Executive Director’s Message
Written by Brent Glass in the From the Executive Director category and the Winter 1992 issue Topics in this article:Since 1987 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) has assumed the lead role for the commemoration of this year’s five hundredth anniversary of the Columbus voyages. With the assistance of a task force appointed by Gov. Robert P. Casey, which represents the General Assembly of Pennsylvania and major historical organizations and cultural institutions throughout the state, we adopted three themes to address the legacy of Christopher Columbus in the Commonwealth.
First, we agreed to support programs and activities that illustrate the experiences of diverse ethnic populations. The initiative to create Pennsylvania’s Columbus program came, after all, from the Italian-American caucus of the state legislature. With the active support of caucus leadership and staff, we committed a large portion of our project budget to telling the stories of the various ethnic groups that sought religious toleration, political freedom, and economic opportunity by immigrating to William Penn’s “Holy Experiment.” Examples of this theme include a television series on WPSX-TV of State College devoted to twenty major ethnic groups; an exhibit installed in The State Museum’s Mobile Museum entitled “A Patchwork of Cultures”; and a major exhibition, “The Peopling of Pennsylvania,” developed in cooperation with the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia.
Second, we strove to identify and interpret efforts to memorialize Christopher Columbus in Pennsylvania. Our staff discovered fifteen Columbus statues and memorials, and eleven places named in honor of the explorer. A room in the Doylestown house of Henry Chapman Mercer is dedicated to chronicling the saga of the Columbus voyages with distinctive Mercer tiles. The most prominent memorial in Pennsylvania is, of course, the Columbus Chapel in Boalsburg, Centre County, where the PHMC has supported the cataloging of more than two thousand objects and artifacts, as well as an exhibit exploring the unique connection between the Boal and Columbus families.
Finally, we have called attention to the history of Pennsylvania during the period of early European settlement. One accomplishment under this theme was the purchase of the important Berry map of North America (1680), the first known map to employ the designation “Pennsylvania.” Grants to the Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) and to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) have also supported research, lectures, and publications.
Within this thematic approach, it is important to better understand the contact between the Native Americans and the Europeans. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Columbus’ accomplishments is whether or not he is considered a great explorer or a great exploiter. The consequences of European exploration and settlement in the New World have not been favorable for native populations. No amount of progress that has occurred during the past five centuries can erase the critical questions concerning human rights, economic injustice, and environmental degradation that is also part of our history.
At a conference held last year on the Columbus commemoration, one of our speakers expressed the hope that 1992 would be a “year of reconciliation” among the diverse populations of our continent, and that the observance of the Columbus legacy would shed light (and not heat) upon the contending memories of the past. This spirit of reconciliation should surely be our objective if we are to derive any meaning at all from the study and preservation of our common heritage.
Brent D. Glass
Executive Director