In 1907, several Stahlstown-area old-timers who had been involved in flax scutching in the mid-1800s helped found a festival to keep the old-time craft going.
The annual event continues nearly a century later.
This year's event will be held on Sept. 9-10.
According to Dave Hurst, of Johnstown, the organization's media liaison, the Stahlstown Flax Scutching Festival is the last and oldest active festival of its kind in the country.
This year, one year before the festival's 100th anniversary, the Stahlstown Flax Scutching Festival Committee is looking for photos and other memorabilia of past events.
Members announced at Thursday's news conference at Monticue Grove on Route 711 between Ligonier and Donegal that they are interested in any documents from previous festivals, which they will duplicate for distribution to other organizations.
The project is being funded by the Westmoreland County Tourism Grant Program.
"We already have interest from a number of places, including the Library of Congress' American Folklife Division," said Hurst.
They also will share the information with the Westmoreland County Historical Society, Somerset Historical Center, Ligonier Valley Historical Society and the Chestnut Ridge Historical Society.
A display at yesterday's demonstration included photos from the first festival in 1907, another set from 1948, and a sampling of other photos and news clippings collected over nearly 100 years.
"We are interested in borrowing any kind of photos or documents that people may have," Hurst said. "We'll copy everything and return it."
Flax scutching is the process of preparing the flax plant to be spun and woven into linen, one of the most popular fabrics in America's early history.
"Homemade linen fell out of popularity by the 1830s and 1840s," Hurst said. "By then, the mills were producing plenty of cheap cotton."
Flax makes a sturdier fabric, but is more labor intensive.
Yesterday, the committee videotaped the demonstration for an educational documentary.
Making linen begins by uprooting, rather than cutting, the plant to retain the fiber in the roots. The flax is then set out for "dew retting," or rotting off the woody parts before the flax is dried over a slow fire.
The brittle fibers are beaten on skutching frames that break and scrape off the remaining pulp. Next, it's run through hackles for more cleaning, with the smoother fibers finally spun into thread to be woven on a loom.
"We grow the flax right here," said committee chairman Frank Newell, of Stahlstown. "We need only a 16-by-30-foot patch, just enough for what we use."
