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"Past meets Present” is a community activity in celebration of America250! The Sewickley Valley Historical Society is asking the residents of the Sewickley Valley to recreate the images from the Bicentennial Gallery in the modern setting.
This could be as simple as lining up a historic image of Beaver Street with its current view or as fun as restaging “A self-portrait of photographer R. C. Wrenshall with his dog on the porch of his home on Maple Lane, at Shields, 1903” on your front porch with your own dog.
A selection of submitted photographs will be displayed, either printed or digital material, as a part of the special America250 Celebration exhibition that will open in late June 2026. Subject to final approval by SVHS staff and board, all submissions will be available as part of an online gallery.
To view the original photos of the Bicentennial Gallery with prompts, CLICK HERE or the link below.
Photos and Prompts - Past Meets Present.pdf
What you’ll be asked to include with your photo recreation:
Email
Image Code of the original photo you recreated. This can be found on the upper right side of the photo card, highlighted in orange.
Date you recreated your photo
Location of recreated photo -- please provide as specific as possible for internal collection database information, but note that only the borough/twp location will be shared publicly. If the photo is a studio shot, please use the local Sewickley Valley address of the photo subjects as the location.
Subject of the photo -- use the "Subject" information provided with the original image as an example for this part. Who is in the picture, where was it taken, who took the photo, information about the photo's subject or photographer, etc.
If there is any other information you would like to include with the historic record of your photo, or if there are any restrictions to the information or photo you may wish to see noted on its record, please include that here.
What happens after you submit your photo?
- SVHS staff will review your photo for standards and to check that all the needed information in provided. All photos that meet the requirements will be added to an online gallery. Select photos, based on the number of submissions, will be printed and mounted for display in SVHS’ exhibition Celebrating America250 in the Sewickley Valley located at the First National Bank Exhibition Hall, 604 Beaver St., Second Floor, Sewickley PA, beginning in late June 2026. Participants whose photos are selected for exhibition display will receive a print of their photo and are encouraged to visit their photo during the exhibition’s summer 2026 run.
With questions?
- Reach out to the SVHS office and staff. We can be reached at info@sewickleyhistory.org or at 412.741.5315. Submissions can also be mailed to the SVHS office at 200 Broad Street, Sewickley, PA, 15143. If you are mailing your submission, please be sure to include a clear print of your photo and the information noted above. Electronic submissions are made easy by using the Google Form, accessible by scanning the QR code included on the photo and prompt pages or by registering through this page.
