Pennsylvania Heritage Recommends

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Recommends The Civil War in Pennsylvania: The African American Experience Samuel W. Black, editor of a collection of eight essays comprising The Civil War in Pennsylvania: The African American Experience (Senator John Heinz History Center in partnership with Pennsylvania Civil War 150, 2013, paper, 239 pages, $29.95), contends, “In various ways African Americans have been fighting for freedom for several...
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From Wilkes-Barre to the Wild West: George Catlin, Indian Painter

Posted by on Dec 2, 2013 in | Comments Off on From Wilkes-Barre to the Wild West: George Catlin, Indian Painter His early exposure to American Indians indelibly impressed northeastern Pennsylvania native George Catlin (1796–1872). His mother Mary “Polly” Sutton Catlin (1770–1844), married in 1789 to Putnam Catlin (1764–1842), formed his earliest impressions of Native Americans. With her mother Sarah Smith Sutton (1747–1834) she was captured and held captive at the age of seven by Iroquois. The day was...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Exciting Erie Before the arrival of white settlers, the southern shores of Lake Erie were inhabited by the Eriez Indians of Iroquois stock until they were virtually eliminated, by 1655, through war with the Seneca nation. A century later, the French, recognizing the military and trade advantages that Lake Erie and its waterways offered, found a harbor ideally suited for a fort, which they named...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts “Tricks of the Trade: Apprenticeships in the Traditional Arts,” an exhibition ex­ploring the relationships between master artists and artisans and their apprentices will be shown at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, Pittsburgh, from Wednesday, January 10, through Friday, February 23, 1996. “Tricks of the Trade” documents more than one hundred part­nerships in a...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Stoneware of Southwestern Pennsylvania by Phil Schaltenbrand University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996 (216 pages, paper, $22.95) A greatly expanded version of the author’s Old Pots (1978), Stoneware of Southwestern Pennsylvania describes the salt-glazed stoneware industry that once flourished in the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Valleys and contains much new information about the remarkable...
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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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“To Do Good and Love Mercy”: A Conversation with C. Delores Tucker

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on “To Do Good and Love Mercy”: A Conversation with C. Delores Tucker C. Delores Tucker was only a young girl when, because of her color, she was refused seating at a lunch counter in Detroit. The incident marked the beginning of a life devoted to advancing the cause of minority groups in this country. Born in Philadel­phia in 1927, the daughter of the Reverend Whitfield and Captilda (Gardiner) Nottage, she had lived her childhood in a multi­cultural environment...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor A Giant Among Men Congratulations to William C. Kashatus on his extraordinary article, “A New Birth of Freedom,” which appeared in the Fall 1999 issue. Americans, who have witnessed the downfall of so many latter-day heroes in recent years, can take heart in knowing that Abraham Lincoln was truly a giant among men. The article has enhanced my already considerable admiration for this...
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Revisiting Valley Forge

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Revisiting Valley Forge I will never forget the Bicentennial of 1976. The year before I had volunteered to work at Valley Forge State Park after seeing a notice asking for people to staff the buildings. We were given paper patterns with which to make our outfits, hopefully resembling those from the eighteenth century. Mine was comprised of a knee-length white shift, long skirt, lace-up vest, and a “mob”...
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Ridgway Historic District

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Ridgway Historic District In 1833, Ridgway was platted as an unincorporated village and named for wealthy Philadelphia Quaker Jacob Ridgway (1768-1843), who owned more than one hundred thousand acres in north­central Pennsylvania. The village, originally located in Jefferson County, became the Elk County seat upon the county’s creation in 1843. Ridgway, incor­porated as a borough in 1881, emerged as an important...
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