Lenape Country by Jean R. Soderlund

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Lenape Country by Jean R. Soderlund Lenape Country Delaware Valley Society before William Penn by Jean R. Soderlund University of Pennsylvania Press, 272 pp., $39.95 In Lenape Country, Jean R. Soderlund, professor of history at Lehigh University and editor of William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania (University of Pennsylvania, 1983), masterfully recounts the story of the strong, proud and, at times, fierce people who once...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Back to Barnes The summer 1992 issue featured a salute to Frankford historian Howard L. Barnes (“Profile: Howard L. Barnes, Dean of Philadelphia’s Amateur Historians” by William C. Kashatus III), in which I noted as especially curious his claim of Swedish settlers occupying the Frankford area in the 1660s. Darby, in Delaware County, also boasts continuous permanent settlement...
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Daniel Boone Homestead

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Daniel Boone Homestead Visit the actual site where the legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was born and raised – and learn how the Keystone State was settled in the eighteenth century. This fascinating historic site in Berks County interprets the life of the Boone family and examines the heritage of the region’s early settlers – among them English Quaker, German, Swiss, Huguenot, and...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts In observance of the centennial of the Spanish-American War, West Overton Museums has mounted “The Spanish-­American War: Contributions by Western Pennsylvanians,” an exhibit of local memorabilia, documents, objects, and photographs. The exhibit continues through Saturday, October 31 [1998]. For more details, write: West Overton Museums, West Overton Village, Scottdale, PA 15683; or...
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Morton Homestead

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Morton Homestead Explore the history of the little-known colony of New Sweden, a seventeenth-century settlement in the Delaware Valley, at the Morton Homestead. Located on two and a half acres, on the bank of the Darby Creek, this historic site is a tangible link to the only Swedish colony ever to be established in America. New Sweden extended along the Delaware River from the mouth of the Delaware Bay to what...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts Opening Sunday, August 26, at Lan­caster’s Demuth Foundation is “Ben Solowey: The Modern Impulse, 1925- 1935,” which explores the Bucks County painter’s impact on the modern art movement (see “Ben Solowey: The Thing Speaks for Itself’ by Peter Frengel and David Leopold, Summer 1990). Internationally known artist Charles Demuth (1883-1935) was inspired by his...
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Executive Director’s Letter

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Letter William Penn first visited Pennsylvania 325 years ago this October. He arrived aboard the Welcome after an arduous journey of two months. “I am come well hither, I thank God,” he wrote, “and like the land, air and food very well.” In December 1682, he called the first meeting of the Pennsylvania Assembly that met for four days to establish procedural rules and pass an act of naturalization for...
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Peter Kalm in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Peter Kalm in Pennsylvania The territory now recognized as Pennsylvania was once part of a Swedish colony stretching from Delaware to New York. Swedish farmers settled in small villages along the Delaware River, in southern New Jersey, and in the Hudson Valley. Established by the New Sweden Company in March 1638, it was administered from Fort Christina (Wilmington) in what is now Delaware. In 1655, a band of Dutch...
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Governor’s Greetings

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Governor’s Greetings COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR GREETINGS: The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) adopted “The Land of Penn and Plenty: Bringing History to the Table” as its annual theme for 2012 to celebrate and share the richness and diversity of Pennsylvania’s agricultural and culinary traditions. Since its founding in 1681 by William Penn (1644–1718),...
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Sampling a Taste of the Past Along the Pennsylvania Trails of History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Sampling a Taste of the Past Along the Pennsylvania Trails of History One of the best ways to experience the Keystone State’s history and heritage is to travel the Pennsylvania Trails of History®, a network of two dozen exciting historic sites and museums administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), the Commonwealth’s official history agency. PHMC has organized its popular destinations into four main trails – Military...
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