The Richland Historical Society was organized in 1958 by a group of  former teachers to preserve the Shelly One-Room School.  One-room schoolhouses had become obsolete when Pennsylvania began consolidating the school systems.

  Our purpose is to foster and perpetuate interest in the historical background of the one-room school system; hold the Shelly School as a shrine; secure desks, books and other artifacts related to the operation of a one-room school; establish a library; interest the youth in the schools of the past; and to maintain a museum for the enjoyment and education of future generations.