On Monday, January 22, Jenkintown School District and the Jenkintown Library will unseal personal essays written by teens from Jenkintown High School’s Local History class in 1976.
According to Jenkintown 150’s coordinators, the essays describe life as a Jenkintown teen in the Bicentennial year.
The envelope containing the essays was unearthed by Ben Bergman as he was sifting through the library’s archives for memorabilia to use for the Jenkintown 150 website. Taped to it is the typed assignments sheet pictured below:
“I brought it to the librarian’s attention, and she contacted principal Thomas Roller, who then contacted the teacher, Dan Chittik,” Bergman said.
Chittik told Jenkintown 150 that the assignment was one of the first he gave out as a teacher at Jenkintown. 48 years ago, he sealed the envelope and gave it to the library for safe keeping.
He recently gave the library permission to unseal it for the 150th anniversary.
“We have an archive cabinet which has a lot of things that have been in storage many years,” Nina Meister, Jenkintown Library’s director, said. “When we found this in December, we were really excited and thought it’d be a perfect way to honor history in the 150th anniversary of our town.”
The archive dig found other antiquated gems as well: a map circa 1920, building plans, an old audio recording from a radio show celebrating Jenkintown, and the library’s very first board meeting minutes from 1803.
Jenkintown Borough’s first meeting’s board minutes, circa 1903
“We don’t know what’s in the envelope,” Meister said. “It’s a really cool piece of Jenkintown history that we want to share.”
The unsealing will take place at the library at 11:30am on Monday, January 22, the anniversary of its due date. The event will be livestreamed via the Jenkintown Library’s Facebook feed.
Quotes from the essays will also be posted on Jenkintown 150’s Facebook and Instagram pages, and essays will be displayed in the library throughout the year, Bergman and Meister said.
In related news, Jenkintown 150 launched its website on January 1. Check it out for more history, a lineup of events, and more. You can also check out Jenkintown 150’s Facebook page for updates.
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Photos: Jenkintown 150