Everhart Museum

The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art was founded by Dr. Isaiah Everhart, a Scranton-area philanthropist and ornithological enthusiast. When the museum opened its doors on May 30, 1908, there were only eight other public museums found in the Commonwealth, none of which were located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Dr. Everhart’s gift to the City of Scranton was intended to bring the world to his community. His goal was to create an institution that would “educate and delight for generations to come.”

Following military service as a surgeon during the American Civil War, Dr. Everhart conceived the idea of assembling a comprehensive collection of Pennsylvania's native birds and animals. A skilled taxidermist, he built a collection of mounted specimens which soon expanded into one of the finest and largest collections in the United States. In 1905, he composed a will specifying that funds from his estate be used to construct the "Dr. I.F. Everhart general museum to be built in Nay Aug Park in the City of Scranton, Pennsylvania," and that additional funds were to be used for an endowment to support such an institution. Dr. Everhart continued to collect specimens and three years after his will was prepared recognized the need to build the museum during his lifetime. In 1907 he publicly announced that he would provide funds and guidance for the creation of a museum "for the young and old of this generation and for all of those who follow after ... for their pleasure and education." Construction soon began and the original core building of the Everhart Museum was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1908. At that time, the Museum's collections primarily consisted of Dr. Everhart's ornithological specimens.

In honor of the Museum's founder, a bronze statue of Dr. Everhart and Lake Everhart were dedicated on May 20, 1911. Dr. Everhart died just five days later on May 25, 1911. During the 1920s, in order to satisfy Dr. Everhart's original plan calling for "three buildings forming three sides of a square, one for natural history, one for science, one for art," the Everhart Museum Trustees added two wings to the original building, completing construction in 1928. In 1962, a new small gallery was built in the basement, where regular changing exhibits could be displayed. During the 1980s the entire upper floor of the Museum was renovated to accommodate the permanent collections and to create a suite of temporary exhibition galleries.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the question of governance was becoming an issue for the Everhart. Funding sources, e.g. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, questioned the efficiency of the County Judges as trustees for a public, non-profit institution. In 1910, Dr. Everhart deemed the judges as the most “trustworthy” sector of the community to govern his newly created museum. During that period, the judges as the Board of Trustees watched over the museum’s operations with various degrees of interest and participation. Judges changed and the level of their time constraints and overall interest did not always formulate an atmosphere for a solid managerial foundation. Protocol precluded the judges from raising money from private parties and over the years various auxiliary groups helped in an assortment of ways to bring funding to the Everhart by holding a variety of events. Naturally, those volunteers eventually wanted to participate in determining the use of the money raised. The ideas put forth by the workers on these occasions failed to always meet the approval of the Trustees. Without any meaningful input in the museum’s operation, the motivation for continued support by disenfranchised volunteers waned and the museum become out of the focus of the region’s citizens. At the time, Robert N. Lettieri, a Scranton native, and longtime supporter of the arts, was serving on the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts under Governor Robert P. Casey. The PCA Panels, evaluating Everhart grant requests, questioned the anachronistic governance of the Everhart by the county judges. They felt their trusteeship was hindering the potential and progress to move forward. The PCA, as a major funder for the Everhart, anticipated that they could no longer guarantee continued support without the museum helping themselves through other funding channels. The PCA encouraged Mr. Lettieri to investigate the possibility of amending the will of Dr. Everhart in order to form a community board of directors. Mr. Lettieri approached the then museum director, Kevin O’Brien, on the subject. Mr. O’Brien met with the judges on a regular basis, and Mr. Lettieri asked to be included in order to make a proposal to them. Without hesitation, the judges welcomed the idea and were very receptive to Mr. Lettieri’s point of view. The meeting was attended by all but one of the judges, and accepted the basic premise of the presentation. They agreed to have Mr. Lettieri back the following month for a further review. Subsequently, the judges asked Mr. Lettieri form a community board from his experience with leaders in the arts and business community. The initial responsibilities of the board would be to manage the full operation of the museum for 2 years except for the approval of the budget and the engaging of the museum director. After the two-year period the judges would then evaluate the museum’s status before going to court to officially modify Dr. Everhart’s will. During that period, the museum‘s board began to evaluate the entire operation of all museum programs and the condition of the collections and the infrastructure. The long absence of consistent leadership and funding painted a picture of deficiencies on all levels. It appeared that the museum was on the verge of closing without a resurgence of support from the entire region. At the end of the 2 year period, board member Robert Munley Esq. and his firm drafted the necessary documents to be presented the Orphans Court of Lackawanna County for the amending of Dr. Everhart’s will. This was no hesitation on the part of the court, and the community board officially became the trustees of the Everhart Museum. Mr. Lettieri was the Founding President of the first Community Board and served for 3 years.