Zane Grey museum reborn

Ceremony to celebrate life and writings with new exhibit

By SANDY LONG

LACKAWAXEN, PA — “I made up my mind today . . . [to] write literature, not thoughtless, careless books, but throbbing, red-blooded histories of life,” wrote Zane Grey, one of America’s most influential storytellers, who lived and wrote in Lackawaxen at the confluence of the Delaware and Lackawaxen rivers from 1905 to 1918.

A new exhibit, “Zane Grey: An American Storyteller,” will be unveiled this weekend, recounting the popular author’s experiences from the early years of his life through his time spent in Lackawaxen, highlighting his adventurous lifestyle, his success as an author and his influence on American popular culture.

The exhibit combines original artifacts from the National Park Service’s (NPS) Zane Grey Collection with carefully executed reproduction pieces and is self-guided, allowing the museum to be open to the public for longer hours and a more extended season than in recent years.

For museum director Dot Moon, it is the culmination of a long process that began in 1992 when Moon was first hired. Over the years, Moon secured substantial grant funding to make the renovation possible.

Moon was assisted by others associated with the multi-faceted project. Many decisions went into the process of bringing the exhibit to fruition—what time period to focus on for the interpretation; what to include in the collection; which themes were most important for the site. Then, there were the endless details related to choosing the Craftsmen-style displays, selecting the wording and photos for the visual displays, drafting scripts for the audio-visual aspects and auditioning voice actors for the recordings.

One display informs listeners, “Grey’s Western novels sold in the millions. Starting in 1918, his books translated into box office success. The movies featured iconic Western landscapes. As in the novels, handsome heroes saved the day and won the hearts of noble frontier women.”

High attention to historical accuracy was exercised in creating the displays. The rugs, for example, were woven by the Navajo Nation from a photo of Grey’s office at the time. The selection of the books on display was based on researching books Zane said he owned, or authors he had read.

The painstaking work is revealed in the informative displays. “Every word, every sentence, everything that you put in it, you have to think about it carefully, because you’re probably going to have it for 20 years,” said Moon.

In addition to over 100 books, Grey wrote dozens of articles, several diaries and an average of five long letters a day. But contrary to popular belief, the process was often difficult for Grey, who suffered debilitating depression and found solace and creative inspiration in the natural world.

“I am tortured before I can begin to write,” he noted. “I need this wild life, this freedom. I simply want the broad open free wilderness to be alive, to look into nature, and so, into my soul.”

The celebration begins at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 22 and will feature remarks by the new NPS superintendent Sean McGuinness and Henry Nardi and Colette Fulton of the Zane Grey West Society. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be followed by the opportunity to view the new exhibits. The museum will remain open until 4:00 p.m. Commemorative pins and refreshments will be available. The museum will open for the summer season on May 29 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. seven days a week through mid-October. Admission is free. For more information call 570/729-4871.