Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message Sprawl. There are some words in the English language that are immediately self-defining. Sprawl is one. It instantly creates an image of careless growth with little regard for the integrity of the environ­ment, whether historic or natural. Pennsylvania is now, unfortunately, considered one of the nation’s most spectacular examples of suburban sprawl. The cover story of a recent issue of...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Saved for the People of Pennsylvania: Quilts from The State Museum of Pennsylvania by Lucinda Reddington Cawley, Lorraine DeAngelis Ezbiansky, and Denise Rocheleau Nordberg Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1997 ($14.95, paper, 67 pages) Since its founding in 1905, The State Museum of Pennsylvania has collected nearly two million artifacts and objects which docu­ment and interpret...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts To observe the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its opening in 1848, Girard College will unveil an exhibition entitled “Monument to Philanthropy: The Design and Building of Girard College, 1832-1848,” on Sunday, May 3 [1998]. Financier Stephen Girard (1750-1831) established the school for orphans with a bequest of seven million dollars (see “Girard College: A Story of...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts “Pennsylvania Regionalism: The Turn of the Century,” on view at the Cumberland County Historical Society, Carlisle, through Saturday, October 30 [1999], presents a survey of impressionism and realism spanning the period from 1870 to the 1930s. The exhibit features landscapes, still lifes, and portraits by twenty-four Pennsylvania artists, among them Edward W. Redfield, Daniel Garber,...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message The Underground Railroad – the escape to freedom by slaves before the Civil War – remains one of the most compelling stories in American history. A unique blend of historical fact and colorful folklore contribute to an enduring message of hope, courage, and ingenuity in the face of persecution and adversity. Pennsylvania’s central role in the Underground Railroad is undeniable. At least...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Pennsylvania Architecture: The Historic American Buildings Survey, 1933-1990 By Deborah Stephens Bums and Richard J. Web­ster, with Candace Reed Stem Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2000 (629 pages; cloth, $85.00; paper, $65.00) This hefty volume befits its subject: it is a landmark book devoted to landmark buildings. Copiously illustrated, Pennsylvania Architecture: The Historic...
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The Lincoln Train is Coming!

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Lincoln Train is Coming! On Saturday morning, April 15, 1865, news of President Abraham Lincoln’s assas­sination reached Philadelphia. The treacher­ousness of the crime created a mix of feel­ings surging from fear and horror to inconsolable grief. A galvanized nation began mourning immediately. Printer cranked out broadside that were posted throughout Philadelphia lamenting the “Martyred Father.”...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf County Courthouses of Pennsylva­nia: A Guide By Oliver P. Williams Stackpole Books, 2001 (244 pages, paper, $19.95) An admitted “full-fledged courthouse junkie,” the author traces his interest in county courthouses, courthouse squares, and their immediate surroundings to a curiosity piqued by plaques, monuments, and fountains bearing witness to some aspect of local history. His...
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War of Another Kind

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on War of Another Kind By the summer of 1941, war had been raging in Europe for nearly two years. As a child of twelve, in an age of much slower communications, I was not keenly aware of what was going on. I cannot remember being fearful or even apprehensive that the events in Europe were going to affect my life in Adams County. For me, as for most farm children of the forties, summer was a busy, exciting time of...
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St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex St. Gabriel’s Catholic Parish Complex in Hazleton, Luzerne County, is more than a collection of imposing ecclesiastical edifices. The complex is significant because it reflects the parish’s status as the city’s first Catholic parish, and is integrally associated with the growth of its Catholic population stimulated by the development of the anthracite industry. Hazleton grew...
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