Thursday, March 21, 2013

SRAC Receives Unique Local Artifacts

Mark Orshaw (left) stands with SRAC's Collections Lead Donald Hunt with the ceremonial pick and turtle effigy


(WAVERLY, NY) Avid collector Mark Orshaw has fond memories of his old friend Bernie Safford who passed away several years ago. The two spent many hours looking for Native American artifacts together as they walked the local fields. In fact, when Bernie died, his wife Mary contacted Mark to give him one of Bernie’s prized artifacts to go with another that Bernie had given him years before.
As with many collectors, Mark has kept the artifacts together and displayed them over the years, but recently has come to a point in his life when he has decided to downsize his collection.  As a result, he made a call to the Susquehanna River Archaeological Center (SRAC) in Waverly, NY who had acquired the Bernie Safford collection a few years ago and has a large case dedicated to him in their museum.  Today, the ceremonial pick and the turtle effigy have been returned to the Bernie Safford collection at SRAC, where they will be on display for the public to enjoy.

SRAC’s cofounder and executive director, Deb Twigg commented,” We want to thank Mark Orshaw for donating these two very rare pieces to SRAC and reuniting them with Bernie’s collection. I am sure that the public as well as researchers will be interested in taking a look at these significant pieces.”

SRAC has a huge museum filled with local Native American artifacts found by our local collectors and is located at 345 Broad Street in Waverly, NY and is open from 1-5 pm Tuesdays through Fridays and 11am – 5pm Saturdays.  For more information visit www.SRACenter .org.

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