Hill Collection Added To SRAC Exhibit - NEWS RELEASE

From left - right : George Hill, Ted Keir, Tom Vallilee

The Susquehanna River Archaeological Center (SRAC) has recently received another donation of Native Indian artifacts by a local collector. George W. Hill of Lowman, New York donated approximately 300 artifacts and several books after attending SRAC’s “DrumBeats Through Time” event on October 25th. This event included the opening of the SRAC Exhibit Hall which displays thousands of locally found artifacts donated by many collectors from around the region.

SRAC is dedicated to education, research and preservation of the region's Native American archaeological, cultural and historical assets for the communities within the Twin Tier Region of Southeastern NY and Northeastern PA. Prior to the Hill donation, the 5 year old organization had 7 collections donated to them, which until the opening of the Exhibit Hall was created at the Center, remained in storage off site for safe keeping.

Because SRAC is dedicated to preserving local collections, a unique feature of the collections on display includes the collector’s name and picture next to their artifacts. SRAC’s executive director explained, “At this year’s DrumBeats we recognized each collector that donated their collections to us to date. In the future, we will make a special portion of each DrumBeat event to recognize the collectors for that year.” She added, “We do this to make sure that our collectors know that we understand that these artifacts, that many have found themselves, sometimes over a lifetime, are not only scientific evidence, but mementos of a person’s life; and they deserve to be recognized in that way as well.”

SRAC is located at 345 Broad Street in Waverly, NY and houses a large gift shop and exhibit hall that are open from 1-5 pm Tuesdays through Fridays and from 11 – 4pm on Saturdays. Group tours are available to clubs, bus tours and local schools by appointment, and a lecture about our local prehistory is also available upon request. The lecture area, which seats 75 people is also in use for many events throughout each month of the year, and available to rent as well. To learn more about SRAC, visit www.SRACenter.org, or call the Center at (607)-565-7960.