History of the painting:
It is a canvas of monumental size, over six feet on each side.  Titled Kishacoquillas, the painting was displayed in Kishacoquillas High School near the school auditorium, since 1966.  Even though the schoolís name changed in the interim to Indian Valley Middle School, Kishacoquillas kept a silent vigil on the same wall for thirty-two years. Through the generosity of the Mifflin County School District, Kishacoquillas now graces the main hall of the Old Mifflin County Court House, near the societyís office.  In action taken this past summer,  the school board decided to donate the painting to the historical society, rather than place it in storage.   In July, historical society president Ray C Allison and board member Forest K. Fisher, son of the artist, were on hand at the presentation of the painting to the society.  Bill Chain, Principal of Indian Valley Middle School, represented the school district. Mifflin County native Anne Fisher, (1925 ­ 1977), created Kishacoquillas in 1966 for the Kishacoquillas High School Student Council.  It was presented that same year as a gift from the council to the high school. The colossal Indian figure of Kishacoquillas was suggested to Anne Fisher by a childrenís book illustration painted by American illustrator, N. C. Wyeth, and titled “The Giant.” “She admired Wyeth and occasionally consulted his collected works for perspectives or views,” noted Forest Fisher, about his artist-mother.  Fisher also indicated that he was a member of the Kish student council at the time the idea for the painting was formulated and acted as liaison between the council and the artist. Fisher also remembered that his family had to borrow the neighbor's truck to transport the finished painting to the school. The approximately six by six foot canvas was originally a photographic background from the Kepler Studio, which operated in Lewistown from 1923 ­ 1984.  That business was conducted by Anne Fisher's father, Luther F. Kepler Sr. and uncle, James A. Kepler.