Historian of Pennsylvania Exceptionalism: Samuel W. Pennypacker

Posted by on Dec 2, 2013 in | Comments Off on Historian of Pennsylvania Exceptionalism: Samuel W. Pennypacker Reflecting on “the play of forces” that propelled him to Pennsylvania’s governor’s office in 1903, Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker (1843–1916) confidently declared, “there is no such thing as an accident” (a notion popularized by Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis). This was not to say chance plays no part in history because he pronounced with equal certitude: “To every man certain...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Grand Manner Born in Nescopeck, Luzerne County, Peter Frederick Rothermel (1812-1895) was once one of the most celebrated his­tory painters in the United States (see “Painting for Peer, Patron, and the Public” by Kent Ahrens in the spring 1992 edition of Pennsylvania Heritage). Neglected for decades, he is at last being celebrated in a major exhibition, “Painting in the Grand...
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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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Now Presenting American’s Oldest Playhouse: The Walnut Street Theatre

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Now Presenting American’s Oldest Playhouse: The Walnut Street Theatre It all started with the circus. Early in the nineteenth century, the New Circus, as it was called, was located at the corner of Walnut and Ninth Streets in Philadelphia, several blocks west of the State House (now Independence Hall). On February 2, 1809, an advertisement in the newspaper Aurora announced that “Messrs. Pepin and Breschard, Professors of the art of Horsemanship and agility,...
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Current and Coming

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Current and Coming New Heritage Center Founded in 1904, the Lehigh County Historical Society, head­quartered in Allentown, has grown through the past century to administer several historic sites and museums representing the area’s industrial, cultural, agricultural, and political his­tory. On Monday, April 11, the so­ciety will formally open the Lehigh Valley Heritage Center, an advanced, seven-million...
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Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990)

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) Well known among those who advanced the understanding of human behavior are Plato, Socrates, Descartes, Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, and Carl Rogers. Northeastern Pennsylvania claims another great thinker as a native son, one who revolutionized the field of behavioral psychology, the controversial B. F. Skinner. Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born March 20, 1904, in Susquehanna,...
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Out and About

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Out and About Canis Major “I never met a pet I didn’t like,” pop icon Andy Warhol (1928–1987) — born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh — once wrote. The artist had many pets throughout his life, including his childhood dog, a lovable mutt named Lucy, more than a dozen Siamese cats, and his dachshunds Amos and Archie. His New York studio, the Silver Factory, had two resident felines, Black Lace and White Pussy, and...
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The Barrymores of Philadelphia: America’s Royal Family of the Theatre

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Barrymores of Philadelphia: America’s Royal Family of the Theatre America’s fabled royal family of the theatre, the Barrymores — a name recognized throughout the world by generations of audiences — began its meteoric rise in mid-nineteenth- century Philadelphia. The twentieth-century scions of entertainment — Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore — were born in Philadelphia, children of the rapscallion English charmer, Maurice Barrymore (1847–1905) and his equally...
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Lloyd Mifflin: Artist of the Susquehanna

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lloyd Mifflin: Artist of the Susquehanna While many artists have painted the majestic Susquehanna River, none were as devoted to studying, rhapsodizing about its beauty and, ultimately, painting it in its many moods as was Pennsylvania native Lloyd Mifflin (1846–1921). In many ways, Mifflin typified the romantic, if often improbable, late nineteenth-century image of the artist as an attractive, highly sensitive, elitist dandy who...
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From the Editor

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on From the Editor “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” DuBose Heyward’s lyrics for George Gerswhin’s aria Summertime – now a time-honored jazz standard – for the 1935 opera Porgie and Bess are as timeless as they are popular. Summer in Pennsylvania is an ideal time to visit the historic sites and museums administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission...
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