictures customers brought in for reproduction. Eventually he amassed over 200 pictures... pictures focusing on the architecture of area churches, banks, stores, and the town's fire companies... pictures spotlighting patriotic events including a visit by the Liberty Bell in 1902 and the town's Centennial in 1907... and, of course, pictures capturing the spirit of the people who lived here. Many photographs in the collection were taken by Norm himself.

With Norm's fascination of our town's bygone days, one would assume he was a Mechanicsburg native. Frank Norman Hunter was actually born in Philadelphia in 1916. His mother died when he was four months old and his father, at a loss to raise his son alone, brought the infant to Mechanicsburg to live with an aunt and uncle. Norm grew up on Broad Street, worked at Brunhouse Drugstore during high school, and married his high school sweetheart, Isabel Williams. They were married for 51 years! A heart murmur kept Norm out of the service during WWII, but he did his patriotic duty by inspecting 500-pound bombs manufactured in Steelton. Before embarking on his notable photographic career, Norm also worked at Gingrich Memorials.

Many will remember that the Hunters lived above the studio at 46 East Main Street before moving to East Maplewood Avenue. Norm's son, Gary Hunter, once said in an interview that he wanted his mother to be recognized for her contribution to his father's career. "She did all the front work," Gary explained, "making the appointments. But she's also the one that made the babies laugh as Dad shot the pictures." Gary also remembered that "Dad was always good with his hands, helping to design yearbooks in high school and painting sets for the class plays." At one point in time, Norm did all of the photography work for the "Artisan," the Mechanicsburg High School's yearbook.

Although Norm retired in 1987 and died in 1990, he lives on in those yearbooks and the countless photographs of Mechanicsburg's architecture and, more importantly, its people.

The James L. Young Collection

by Barry C. Kent

As long as the traveling exhibit is not scheduled for display at local schools, the Museum will be glad to loan it to interested parties upon the submission and approval of a written request.

James L. Young, who was born in the Gettysburg area, began collecting Indian artifacts in that region. He continued to collect almost until the time the collection was bequeathed to the Borough of Mechanicsburg in 1955. The James L. Young Collection is housed by the Mechanicsburg Museum Association. The collection consists of over 30,000 Native American arrowhead and artifacts.

Perhaps a quarter of the collection was found by Young in the York, Adams, and Cumberland County area. He identified most of the specimens that he collected in the area with labels or notes on box lids, as to farm owners or other designations which indicate the approximate locations of the various sites where they were found.

The remainder of the collection was purchased by Young from various Indian relic dealers in Pennsylvania and other states. Some of the artifacts were still in the original packages in which Young received them from the dealers. Some of the artifacts had labels or inked identifications indicating where they were originally found. When the Collection was being cataloged, it was noted that Young acquired a number of fake artifacts. These artifacts were subsequently set aside from the authentic relics.

As an aside, the vast majority of the artifacts were placed in cigar boxes. That being so, the Museum also houses an interesting collection of cigar boxes from the first half of the 20th century.

After the Collection had been thoroughly examined and cataloged, the Mechanicsburg Museum Association put together a traveling exhibit of Indian artifacts. This exhibit, in the form of a portable display case along with a few hands-on articles, continues to be displayed each year at local schools as part of the Museum's educational program.

© 2005-2008 Mechanicsburg Museum Association. All rights reserved.