The art gallery inside the Tamaqua Area Historical Society Museum annex has doubled in size, and will host a permanent exhibit of local talent dating back to the 1850s.

Renovations to the J.G. Scott Art Gallery wrapped up recently to make room for “175 Years of Tamaqua Area Art,” which opened in time for Tamaqua’s Summerfest.

“It’s an amazing transformation,” society President Dale Freudenberger said.

It took several months to complete the project, which involved knocking down a wall that separated the gallery from a storage area.

“We then opened it up, redid all the floors, redid all the walls and we did the painting,” Freudenberger said.

With a backdrop of windows and new lighting, it’s a bright space that lends to the beauty of the art on display.

“The art that we have in here is quite a bit expanded. We’ve added a lot more to it. We have quite a significant collection of Tamaqua area art,” Freudenberger said. “And this is vintage art.”

The collection includes oil paintings, watercolor paintings, acrylic paintings, printed artworks, drawings, clay sculptures, wood carvings, wood burning, pottery, tile art, prints, foam carvings and more by Tamaqua area artists.

The oldest pieces are lithographs that originated in Tamaqua in 1850. One shows the marriage of Pocahontas, and the other shows George Washington speaking to the U.S. Senate.

Freudenberger said they once hung at the former Improved Order of the Redman Lodge in the borough.

“This is woodburning art,” Freudenberger said of another display of wooden plaques etched with scenes of West Broad Street and the former Atlas Powder Co.

Done by the Krell family, including June Krell, who passed away in 2022, several of the pieces survived Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when a previous owner lived in Homestead, Florida.

“That’s part of their history,” Freudenberger said of their “disheveled” look.

Some pieces are very unique.

For example, the late William “Bill” Guy, who owned Guy’s Flowers in Rush Township, carved a huge black walnut tree into a likeness of his mother and fashioned a block of Styrofoam to look like himself.

Other art reflects recognizable area places, like coal breakers, the Tamaqua Train Station and borough streets.

The late Harry Snyder painted the mansions on Tamaqua’s East Broad Street. They’re arranged, in order, near a gallery window.

A large portion of the gallery features one-of-a-kind works by its namesake, J.G. Scott.

Scott, who died in 1975, created more than 3,000 valentines and hundreds of greeting cards and more for the Gibson Card Co. He designed magazine covers, too, and even crafted the art featured on Cream of Wheat cereal, Freudenberger noted.

“What’s neat about these are these are the original artworks used for printing those cards,” Freudenberger said of watercolors by Scott. “They look like they’re new, but every one of these was done in 1919. These are very rare.”

Several of Scott’s oil paintings of people and places are among the display, too.

“Bob Stauffer, grandson of John G. Scott and his wife, Vicky, from Roanoke, Virginia, visited the Tamaqua museum to donate more original works of art by his grandfather, who lived on Lehigh Street in Tamaqua,” Freudenberger said.

While the society’s collection is expansive, it’s not all on display.

“We have quite a variety here. We didn’t even put them all up. We have more in our collection,” Freudenberger said.

The renovations were completed in time to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.

“I am grateful that we have a team of terrific and dedicated volunteers that help us,” Freudenberger said. “We are thankful to everybody for pitching in to make this happen.”

The museum, annex and art gallery, 118 W. Broad St., is open from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and by appointment.

The museum will have special hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on July 4 for visitors. Contact Freudenberger at dalefreud@gmail.com or call 610-597-6722 for appointments.

Admission is free. Donations are appreciated.