Honoring John & Elizabeth Miller in the Miles-Humes House |
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 | View of the right side wall (shared with the Spangler Room) of the Miller Room on the first floor of the Miles-Humes House. |
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Over the past three years, staff at the PA Room and Historical Museum have been restoring meaning to the named rooms of the historic Miles-Humes House located at 203 N. Allegheny Street, Bellefonte. The most recent focus has been the Miller Room. The space is an important focal point of the building as it is home to the Pennsylvania Room’s computer stations, microfilmed records, newspaper clipping files and historic maps. This room, like all of the others throughout the Miles-Humes House, now sports new navy-blue carpeting made possible by a grant from the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. Notably, the Miller Room is also the most frequently visited room inside the Miles-Humes House in December, due in large part to the magnificent grand piano housed there. The 1890 Steinway, a gift of Frank Gullo and Nan Gullo Mann, was restored by donors in 1984-85, and dedicated to the community on March 16, 1986. It is tuned annually and put into active service for songs and performances during Bellefonte Victorian Christmas. Current visitors to the Miller Room will notice two handsome additions: newly displayed portraits of John Black Miller (1903–1975) and his wife, Elizabeth Miller (1909–2011), both in prominent positions on the east wall. John, fondly known as “Big John,” left an enduring mark on Centre County. In addition to his service in military intelligence with the Army Air Corps during World War II, he spent his civilian career at Bellefonte High School as a mathematics teacher, football coach, athletic director, and head of the mathematics department. While he coached football, he led the players to so many nearly perfect seasons that the team was briefly nicknamed the “Millerites.” The Miller Room itself was named in his honor due to the contributions of countless admirers of his coaching and teaching expertise who wished to recognize his lasting influence. Elizabeth Miller was equally remarkable. A passionate supporter of libraries, museums, and the arts, she helped establish the now-renowned Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, was herself a talented painter and served as the first Head Docent at Penn State’s Palmer Museum of Art. She was a member of The Antiquists, a State College based club of women interested in antiques, and a Friend of the Centre County Library and Historical Museum. We are proud to now display portraits of both John and Elizabeth Miller in the Miller Room—where their presence can continue to inspire students, researchers, and lifelong learners. By sharing their stories more visibly, we hope to honor their legacy and the deep contributions they made to the Centre County community. We are indebted to Pamela Miller, the only child of John and Elizabeth. For the past 18 months, from her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Pamela has guided our efforts to honor her parents’ lives and significance in Centre County. Her willingness to share wonderful family stories has made possible a depth of knowledge that would otherwise not exist. Her financial support has helped to physically restore her parents’ portraits and photos. We are filled with gratitude for all of it. |
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The PA Room has added new books to the collection! |
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 | "New" books are in the PA Room! Some of these books have been recently published, but others have been recently donated, found, or catalogued. | - Clinton County: a Journey Through Time edited by Susan Bossert Hannegan and Jean Simmons May
- The Pennsylvania delegation to the Continental Congress, 1778-1789 their contributions to the development of the United States: a research study of select PA delegates by Anita Spenik Rogowski
- History of the Marsh Creek Advent Church and cemetery 1849-2024 by the Advent Historical Society
- The Pennsylvania Turnpike: a history by Dan Cupper
- Index to History of Centre and Clinton Counties by Thomas J. Mitchell
- Pennsylvania births, Montgomery County, 1682-1800 by John T. Humphrey
- A Geography of Pennsylvania by Willard E. Miller
- Union County Sesquicentennial: the story of a county, 1813-1963 by the Union County Historical Society
- Historical sketch of the war of the rebellion, from 1861-1865 by Edgar Albert Werner
- 1911, the Austin Flood by Paul Heimel
- History and topography of Northumberland, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Centre, Union, Columbia, Juniata and Clinton Counties, PA by Daniel I. Rupp
- Union County, Pennsylvania: a celebration of history by Charles McCool Snyder
- A History of Titan: a business history of the Titan Metal Manufacturing Company by William E. Hurley
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PA Photos and Documents Collection Uploads |
