Into the Dark World of Catching Crooks, Culprits and Convicts: An Interview with Robert K. Wittman

Posted by on Mar 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Into the Dark World of Catching Crooks, Culprits and Convicts: An Interview with Robert K. Wittman by Michael J. O’Malley III Robert King “Bob” Wittman in no way resembles the highly romanticized portrayals of FBI agents made famous over the decades by movie studios and television series. He is not the heavy-hitting, gang-busting, chain-smoking G-man, replete with fedora rakishly angled atop his head. Instead, he embodies the old-school preppy style – looking as though...
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Free-Thinking, 19th-Century Style

Posted by on Dec 2, 2013 in | Comments Off on Free-Thinking, 19th-Century Style Francis Ellingwood Abbot (1836–1903) was nothing if not determined. In 1872, as editor of The Index, the nation’s leading free-thought magazine, he began to muster the full force of his small army of subscribers against what was being called “the God-in-the-Constitution amendment.” A philosopher and theologian, he sought to reconstruct theology in accordance with scientific methodology. From the...
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Courting the Constitution

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Courting the Constitution If the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were to awaken this sum­mer in Independence Hall from two centuries of sleep, they would undoubtedly enjoy an exciting session. George Washington as president of the convention, after persuading Ben Franklin to stop tinkering with his electric table light, would call the Convention to order. Upon learning that the government devised by them had...
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The Making of a Miracle

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Making of a Miracle Early in 1788, George Washington wrote his friend the Marquis de Lafayette that there had been a “miracle” in Phila­delphia. Considering the many efforts and failures be­tween 1765 and 1787 to estab­lish an enduring form of government, first for individ­ual states and then for all­ – fundamental laws, orders of government, plans of union, resolutions, declarations,...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message As I complete ten years as executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), I can measure the growth of public history and museums in the Commonwealth in three significant ways. First, there has been enormous investment – both public and private – in our public history infrastructure. This investment has made possible the creation of several new...
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Slaves at the President’s House

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Slaves at the President’s House President George Washington arrived in Philadelphia on the morning of Sunday, November 21, 1790, exhausted and depressed. The journey north from Mount Vernon, his beloved Virginia plantation, had not been pleasant. Heavy rain made the roads impassable at various points along the route, extending the journey from two to three days. A drunken coachman overturned the president’s baggage wagon...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Kentuck Knob: Frank Lloyd Wright’s House for I. N. and Bernardine Hagan By Bernardine Hagan The Local History Company, 2005 (220 pages, cloth, $39.95) “This is not a treatise on architecture,” writes Bernardine Hagan in her introduction to Kentuck Knob: Frank Lloyd Wright’s House for I. N. and Bernardine Hagan. “That I will leave to more professional writers. What I...
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Executive Director’s Letter

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Letter Steep budgetary cuts this past year forced the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) to make difficult decisions, resulting in drastic reductions in staffing and operating hours at nearly every facility. We have temporarily closed several historic sites and museums while we work with local groups to find new operating models that will provide as much accessibility as possible with...
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Executive Director’s Letter

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Letter Change is in the air as we approach autumn. The dazzling colors on the trees in Penn’s Woods are no more dramatic than the changes that continue as the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) struggles to reorganize and refocus to meet its responsibilities as a steward of the Keystone State’s history and heritage. While many of these changes have been difficult and disruptive to...
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