From staff reports
The third installment of the Petroleum Program Series at Drake Well Museum and Park will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
This week’s installment will feature a presentation by Ken Baake titled “Oil – It is Still God’s Given Gift.” The presentation will focus on how industry, including the oil industry, and has been closely linked to religious stories, beliefs and practices for thousands of years.
Baake will highlight newspaper articles, technical manuals, song lyrics, and other literature of the time to reveal how the discovery of oil supported the prevailing attitude among European settlers of America that this was the Promised Land, the New Jerusalem. He argues that this acceptance of oil as a gift from God continues to impact the energy industry today. Baake is an associate professor of English at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
Door’s open for the program at 6 p.m. Admission to each presentation costs $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and free for youths and Friends of Drake Well members.
The remaining schedule of speakers includes “Titusville Victorians” by Oil Region historian William B. Moore on Thursday, March 22, and “Solar Energy” by John Purvis, president of Solar Revolution Erie, on Thursday, March 29.
