{"id":8780,"date":"2013-09-19T15:27:35","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T19:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=8780"},"modified":"2013-09-19T15:27:35","modified_gmt":"2013-09-19T19:27:35","slug":"votes-sought-to-save-abolitionists-treasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=8780","title":{"rendered":"Votes sought to save abolitionists’ treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chester County Historical Society artifact \u00a0on Pa. ‘endangered’ list<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"CCHS\"<\/a>In 1855, forced to make a decision most people never face, Passmore Williamson chose going to prison over going against his principles.<\/p>\n

Williamson was jailed for not cooperating in recovering Jane Johnson, an enslaved woman who sought and gained freedom in Pennsylvania with his assistance. Williamson spent 100 days in Philadelphia\u2019s Moyamensing Prison before he was released, according to the Chester County Historical Society (CCHS).<\/p>\n

While imprisoned, Williamson took the unusual step of keeping a visitors\u2019 book that names the over 500 men, women and children who visited him in jail to show their support. The log is a CCHS holding \u00a0that has been deemed one of Pennsylvania\u2019s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts. It is also part of an innovative six-week online campaign that opens today.\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Williamson\u2019s book contains the signatures of Frederick Douglass and hundreds of other notable supporters, including Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman; William Still, who later published a history of the Underground Railroad; and Mary Ann Shadd, the first African American woman to publish a newspaper in North America. Tucked in the back of the book is a letter conveying gratitude from Jane Johnson, who was then living safely in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rob Lukens, president of the Chester County Historical Society, said he was thrilled that the book was selected as part of the campaign. \u201cIt\u2019s such an inspiring object from a turbulent and significant time in our country\u2019s history,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Top 10 campaign will not only make people aware of the book and Passmore Williamson\u2019s courage, it will raise the funds needed to make sure his book is preserved for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts, a statewide initiative created by the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) <\/b>\u2013 the largest nonprofit conservation center in the country \u2013 began in January with a statewide call to nonprofit institutions in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to submit artifacts demonstrably in need of conservation. An independent review panel of collections care professionals chose the top 10 artifacts from 60 submissions, based on their historical and cultural significance and need for conservation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b>\u201cOur goal with this campaign is to showcase the state\u2019s historic treasures and the need to preserve and protect our heritage for future generations,\u201d said Ingrid Bogel, executive director of CCAHA. \u201cWe\u2019ve created this program to give institutions a new platform through which to share their stories and to give people a chance to show their support by voting as many times as they\u2019d like, sharing their favorite artifacts with friends through social media and supporting the conservation of these artifacts with online donations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voting begins on Sept. 19 and ends on Friday, November 1 at midnight. Participants are encouraged to vote for their favorite artifact, click to share their vote on Facebook and Twitter, and send a tax-deductible donation to help conserve the artifact. <\/b>At the conclusion of the campaign, institutions that meet their fund-raising goals will begin the conservation process, and the artifact garnering the most votes will be named the winner of The People\u2019s Choice Award. To vote, visit https:\/\/patop10artifacts.org\/visitors-book<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts is <\/b>supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and by The Beneficial Foundation. The project is part of CCAHA\u2019s Save Pennsylvania\u2019s Past initiative, a multi-year, statewide effort to protect and preserve the millions of objects and historic artifacts that shape the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania\u2019s history and define our nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chester County Historical Society artifact \u00a0on Pa. ‘endangered’ list In 1855, forced to make a decision most people never face, Passmore Williamson chose going to prison over going against his principles. Williamson was jailed for not cooperating in recovering Jane Johnson, an enslaved woman who sought and gained freedom in Pennsylvania with his assistance. Williamson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2637,3243,3244,3245,3246],"class_list":["post-8780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-chester-county-historical-society-cchs","tag-frederick-douglass","tag-moyamensing-prison","tag-passmore-williamson","tag-pennsylvanias-top-10-endangered-artifacts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}