The Carnegie Science Center is launching a crowdfunding effort to raise $30,000 toward the cost of updating its miniature railroad and village.
Officials at the North Shore museum said the gallery containing the exhibit needs new carpet, fresh paint, signs, LED lighting and motion-activated digital text panels.
The science center also plans to digitize and publish a 100-year-old archive featuring never-before-seen photos and letters from Charles Bowdish, who created the handmade village in his Brookville home in Jefferson County and first displayed it on Christmas Eve in 1919.
The World War I veteran began building Christmas displays in 1917 and offered the first one to amuse guests at his brother’s wedding. Bowdish died at age 92 in May 1988.
In 1954, the exhibit moved to Buhl Science Center. After two years of updates, it reopened in 1992 at Carnegie Science Center. Last year marked the miniature railroad and village’s 100th anniversary.
The online fundraising effort launches Sunday at bit.ly/MRRV100. Contributors who give $50 receive a vintage track piece from the miniature railroad, an On Track guide with a comprehensive map of the display and article about its latest additions and a miniature railroad postcard.
If you give $1,000, a custom miniature figure painted to look like you or a loved one will be placed in the display for 10 years. In addition, you receive a printed map of the location of the custom figure, a holiday ornament made in the BNY Mellon Fab Lab at the science center, an invitation to the 100th anniversary celebration in November, a pair of 100th anniversary train socks, a vintage track piece from the miniature railroad, an On Track guide and a commemorative postcard.
The center also plans to use its new digital archive to publish a limited-edition centennial book featuring rare photographs, the exhibit’s history, its models and dedicated caretakers.
Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1648 or on Twitter:@mpitzpg
First Published: February 25, 2020, 9:58 p.m.
