Community Initiative Award Recipients Featured in PA SHPO Videos

Posted by on Feb 25, 2020 in | Comments Off on Community Initiative Award Recipients Featured in PA SHPO Videos A core mission of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) is to educate the public regarding state and federal preservation programs. The production of testimonial videos is one way in which PA SHPO shares preservation’s positive outcomes and its importance for Pennsylvania’s many diverse communities. In 2018 PA SHPO honored three organizations with Community Initiative...
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John Wilkes Booth’s Cane at Drake Well Museum

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on John Wilkes Booth’s Cane at Drake Well Museum Precisely 150 years ago this summer, actor-cum-assassin John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) – who had joined the stock company of Philadelphia’s Arch Street Theatre in 1857 where he acted for the season – spent more than a month in northwestern Pennsylvania’s oil region looking after his investments during petroleum’s boom years. While appearing at the theatre, later managed by Louisa Lane...
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Civil War Frying Pan at Drake Well Museum

Posted by on Dec 2, 2013 in | Comments Off on Civil War Frying Pan at Drake Well Museum The Reverend Darius S. Steadman (1831–1907), born in Columbus, Warren County, along U.S. Route 6 in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier, was licensed to preach in 1857. He served congregations in Clarion County before being commissioned, on October 7, 1861, a captain and chaplain of the 105th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (PVI) known as the Wild Cat Regiment. The unit was raised in Jefferson, Clarion...
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The Revolution Affects Pennsylvania Communities

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Revolution Affects Pennsylvania Communities Every county and community in the Commonwealth was in some way involved or connected with the American Revolution and Pennsylvania’s attainment of statehood. Certain places associated with famous events in the struggle for independence come to mind immedi­ately: Philadelphia, Lancaster, and York for civil affairs, and Brandywine, Germantown, Whitemarsh, Valley Forge, and Washington’s...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts “From Ft. Wagner to Verdun: African Americans in the U.S. Military, 1863-1918,” is on view at the Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia. The exhibition, continuing through August 30, 1998, showcases artifacts, objects, and documents chronicling the experience of African Americans in mili­tary service from the Civil War through World War I. The Civil War Library and Museum is...
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Foxburg Golf Course

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Foxburg Golf Course The game of golf has been played in the United States in some form since 1786. Although most early golf courses have disappeared, one venerable course remains, and it’s in Pennsylvania! In fact, the Foxburg Country Club in Foxburg, Clarion County, is the oldest golf course in the country in continuous use. It was established in 1887 by Joseph Mickle Fox (1853-1918) adjacent to his summer...
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Rural Electrification

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Rural Electrification While urban Pennsylvanians benefited from alternating current electricity as early as 1883, more than a half century later, in 1936, seventy-five percent of Pennsylvania’s farmsteads lacked electric service. There had been some enterprising attempts to establish “light plants” powered by windmills, steam engines, and batteries, but the equipment was bulky, costly to purchase and maintain, and...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Wonders of Work and Labor: The Steidle Collection of American Industrial Art by Betsy Fahlman and Eric Schruers published by Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum and Art Gallery, 2009; 176 pages, cloth, $50.00 Mention Penn State and a few names immediately come to mind: Pattee Library, Happy Valley, the Blue Band, Berkey Creamery and, naturally, Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions. What the average...
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“With a Woman’s Instinct”: Mira Lloyd Dock, The Mother of Forestry in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on “With a Woman’s Instinct”: Mira Lloyd Dock, The Mother of Forestry in Pennsylvania On a frosty December night in 1900, Mira Lloyd Dock (1853–1945) presented an illustrated lecture to the Harrisburg Board of Trade entitled “The City Beautiful.” Using vivid descriptions and dramatic images, Dock contrasted the “roughness, slime and filth” of the state capital and the Susquehanna River with the well-kept cities and rivers of other American states and European nations. She...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Society Newsletter

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Society Newsletter Topics in the Summer 2011 Newsletter: Reserve Your Seat for Our Signature Series Bus Trip to Winterthur 2011 Teaching American History Project Civil War Sesquicentennial Event Calendar for July – September 2011 July – September 2011 Pennsylvania Civil War 150 Road Show Welcome New State Museum Affiliate Members Welcome New PHS Members  ...
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