By Tyler Stump, Archivist
Recently a woman reached out to the Pennsylvania State Archives asking if we had records/information about Farview State Hospital. She said that her grandfather, Moses Spangenberg, worked there when she was a little girl. She grew up in Waymart and had memories of visiting him on the grounds and playing with the superintendent's daughter who lived on the grounds. She is 92 now, and lived in Waymart from 1928-1945.
In 2016, SCI Waymart transferred a collection of historical records relating to Farview State Hospital to the State Archives. Among the items were several photographs, the hospital newsletter and annual reports from the early 1900s. I shared a few copies of the photos with the granddaughter, and to my surprise she said her grandfather, Moses, was in one of them! (See above, man with hat closest to camera). And looking through the rest of the records, I found references to Moses I several issues of the newspaper and annual reports. Turns out he was the superintendent of grounds, and worked at Farview from when it opened in 1908 until his death in 1945.
The granddaughter was thrilled to see the photo of her grandfather, and I am sending her a copy of it and another of the Farview grounds for her to share with her family. We were really fortunate that in 2016, Paul DelRosso called the archives and sent these historical records to the archives.