Large-scale art project planned on Articles of Confederation

York Daily Record

YORK, Pa. — The Hard Bargains 1777 project will one day be a permanent art fixture in York, installed near the new York County History Center.

The display, large enough that a visitor can walk through the group of stainless steel columns, will touch on York’s role in crafting the Articles of Confederation, a precursor of the U.S. Constitution. The project, which will show edits to the document, will move forward when all funds have been raised.

The project began in early 2016 when the late Louis Appell Jr. posed a question to future project manager Genevieve Ray during a chat.

According to Ms. Ray, the businessman and philanthropist said to her, “Why aren’t we doing something with the Articles of Confederation? This is where 13 states came together to create a union, a nation, and the Articles were adopted in York, and why aren’t we making the most of it?”

Laughing, the former York City councilwoman said that she had known Mr. Appell for a long time and knew what that meant: What are you doing about that.

Mr. Appell provided seed money for the project, which will be developed as a gift from the community to him and his wife, Jody. Mr. Appell died in June 2016.

Ms. Ray started the process of researching the history and obtaining a photographic copy of the Articles, complete with all the handwritten edits. According to Ms. Ray, many of the edits to the document were penned in York when the town hosted the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1778.

Ms. Ray said it was a time of great turmoil for the colonies. Congress couldn’t agree on anything. Members argued over religion, culture, customs, borders, taxation and states’ rights vs. strong federal power.

The colonies also needed to pull together to raise money and recognition by foreign powers as a cohesive union in their fight to