For More Information, Contact:
Ruth Tonachel, 570-268-4093

For Immediate Release
November 30, 2007

Barns Wanted!

Do you have an historic or unique barn? We are celebrating barns and looking for barns to include in a survey and other upcoming projects.

The Northern Tier Cultural Alliance (NTCA) is celebrating “2008: The Year of the Barn” in our region. It is our hope that residents and visitors alike will take time to appreciate the unique and varied architecture that surrounds us on local farms. Farm architecture can help us understand the lives of families who lived and worked in those buildings in the past as well as those who are doing so today.

The first phase of our Year of the Barn project is an inventory of regional barns. We have developed a comprehensive survey form and are now seeking public participation. If you have a barn and would be willing to complete a form, please download a form from the Projects & Programs Overview section of our website at www.ntculturalalliance.org or contact info@ntculturalalliance.org or Ruth Tonachel, Program Specialist at 570-268-4093 to obtain a copy. If you are interested in volunteering to conduct surveys, please call or email Ruth at tonachel@epix.net. While we don’t expect to document every single barn in the Northern Tier, we would like to include as many as possible, particularly the most historic and/or unique ones.

Information collected will be archived with NTCA in Bradford County and also added to other statewide inventories of historic barns if not already included. A variety of architectural types of barns will be selected for inclusion in a self-guided driving tour brochure. Participation in the survey does not commit one to being on the tour - no-one will be included without their permission.

In addition to the driving tour, NTCA will be producing a DVD that features interviews with farm families, photos of barns, history and folklore relating to Northern Tier agriculture and film of two barn dances to be held in 2008 in Potter and Bradford Counties. These items – the tour and the DVD – are designed to help both visitors and residents understand the role of farming in Northern Tier life and culture. In addition to the barns, we will be seeking out old-time musicians for the DVD.

Academic interpreters for this project include Dr. Sally McMurry, Penn State University Professor of History and Head of Department of History and Program in Religious Studies & Abby Werlock, Associate Professor of American Literature Emerita, St. Olaf College. Former PA State Representative, Sheila Miller, is also an advisor to the project.

For further information, contact the Northern Tier Cultural Alliance at 570-265-7455 or info@ntculturalalliance.org.

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