Rummage through your attic. Ransack your basement. Search through your garage. The Mercer Museum in Doylestown Borough needs your help.
That book or photograph or toy that you couldn't bring yourself to throw out could wind up in a new exhibit this fall at the museum. The exhibit, ''Paradise Lost or Found: Envisioning the Bucks County Landscape, 1900- Future," will chronicle such developments as the discovery of New Hope by
artists in the 1930s and the development of Levittown in the 1950s.
Objects that illustrate everyday life in Levittown or Fairless Hills - a Little League uniform, yearbook, milk box, push lawnmower, steelworker's hardhat or local union jacket - are just some examples of what the museum is hoping to display.
"We're really looking for a tricycle or scooter that was used by a child in Levittown in the late 1950s or early '60s," said Cory Amsler, museum curator. "That object speaks to the character of suburbia, to the landscape of suburbia, as a safe and secure place to raise children."
A call is also being put out for original Levittown house furnishings, Levittown advertisements or promotional materials and tools used during the building of Levittown. The museum is also seeking artifacts depicting the truck farms that preceded Levittown.
"In terms of New Hope, we're particularly short of photographs and materials related to writers, theater performers and professionals who moved into the area in the 1930s," said Amsler, hoping to find publicity photos, songsheets, books or artworks.
Anyone interested in donating or lending a piece of Bucks County history to the museum can call 345-0210.
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The responsibilities of parenting behind her, Edie Wells Bristol of Carversville began painting.
"I never thought I'd go into it. I always loved it but didn't start it until I was 50. Now there's no stopping me," said Bristol, who picked up brush and palette 12 years ago.
Forty of her more recent paintings are on exhibit at the Bianco Gallery in Buckingham through June 27.
"I don't have any political message. It is a reflection of my own happiness and joy of painting. This is expressed basically through the colors," said Bristol, who is most comfortable painting with oils.
Her subjects are primarily still lifes and abstractions of still lifes.
"Edie's works have a great individuality, which I applaud," said Frank Bianco, gallery owner. "It's an indication of her competence as an artist and a willingness to be daring."
