Churches can be among the most interesting examples of architecture in a community--yet, as we are finding more and more frequently, they can be the most easily lost. Anything can hit them, from bankruptcy to a shift in demographics to a fire.
Does your community have any closed, lost, or abandoned church buildings? Ours does. And what can we do about them? Not much, unless we are extremely well-stocked with money. WE are not, as it happens.
But there's the Philly Church Project, to show us a way even the rather poor might take in dealing with the problem. Go to the Philadelphia Church Project, www.philly churchproject.com, and you will behold a virtual museum of sacred architecture in one city. Some of it no longer exists in "real" reality, but it does live on in cyberspace.
A project like this can be a real service to local and Pennsylvania history. If it covers a reasonably small community, it can be within the reach of a small historical society. If you have some internet and camera chops, it may even be within your own reach.
If you try it, let me know what you come up with. Maybe we can link up.
Great idea! We need to do this for the Bethlehem churches.
ReplyDeleteSo, pass it on to SBHS's archivist. SBHS could do this right away, I think, and get a lot of credit for it. Our guy is perhaps just a little overwhelmed at the moment.
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