9/16/2017  A project involving the future preservation of this Cresson TB  San website was recently completed. 

As of the above date, this website consisted of 305 pages of information, including over 3500 photos and images.   It represents a unique compilation of the history and personal stories of patients and staff at one of the major TB sanatoriums in the nation.  In addition, the 2013 Reunion, WQED Emmy winning TV documentary, the  2013 100th Anniversary Celebration and the San Historical Marker (all of which are documented on the website) qualify this material to be preserved  for historians and future generations of people to view.

After my 79 birthday in January 2017, I started to wonder what would happen to this website if I bit the dust and was no longer around to pay Earthlink to webhost it on their site.   After a couple of calls to Earthlink, I quickly learned that if I did bite the dust and missed a few payments my website would be deleted.  Pretty much what I expected.  I called several other webhost companies and the story was the same.

I was convinced there must be some historical society/association in Pennsylvania that would be interested in preserving this data.  I talked to my contacts in Cresson and Johnstown and was referred to Barbara Zaborowski, Dean of Learning Resources/Special Assistant to the President at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Johnstown, PA. 

In January 2016, the college received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities through their Common Heritage program to create the Cambria Memory Project. The purpose of the project is to collect and digitize information related to the history of Cambria County. Anyone can contribute content to the project. The digital content for the Cambria Memory Project is stored on a statewide database called PA Photos and Docs.   Ultimately, all content on PA Photos and Docs will be integrated into the Digital Public Library of America.

Barbara reviewed the san website and agreed that the info should be preserved.  The copying of data to their Cambria Memory Project website was started in February and completed last week.  Barbara and her team did the actual work of transferring all the data to their website,  while I monitored their site to confirm the data was complete and accurate.  The data on their website is in a different format than mine, but all the text and images are preserved.   You can see it at the following link: 

http://cambriamemory.org/cresson-sanatorium/

My thanks to Barbara and her team for ensuring that this historical record, which has personal meaning to so many of us, will be preserved long after we are gone.

Chuck Felton