Donora Digital Collection: Opening of the Donora Smog Museum On
a chilly, sunny Monday morning in late October 2008 a crowd
gathered on the corner of 6th and McKean in the community of
Donora, Pennsylvania. In the group were community residents,
state and local officials, educators and students, a
representative of the Library of Congress, California University
of Pennsylvania's Teaching with Primary Sources Program and the
Donora Historical Society. They had all come to participate in
the opening and dedication of the Donora Smog Museum; and to
begin a week long Commemoration of the 1948 Smog Incident which
led to the enactment of modern clean air laws. After the ribbon
cutting ceremony guests entered the Museum where they were
immediately greeted by a life size photo of August Chambon, who
was Burgess (mayor) of the community in 1948. Then, thanks to
research by local historians who discovered a long lost
recording, the visitors heard the long deceased Mr. Chambon
greet them in his own voice. This episode,