The Health of the Commonwealth by James E. Higgins

Posted by on Jun 7, 2021 in | Comments Off on The Health of the Commonwealth by James E. Higgins The Health of the Commonwealth A Brief History of Medicine, Public Health, and Disease in Pennsylvania by James E. Higgins Temple University Press/The Pennsylvania Historical Association, 138 pp., paperback $19.95 The history of public health and medicine is more important now than ever. As Pennsylvania weathers global pandemics and health crises, it is essential to understand how our current...
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A Pitcher, A President and a Home Movie

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on A Pitcher, A President and a Home Movie In November 2013 the Pennsylvania State Archives was contacted by Mrs. Judith Savastio regarding a home movie that her father filmed. She had questions about preserving the film and was interested in finding a repository for its permanent care. Mrs. Savastio’s father, Major League Baseball pitcher James “Jimmie” DeShong (1909-1993), shot the film on his new 8mm home movie...
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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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Jonas Salk (1914-1995)

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Jonas Salk (1914-1995) “Young man, a great tragedy has just befallen you,” newscaster Edward R. Murrow told Dr. Jonas Salk in the spring of 1955. “What’s that, Ed?” Salk asked. “You’ve just lost your anonymity,” Murrow replied. Salk, a self-made medical scientist, instantly gained world fame with the announcement that he had developed an effective vaccine for...
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