UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - In an unusual twist, the Pasto Agricultural Museum will be looking ahead as much as back during Penn State's Ag Progress Days, Aug. 14-16, as it prepares for an addition that will more than double the size of the facility.

With construction scheduled to begin this fall, the new addition will be 52 feet wide by 100 feet long and will add 5,200 square feet of floor space to the existing 40-foot by 80-foot museum.

According to curator Darwin Braund, plans are to dedicate the new addition during the 2008 Ag Progress Days, which will coincide with the museum's 30th anniversary.

Known for having one of the nation's finest collections of dairy antiques, the museum has more than 1,000 rare and unusual pieces used for farming and homemaking in the era before electricity and gasoline power. The focus is on Pennsylvania and the Northeast from the 1800s to the early 1940s, with links to modern agricultural methods.

New for this year's Ag Progress Days is a display of old forestry and timbering tools. Among items shown will be a black-powder splitting wedge, two different types of two-man crosscut saws and various old saw blades, including a rotary blade. Also on display are spud bars for removing bark, a cant hook and peavey, several early wood shop saws, and a pair of log grabs with pulling chains.

"The museum's collection emphasizes the period of history when the energy for farm work was supplied by humans and domesticated animals," says Braund. "This tight criteria sets us apart from most other agricultural museums, which cover a wider era of history. We like to say that we're B.C. and B.E. -- that's before computers and before engines and electricity.

"We want to preserve our heritage of the past for current and future generations as to how we got to where we are," Braund adds. "There seems to be a disconnect with young folks today as to where we came from."

The Pasto Agricultural Museum opened in 1979 at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, nine miles southwest of State College on Route 45, on the site of Penn State's Ag Progress Days. An estimated 10,000 people visit the museum each year, including elementary, high school and college students, classroom teachers, professors, senior citizens, farmers, and urban dwellers. Visithttp://pasto.cas.psu.edu to learn more about the Pasto Agricultural Museum.

Ag Progress Days will be held Aug. 14-16. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 14; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Aug. 15; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 16. Admission and parking are free. For more information, visit the Ag Progress Days Web site at http://apd.cas.psu.edu.

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EDITORS: Contact Darwin Braund at 814-863-1383 or by e-mail pastoagmuseum@psu.edu.

Jeff Mulhollem
Writer/editor
814-863-2719
jjm29@psu.edu