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WORLD WAR II & SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

DIGITAL STORYTELLING PREMIERE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018 / 6PM-8PM

Southminster Presbyterian Church

WELCOME & OPENING REMARKS
Opening Remarks

Dr. Christina Fisanick, Associate Professor of
English, California University of Pennsylvania
Mr. Robert Stakeley, Educator and Director
of the HCAP Program, Heinz History Center

SPRING 2018 DIGITAL STORIES

“The Mad Russian"
Fayette County Historical Society
Sharena Groover, Britney Galik,
Abigale King, Sarah Crayton

“Carnegie's Hometown Heroes"
Historical Society of Carnegie
Hannah Wyman, Logan Abersold,
Carl Anderson, Kaitlyn Collins

“Friday the 13th"
Mount Lebanon Historical Society
MaryGrace Long, Kendall
Clevenger, Laura Lucks, Kole Miller

"Trolleys in WWII"
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
McKayla Kling, Ireland Killen, Will
Hebda, Maria Kleck

Walter H. Luther Jr.'s unit. Normandy, July 1944.
634th A.A.A. AW Battalion.

"Her"
Duncan Miller Glass Museum
Caitlyn Copson, Savannah
Davis, Kayla Kunkel, Emily Lucas

"Prisoners of War"
Fayette Co. Historical Society
Melanie Harvey, Loralee Nemetz
Imani Brown

"Fighting for Peace"
Bethel Park Historical Society
Kelsie Drennen, LynnJoelle
Gardner, Jordan Hurt, Abbie
Reichelderfer

"A Father's Love"
Bethel Park Historical Society
Shaylie Augustine, Madison Kirk

"A Boy from Brownsville"
Brownsville Area Revitalization
Crop.
Andrew Yankovich, Jacob
Pasko, Morgen Fraser

"Women of War Time"
Monongahela Historical Society
Kayla Boardley, Larry Wiles,
Patrick Skinner

Betty Stephens (Sweeney) was enlisted as a truck driver in the
Marine Corps during WWII. She raised her family in Murrysville.

"Hurrah for Industry in Donora"
Donora Historical Society and
Smog Mueum

PROGRAM

Jensen DiCarlo, Blaine HillBanks, Jahneek Fant,
Christopher Girardi

“Letters Home”
Fayette Co. Historical Society
Michaela Tubbs, Dan Nuttall,
Sam Cole, Sera Diliscia

"A Small Town Hero"
Donora Historical Society and
Smog Museum
Maria Dovshek, Destiny Ortiz,
Emily Sloan, Kayla Clark

The shortest
distance between
two people is a
story.
Robert Lunsford Jr., 17, of Woods Run was drafted into the Army in 1945
and served in Occupied Germany.

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
CalU's Manderino Library was selected as one
of a handful of sites to feature the traveling
World War II exhibit by the Heinz History Center.
The We Can Do It! WWII traveling exhibit
explores Western Pennsylvania’s incredible
impact on the home, industrial, and battle fronts
during World War II.

Visitors to the exhibit learn about the
development of the jeep, a uniquely American
invention produced by the American Bantam
Car Company in Butler, Pa., and hear the stories
behind Rosie the Riveter and the local Tuskegee
Airmen whose contributions helped to turn the
tide of the war.

History Center Affiliate Program institutions are
encouraged to display WWII-related items from
their collections as part of the exhibit, which
includes artifacts, previously unseen
photographs, and large museum panels
highlighting Western Pa.’s contributions to WWII.

In the end, we'll all
become stories.
Margaret Atwood

Dorothy Walker had her picture taken in 1944 when she worked as a
welder for American Bridge Co. in Ambridge, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel.

Our Story
Not long after earning a Certificate in Digital
Storytelling, Dr. Christina Fisanick of California
University of Pennsylvania joined forces with Mr. Robert
Stakeley of the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh to help
tell the stories of northern Appalachia and its people.
Their collaboration with the Cal U Honors Program and
the Heinz History Center Affiliates Program (HCAP) has
led to the creation of more than 180 digital stories in
seven counties in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio,
and northern West Virginia. More than 200 Cal U
students have worked with more than 70 historical
societies and organizations to put words and images
together in riveting, short videos that have been shared
across the nation and the world. We believe that we
must tell our stories or they will be told for us.

Special Thanks
President Geraldine Jones, President and CEO Dr. Andy
Masich, Dr. Craig Fox, Dr. M.G. Aune, Kim Orslene, Dr.
Gary DeLorenzo, Dr. Laura Tuennerman, Professor Bill
Meloy, Manderino Library, Robert Prah, Dean Kristen
Majocha, Dr. Yugo Ikach, Monongahela Historical Society,
Fayette County Historical Society, Brownsville
Revitalization Corp., Bethel Park Historical Society,
Historical Society of Carnegie, Mount Lebanon Historical
Society, Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum,
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Duncan and Miller Glass
Museum, Monongahela Area Historical Society

Cover Image: (Left to right) Bill and Ruth Rentz Malsch and
friends. Rattlesnake Bomber Base, Pyote, Texas 1945. Bill and
Ruth met while serving at Pyote and were married in 1945.

Our Missions
The University Honors Program strives to provide a
select group of students with a safe, supportive
community in which to excel academically,
socially, and professionally. Our students pursue
innovative, hands-on research projects and take
classes with other high-achieving students taught
by CalU’s most distinguished faculty. They have
opportunities to make the most of their education
and excel in the post-graduation world, whether it
be in graduate or professional school or a
challenging and rewarding career.

The History Center Affiliates Program (HCAP)
includes more than 125 regional historical societies
and organizations dedicated to preserving local
history. Affiliate Program members include history,
genealogy, and library organizations located
primarily within the counties of Western
Pennsylvania. Membership in the program brings
the extensive expertise and resources of the
History Center’s staff to these organizations,
especially in the areas of museum and archival
work that enable each affiliate organization to
reach its goals.

Our Missions
To advance its ultimate mission of building the
character and careers of students, California
University of Pennsylvania shall focus its efforts on
three goals: student achievement and success,
institutional excellence, and community service.
These interrelated ends will be facilitated by the
following means: high quality faculty, students,
programs and facilities. These means, in turn, will
be funded through an energetic program of
resource acquisition and stewardship.

The Senator John Heinz History Center is an
educational institution that engages and inspires a
large and diverse audience with links to the past,
understanding in the present, and guidance for
the future by preserving regional history and
presenting the American experience with a
Western Pennsylvania connection.This work is
accomplished in partnership with others through
archaeology, archives, artifact collections,
conservation, educational programs, exhibitions,
library, museums, performance, publications,
research, technical assistance, and increasingly
through broadcast media and the internet.