Josh Gibson, The Heartbreak Kid

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Josh Gibson, The Heartbreak Kid The kid tapped his bat on Yankee Stadium’s home plate and tugged at the sleeves of his gray visi­tors’ uniform, revealing biceps “built like sledge ham­mers.” Before him, the stadi­um’s left field roof, with its famous gingerbread lattice facing, soared one hundred and eighteen feet into the air some four hundred feet from home plate. The scene was the World Series...
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Pittsburgh’s Black Opera Impressario: Mary Cardwell Dawson

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pittsburgh’s Black Opera Impressario: Mary Cardwell Dawson More than three decades after her death, Pittsburgh’s pioneer black opera company founder Mary Cardwell Dawson (1894-1962) has finally been honored for her many contributions to the Commonwealth’s musical heritage. On Sunday, September 25, 1994, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission unveiled and dedicated a state historical marker at the site of the Cardwell School of...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf The Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1879-1918 by Linda F. Witmer Cumberland County Historical Society, 1993 (166 pages, cloth, $29.95) The Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1879-1918, is a photo­graphic essay tracing the origins and development of the educational institu­tion established in the Cumberland County seat by Captain Richard H. Pratt. The Indian...
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John Frederick Hartranft Papers

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on John Frederick Hartranft Papers Although little recognized today, John Frederick Hartranft (1830-1889) did make his mark in the history of the Commonwealth and the nation as governor and as general. Born near Norristown, Montgomery County, he attended college, practiced law, and in 1861 entered the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil War. His dedication to the military was unswerving. He was commissioned colonel of the...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Peale Power The story of two generations of Philadelphia’s Peale family of artists and naturalists is one of the most captivating chapters in American history. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) and his chil­dren Raphaelle (1774-1825), Rembrandt (1778-1860), Rubens (1784-1865), and Titian Ramsey (1799-1860), Charles Willson’s brother James (1749-1831) and James’s children, Anna...
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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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Spalding Memorial Library – Tioga Point Museum

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Spalding Memorial Library – Tioga Point Museum The Spalding Memorial Library-Tioga Point Mu­seum, in Athens, Bradford County, is an important civic building designed by architect Albert Hamilton Kipp (1850-1906) in the Colonial Revival and Classical Revival styles. Kipp studied with James Renwick, architect of New York’s Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and the Smithsonian Institution’s “Castle” in Washington, D.C....
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“Thank God there are only three McCormicks”

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on “Thank God there are only three McCormicks” The McCormick boys arrived at St. Michael’s Home for Boys in July 1939. Art was seventeen, I was fourteen, and Mike was seven – a trio of orphans who would now live with two hundred and fifty hard-knock boys at this Catholic orphanage in Hoban Heights, near Pittston in Luzerne County. Those were hard times, and many boys at St. Mike’s came from rough backgrounds. They came from...
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September 2001 Meeting of Historic Preservation Board

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on September 2001 Meeting of Historic Preservation Board In the dizzying aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans realized that their lives would be forever changed. Terrorism even impacted the routine – and frequently mundane – ways in which business had been conducted. For its September 2001 meeting-held, incidentally, on Tuesday, September 11 – the Commonwealth’s Historic...
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Milwaukee Iron, Pennsylvania Style

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Milwaukee Iron, Pennsylvania Style What takes two and a half hours to make, costs at least sixteen thousand dollars to purchase, is assembled in a former military and bowling equipment facility in York, Pennsylvania, and bears the nick­name “Milwaukee Iron”? “What” is a motorcycle. More precisely, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Created in 1903 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and revered as the quintessential...
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