Mary Behrend is the namesake of Penn State Erie: donating over four-hundred acres of land that would become one of many Penn State Colleges, she was also an artist. It was a fitting hobby, especially since Ernst Behrend, her late husband, founded the Hammermill Paper Company during her lifetime.
One piece of Behrend history is a series of calendar pages Mary illustrated in 1909. Each page contained an illustration and an anecdote about her life, from poems to the joy of her son's birth to cartoons with no story behind them, it serves as a time capsule for a joyous time in her life, especially after her son's passing in 1929.
Unfortunately, only 34 pages have stood the test of time, and whether or not she drew every page will remain a riddle for the ages. These pages are and will always be a piece of Penn State History, and an important piece of the Behrend Family's legacy.