UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Before the advent of power equipment and electrical refrigeration, processing meat and keeping it fresh were trickier propositions.

At Penn State's Ag Progress Days, Aug. 20-22, you can learn more about how these things were accomplished in bygone eras by visiting the Pasto Agricultural Museum's special exhibit, "Early Farm and Home Pork Processing and Preservation."

According to museum curator Darwin Braund, in the past nearly every farm family produced and processed all the meat consumed during the entire year. "This exhibit covers the days before electricity and refrigeration, thus the rudimentary nature of the tools and processes," he says.

The exhibit is supported by the Professor P. Thomas Ziegler Endowment for the Pasto Agricultural Museum. The museum's existing collection of previously donated early farm and home pork processing and preservation items have been combined with others purchased with the Ziegler Endowment gift for the Ag Progress Days exhibition.

"One of the interesting aspects of the exhibit are the first-person recollections of early meat processing work at Penn State, handwritten by Professor Ziegler," Braund says. "He wrote numerous practical and scientific articles for popular and technical journals. His best-known publication was the book, "The Meat We Eat," first published in 1943. It became the first college meat processing textbook. Original copies of publications from 1936, 1949, 1952 and 1959 are displayed. Copy number one of the first edition of this text is shown through the courtesy of his widow, Jean Ziegler."

The Pasto Agricultural Museum collection has more than 850 antique implements used for farming and rural life. Visitors can tour the museum during Ag Progress Days and by appointment. Groups of 10 or more can schedule tours from April 15 through October 15 by calling 814-863-1383, sending an e-mail to http://apd.cas.psu.edu.

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

Contact: Gary Abdullah gxa2@psu.edu 814-863-2708 814-865-1068 fax #222