Jefferson County: Of Wilderness Tamed

Posted by on Nov 27, 2013 in | Comments Off on Jefferson County: Of Wilderness Tamed Jefferson County. Its hallmarks are as disparate as Thomas Jef­ferson and Punxsutawney Phil. Village names as dissimilar as Panic and Desire. Inhabitants as distinctive as Indian chief Cornplanter and Moravian missionary John Heckewelder. And a tranquil­ity which masks the turbu­lence of the nineteenth century’s lumber boom that spawned settlement and nu­merous ancillary industries....
read more

Lycoming County: Many Call It Romantic

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lycoming County: Many Call It Romantic Its heritage is so rich that it’s hard to adequately­ – and accurately – portray the roles Lycoming County has played in the Commonwealth’s history. Since its settlement in the mid­-eighteenth century, it has had, according to Sylvester K. Stevens, author of the 1946 guide to the Keystone State’s sixty-seven counties, My Penn­sylvania, “one of the most...
read more

Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Fancy That! “Capricious Fancy: Draping and Curtaining, 1790-1930,” an exhibition tracing the history of design sources for draping and curtaining American and European interiors during the span of nearly one hundred and fifty years, will open at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia on Monday, December 6 [1993]. On view will be a selection of rare books, prints, and trade catalogues drawn...
read more

Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Ecstatic with Esherick Wow! Your magazine is really on the ball. With the growing popularity of the crafts movement, you’re right on target with your feature story on Esherick [see Sharon Hernes Silverman’s “A Passion for Wood: The Life and Legacy of Wharton Esherick” in the Fall 1997 issue]. I’m ecstatic with your timely coverage. Thanks. Mimi Hake-Tripp...
read more

Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Furnace Folklore The folklore of Cornwall Iron Furnace includes three apocryphal tales: Washing­ton and Lafayette visited; the value of gold extracted at Cornwall was sufficient to pay all mining expenses, all other revenue being pure profit; and stone from the dis­mantled Robert H. Coleman mansion was used in the construction of St. Luke’s Epis­copal Church in Lebanon [“Letters to...
read more

Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts Continuing at the Library Company of Philadelphia through Thursday, November 25 [1999], is “Ardent Sprits: The Origins of the American Temperance Movement,” featuring books, prints, broadsides, sheet music, and manuscripts spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The American Temperance Movement called for moderation and even abstention in the use of alcohol. The longest and...
read more

The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum Preserves an Industrial History

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum Preserves an Industrial History In the heart of Pennsylvania’s northern tier forests, between Galeton and Coudersport, in Potter County, is one of the most unusual interpretive centers that preserves the heritage of an era during which the Com­monwealth led the world in the production of lumber. Situated on one hundred and sixty acres, the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum chronicles the days when white pines and hemlock trees...
read more

Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Place in History Thank you for the very insightful article about my father, Jock Yablonski, in the Winter 2001 edition, “Living For Reform.” Kenneth C. Wolensky’s research and writing skills do great justice to his memory. As a son who lost his parents and sister, the article brought back extremely painful memories. On the other hand, it is very satisfying to see my...
read more

Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf African Americans in Pennsylvania­ – Above Ground and Under­ground: An Illustrated Guide By Charles L. Blockson RB Books, 2001 (320 pages, cloth, $29.95) For thirty years, Charles L. Blockson, noted bibliophile and author, traveled throughout Pennsylvania’s sixty-seven counties “with an unquenchable desire to research and record the neglected history of the African-Americans of...
read more

All in the Family: The Riches in Woolrich

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on All in the Family: The Riches in Woolrich John Rich II received a “warm” welcome when he visited winter logging camps in the dense forests of northern Pennsylvania in the early nineteenth century. Tough, hardened lumberjacks valued the one bit of comfort and protection from frostbite that Rich proffered from the back of his mule cart: a simple pair of woolen socks. From those humble beginnings, Rich engaged in a trade that...
read more