John O’Hara: The Child Becomes the Man

He had dreams,as do all boys. At the age of twelve, he was “looking forward to the day when, like Clint Shaefer, he would own his own Mercer; when, like Al Cullum, he would be on his way to Yale; when, like Bill Ulmer, he would know the 16th Arrondissement better than the third ward.” They were Pottsville fellows, Shaefer, Cullum, and Ulmer – and so was the boy. He was John...
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From the Editor

Most, if not all, contributors to Pennsylvania Heritagewrite for the sheer fascination of – and, in some cases, love for – their subjects. Although many enjoy careers in the history and museum communities as curators, researchers, historians, and educators, others are accountants, lawyers, even elected officials. Still others are retirees and homemakers who have compelling stories to...
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The Pottsville Maroons, Cheated Again and Again

Pottsville, like many communities in the Roaring Twenties, was a rugged, hard-living, hard-working city. The small Schuylkill County seat in northeastern Pennsylvania was best known for the booming anthracite industry and D. G. Yuengling and Son, established in 1829 and touted as America’s oldest family-owned brewery. Coal mining had been good to Pottsville, crowned the Queen City of the...
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