By: Ryan Bowman, HAHS President
November 3, 2024
I am an lover of records. Phonograph recordings in one way or another have been around since the late 1800’s. By the 1930’s the company RCA Victor started the first commercially viable recordings which through physical changes, technological advancements, and competition from other enterprising companies, would eventually become what we call “vinyl records”.
By the 1970’s however, record sales were in decline, being pushed aside by first 8 tracks, then cassettes, and by the early 1990’s the compact disc (CDs). The record industry has made quite a comeback in the past 15-20 years with a 46% growth in sales just from 2019 to 2020! Not only is the sound quality of this music reminiscent of having the artist in the room with you, but playing records also brings a sense of nostalgia that completely speaks to so many. The lure? Being disconnected from the internet is a definite plus, but the big draw for me is the simplicity. Just you. The player. The music. The moment.
Recently on a trip to Jim Thorpe, Traci and I wandered into a local record shop we enjoy there. While rummaging in the bins of old and new recordings, I came across an album released posthumously just this year, by Johnny Cash, entitled “Songwriter.” It consists of 11 songs that Johnny recorded in 1993, during a time when he was between record deals, and as crazy as it may seem to us now, considered not “commercially viable” by labels. The project was shelved 27 years ago and recently re-produced and released by his son, John Carter Cash, to an eagerly awaiting fanbase. Of course, the recording is a gem from the legendary “Man in Black.”
The other evening as I enjoyed this musical selection on my own turntable for the first time, and those “hidden” tunes filled the night air, it got me thinking. I would argue that many of us create similar treasures that can go unseen for years. I assume you know the type? An event put aside because the timing was not, “right”? A project shelved, knowing others are not quite ready? A moment of creativity dashed as a “foolish” thought? A family or local tradition that vanishes for some unknown reason. These forgotten moments often times lay in wait until someone kicks over the stone under which they’ve been lying and sees the magical promise of what has been there all along. To take part in their rebirth, all we need to do is be ready and willing to put in the work.
Here at the Halifax Area Historical Society, those are the very moments that we hunt for from our community’s past. It is no secret that our mission here is to find such points in time, study them, draw from them the lessons they hold, and then excite others about them, continuing to build upon those moments for the enjoyment, education and enlightenment of future generations.
As I have said MANY times before publicly and privately – it is my personal belief that this course, run with proper motivations, can in due time change our families, our community, our state, our country, and perhaps long after the ripple has been started - our world. The benefits of this, far more than any other change, including our leadership in Washington, (of which we all focus on with distracted, laser-like intensity), are the underlying foundations of the society created centuries ago by our founding fathers and mothers. That very society, and course they entrusted to us.
By the time this article is published, our kickoff event of the program season, the Round the River’s Bend 30th Anniversary big screen movie showing at the Colonnade Theater in Millersburg will have passed, and a new program season will be in full swing. We invite you out to see those things that our volunteers have been working on.
Please look at the program schedule and mark your calendars to come out and support us over the subsequent months. Bring a friend or loved one! We also request (as we have many times before), that as members, you find it in your heart to give us some of your valuable time as a committed volunteer for one of the many undertakings that your volunteer-only run, non-profit organization oversees. Such assistance allows us to grow the society, build upon those magical moments, and as always, to preserve the past, for the future.
The many projects, dreams and traditions that have been piled into the storage shed of life are out there waiting for us. Let’s roll up our sleeves, pull them off the shelf and blow the dust off together. What we find there could be some of the most memorable moments the Halifax area has to offer.
Either way, it’ll be a whole lot of fun. So get out here with us to make some beautiful music & while we’re at it, help us make history.
Ryan Bowman
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