Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost A century after its erection in 1870, and just one year after it was named to the National Register of Historic Places, Old Main, a landmark on the campus of what is today West Chester University of Pennsylvania in Chester County was demolished – despite protests by local, county, and state historical organizations, architects, even the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Quite a Rau I was intrigued by John C. Van Horne’s article on William Herman Rau in the Fall 1996 issue of Pennsylvania Heritage [see “‘The Greatest Highway to the West’: Photographer William H. Rau Documents the Pennsylvania Railroad”]. I edit a similar magazine in Alabama, and we have exchanged copies with your magazine for years. I always enjoy seeing what our...
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Born a Leader for Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Born a Leader for Pennsylvania The essence of life is unconditional, non-judgmental love,” explains George Michael Leader when asked to sum-up his philosophy. He writes poetry, models and advocates wellness, leads community humanitarian projects, reads extensively, and oversees a family corpora­tion he founded that includes nursing facili­ties and retirement communities. In his ninth decade he is, as he has always been,...
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Violence and Vigilantes: The KKK in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Violence and Vigilantes: The KKK in Pennsylvania It was a warm, muggy day in early August 1921 in Philadelphia when F. W. Atkins of Jacksonville, Florida, and W. J. Bellamy of Cincinnati, Ohio, rented an office in the Bellevue Court Building to quietly recruit members for “a great and patriotic crusade to save the nation.” Their goal was to organize a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Posing as a prospective KKK initiate, a...
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The Soulful and Sultry Miss Ethel Waters

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Soulful and Sultry Miss Ethel Waters Much of Ethel Waters’ success as a popular twentieth-century entertainer has been credited to the rather simple fact she, in her own words, never forgot who she was and where she came from. She achieved renown as blues singer, theater and film actress, and best selling author. She also emerged as a role model, if not icon, for several decades of African American women. And she accomplished...
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Principal’s Quarters, Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pa.

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Principal’s Quarters, Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pa. On a post card bearing an image entitled “Principal’s Quarters, Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pa.,” and postmarked April 12, 1910, C. H. Yost inquired of Ella M. Kunkel, “Is the Normal crowded with new students this term? There are more here than there ever were.” Miss Kunkel’s address at West Chester and, especially, “W.C.S.N.S.,” suggests she was a student at what is today West...
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William C. Kashatus: Bringing History to Life

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on William C. Kashatus: Bringing History to Life A Man for All Centuries “Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa hath expelled her. O, receive the fugitive and prepare it for all mankind!” exclaims William C. (Bill) Kashatus with fists stabbing the air. In this instance, Bill is passionately portraying Thomas Paine (1737–1809), the bellicose British radical who advocated the American Revolution. Much of Bill’s passion...
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