SCHWENKFELDER
LIBRARY & HERITAGE CENTER
105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA 18073
Phone 215-679-3103; Fax 215-679-8175
info@schwenkfelder.com
www.schwenkfelder.com
Subject: News Release Boyertown Opera House Fire Talk
March 14, 2008
Contact: David W. Luz
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
215-679-3103, phone;
215-679-8175, fax
BOYERTOWN OPERA HOUSE FIRE TALK AT THE HERITAGE CENTER
PENNSBURG, Pa. - The Board of Directors of the Friends of the Schwenkfelder
Library & Heritage Center, 105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, invites the public to
the Annual Meeting and presentation by Mary Jane Lentz, The Boyertown Opera
House Fire, on Sunday, March 30, 2008, at 2:00 pm in the Heritage Center Meeting
Room. The presentation will begin at 2:30 pm immediately following the Friends'
business meeting. Refreshments will be served following the program.
Mary Jane Lentz will share stories of the Boyertown Opera House fire
of January 11, 1908, that claimed the lives of 170 people. The
conflagration, one of the worst disasters to hit Pennsylvania in the 20th
century, resulted in the State Legislature of Pennsylvania's move to enact
common sense laws designed to protect lives. Come and hear Ms. Lentz tell us
about this community tragedy.
Mary Jane Lentz was the editor of The Boyertown Area Times from 1966 to her
retirement in 1989. During that time she collected information about the
Boyertown Opera House Fire and published articles about the fire in the paper
each year on its anniversary date. She is the author of two books:
"Midwinter Mourning," The Boyertown Opera House Fire, Volume I , published in
1991 and "A Town in Tragedy," The Boyertown Opera House Fire, Volume II,
published in 1992. President of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper
Editors, she also served two terms as director of the Pennsylvania Society of
Newspaper Editors. She has taught workshops for weekly newspaper editors and
creative writing courses in the adult education program of the Boyertown Area
School District. She was an adjunct professor of journalism at Temple
University, Philadelphia. Born in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, she is a graduate of
Hamburg High School and Albright College, Reading.
The Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center was founded in 1884 as an informal
collection in a private home to assure the preservation of the Schwenkfelders'
cultural identity. Today the Heritage Center, a not-for-profit organization, is
still preserving, interpreting, and documenting the history of this German
Protestant group, along with the history of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. The
Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm; Thursdays 9:00 am to 8:00 pm; Saturdays 10:00
am to 3:00 pm; and Sundays 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The Heritage Center is closed to the
public on Mondays. For additional information call 215-679-3103 or visit our
website www.schwenkfelder.com
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David W. Luz
Executive Director
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
105 Seminary Street
Pennsburg, PA 18073
Tel. 215-679-3103
Fax 215-679-8175
email: info@schwenkfelder.com
www.schwenkfelder.com