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Two new collections from Centre County Library & Historical Museum have been digitized, annotated, and uploaded to the PA Photos and Documents database maintained by Pennsylvania’s Electronic Library (POWER Library). These join 9 other collections of material (photographs, documents, letters, and other ephemera) our organization has uploaded to this database. They represent only a small portion of history that fills the rooms of the Miles-Humes House. Please take some time to look at these new collections and discover something you never knew about Pennsylvania history! |  | Centre County School Class Photographs Photographs of Centre County, Pennsylvania school class pictures showing the class as a group. The classes include high school, junior high and grade school students with their teachers, and even classes of nurses. Such photographs go back to at least 1887 and are mostly from the early 1900’s. | | | Centre County Gregg Post No. 95 Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Veteran Book This collection contains scanned images of a “Civil War Sketch Book” or a book containing hand written records of military service for every member of a veteran post. These records come from members of the 1-Gregg Post No. 95 of the Grand Army of the Republic who served the Union Army, Navy, and Marines during the Civil War of the United States of America. People of note included in this collection’s military service records include (but are not limited to) PA state governor Andrew Curtin and members of the Benner, Maitland, Valentine, Harris, Beaver, Yeager, Woodring, Musser, Kurtz, Gregg, Lieb, and Blanchard families. |
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Honoring the Legacy of Genealogist Susan Stranahan Moskaly |
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| | | | | | The Pennsylvania Room at the Miles-Humes House in Centre County recently received an extremely generous contribution to honor the memory of genealogist Susan Stranahan Moskaly. The donation was made from a distant cousin related through an 18th century Centre County settler. Susan resided in Eureka, California. She was raised in Ohio, was valedictorian of her high school, graduated from Ohio State University and danced as a professional ballerina until her 30's. She went on to work for BP (British Petroleum) for the next 30 years, most of those as an accountant. She had to retire early for health reasons, but then pursued genealogy with all the skills and professionalism she used as an accountant. In addition to the original historical research she did, she was well known on Ancestry for pushing the bounds of autosomal DNA research. She did this by using the DNA matches of over a dozen individuals related to Thomas Cornett Parsons (1745-1837). She found several Parsons men related to Thomas and conducted a Y DNA study at Family Tree DNA. Regarding her original historical research, she definitively proved the father of Thomas was Isaac of Harford County, MD. Her original research about Thomas is available in his “gallery” in Susan’s public tree at Ancestry. In June 2024, Susan and her husband embarked on a “genealogical journey” in their RV camper visiting sites and final resting places of relatives. In the course of their journey they visited the Pennsylvania Room at the Miles-Humes House. Using cemetery guides from the library collection, they were able to track down the graves of Thomas Parsons and other distant relatives in a tiny family cemetery, miles from the library. Sadly, Susan passed away March 13, 2025 at the age of 74. The donation was made by Susan’s sixth cousin once removed and honors Susan's body of work, her considerable intelligence and her dedication to genealogy. Finally, it will help ensure that the Pennsylvania Room can continue to provide answers to questions from centuries past. | | | | | |
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We invite you to explore Susan’s extensive family tree, available on Ancestry.com (search Susan Stranahan Family Tree). You can view it at home if you’re a subscriber, or access it for free through the Ancestry Library Edition at any of our library locations in Bellefonte, Centre Hall, and Philipsburg. Susan’s commitment to recording her family’s story and uncovering the lives of her ancestors is an inspiring reminder of the importance of preserving history.
May her work spark new curiosity, better research habits, and renewed dedication in all who follow in her footsteps.
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| | Thank you for reading the Miles-Humes House Newsletter! We value your interest and involvement in preserving the history of Centre County. Please stay in touch with us by following us on social media (links below) or coming by for a visit anytime Monday-Friday 12 PM to 5 PM! You may always respond to this email with any comments or questions. Have a wonderful rest of your day! | | | | | | | | |
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