Trailheads

Posted by on Dec 1, 2021 in | Comments Off on Trailheads When we rang in 2021, Pennsylvania’s Trails of History sites had been closed to the public for nine months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maintenance and security staff had continued to report to sites to perform their duties, while others of us had adapted to telework. The new year dawned with hope of spring reopenings, and on April 30 sites implemented new public schedules designed to ease...
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ENIAC, the First All-Purpose Digital Computer

Posted by on Feb 5, 2021 in | Comments Off on ENIAC, the First All-Purpose Digital Computer Seventy-five years ago, in February 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer — ENIAC — was publicly demonstrated as the world’s first large-scale general-purpose digital computer. It was designed by John Mauchly (1907–80) and J. Presper Eckert (1919–95) at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering in Philadelphia. Research began during World War II in...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter

Posted by on Oct 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter Topics in the Spring 2020 Newsletter: PHF Sponsors Opening Reception for Violet Oakley Exhibition PHF Cosponsors Workshops in Archaeology, with Focus on PA’s Native American Cultures America250PA Honors Servicemembers and Veterans  ...
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Battlefield Pennsylvania by Brady J. Crytzer

Posted by on Mar 6, 2020 in | Comments Off on Battlefield Pennsylvania by Brady J. Crytzer Battlefield Pennsylvania A Guide to the Keystone State’s Most Sacred Ground by Brady J. Crytzer Westholme Publishing, 288 pp., cloth $28.00 Ironically, the soil of Pennsylvania, founded by pacifist and Quaker William Penn, was soaked with the blood of its inhabitants. Brady J. Crytzer’s Battlefield Pennsylvania documents the many battles waged in this state. Some near present-day...
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Loleta Recreation Area

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on Loleta Recreation Area Upon his inauguration on March 4, 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set about combating the economic crisis of the Great Depression with his New Deal program of economic reforms and public work projects. One of the most popular programs established that year was “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which was part of the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) Act....
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Readco and the Transition to Military Manufacturing in World War II

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on Readco and the Transition to Military Manufacturing in World War II Once the United States entered World War II in December 1941, every facet of American life was affected. The unprecedented quantities of ammunition, weapons and vehicles required to sustain the war effort called for many Pennsylvania manufacturers to retool their production to fulfill these critical needs. Companies like Ford’s assembly plant in Chester, Delaware County, began producing military...
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William Curtis Truxal’s Footlocker

Posted by on Nov 12, 2019 in | Comments Off on William Curtis Truxal’s Footlocker William Curtis Truxal (1882–1960) was a 34-year-old attorney residing in Somerset when the Pennsylvania National Guard unit he commanded, Company C of the 10th Infantry Regiment, was mustered into federal service for World War I on July 15, 1917. A graduate of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, he had first enlisted in the guard as a private in February 1914, and by October of that...
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The Sacrifices of Company C: Somerset County’s Valiant Soldiers in the Great War

Posted by on Nov 11, 2019 in | Comments Off on The Sacrifices of Company C: Somerset County’s Valiant Soldiers in the Great War In spring 2004 a resident of Somerset in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, chanced upon an aged postcard that had fallen behind a dresser many years before. Dated November 7, 1918, the postcard had been sent by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland, and was addressed to “the Family of Herbert Foust,” a soldier of Company C, 110th Infantry Regiment, a Pennsylvania...
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Charles Lenker’s M1917 Doughboy Helmet

Posted by on Nov 3, 2019 in | Comments Off on Charles Lenker’s M1917 Doughboy Helmet Charles W. Lenker (1896–1973) of Palmyra, Lebanon County, entered the Army from Lebanon on April 2, 1918, and wore this M1917 steel combat helmet during his service in World War I (also see inside front cover). It is preserved today not only as a relic of the war but also as a fine example of early helmet folk art with its painted record of a soldier’s military service. The steel combat helmet...
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Loretto Perfectus Walsh, First Woman to Serve in the U.S. Armed Forces

Posted by on Oct 28, 2019 in | Comments Off on Loretto Perfectus Walsh, First Woman to Serve in the U.S. Armed Forces At the age of 20, Loretto Perfectus Walsh (1896–1925) became the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces in March 1917, just weeks before the U.S. entered World War I. Women had served in the American military since 1901 but as nurses only. Walsh joined the U.S. Navy and was sworn in as a chief yeoman. She was expected to perform the same duties and was entitled to the same benefits and...
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