Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) today announced the appointment of Mike Emery to the position of site administrator at Cornwall Iron Furnace Historic Site, Lebanon County.
As site administrator, Emery will manage the overall operations of Cornwall Iron Furnace. This includes the maintenance of its significant historic structures, care of its collections, fundraising, budgeting, planning and developing annual programs, and supervising staff and volunteers. The site administrator provides subject matter expertise related to the furnace and its interpretive period. Emery will serve as liaison to the site’s membership-based support group, the Cornwall Iron Furnace Associates, as well as other neighboring community organizations.
“Mike brings a wealth of skills and talents as a museum educator, as well as a depth of historical knowledge, to this position,” said Brenda Reigle, Director of PHMC’s Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums. “He’ll be a great asset to both Cornwall Furnace and the commission.”
Emery has worked up through the ranks at PHMC, starting out as a custodial guide and then a guide supervisor at Daniel Boone Homestead. In 2000 he made the move to museum educator, serving at Landis Valley and Conrad Weiser Homestead. At Landis Valley, Emery was responsible for the Farm Program, the Heirloom Seed Program, and volunteer management, along with other programmatic duties.
Emery holds a Bachelor of Arts in history, with a minor in American studies, from Penn State University. His areas of expertise include Colonial American history and Pennsylvania German history and culture. He is coauthor with Irwin Richman of the books Yesterday’s Farm Tools & Equipment; Living Crafts, Historic Tools; Fruit in Graphic Art; Heirloom Gardens & Heirloom Seeds; and The Graphic Vegetable.
Originally built by Peter Grubb in 1742, and later acquired, renovated, and operated by the Coleman family in the 1800s, the Cornwall Iron Furnace, blast equipment, and related buildings still stand as they did over a century ago. Visitors can explore the rambling Gothic Revival buildings where cannons, stoves, and pig iron were cast, and where men labored day and night to satisfy the furnace’s appetite for charcoal, limestone, and iron ore.
For more information on Cornwall Iron Furnace, visit www.cornwallironfurnace.org
Media Contact: Howard Pollman, 717-705-8639