Letters to the Editor

Written by in the Letters category and the Fall 1988 issue Topics in this article:
Letters presents readers' comments and reactions to specific articles in Pennsylvania Heritage, the initiatives of PHMC, and other developments in the historical, cultural and museum communities of Pennsylvania.

Carousel Kings

I want to congratulate the graphic arts staff on its work for “The Merry-Go-Round Kings” by Linda Kowall in the spring 1988 issue. One seldom sees such brilliance and crea­tivity in historical publications. The overall design is quite pleasing. Please don’t hesitate to provide another visual feast as we were served in that particular article.

David J. R. Smucker
Lancaster, Pa.

David J. Rempel Smucker is editor of Pennsylvania Menno­nite Heritage, published by the Lancaster Mennonite Histori­cal Society.

Linda Kowall’s fascinating article in your spring edition awakened a long-forgotten memory of my boyhood days in Philadelphia in the early 1920s, when I was a frequent visitor at the Woodside Amusement Park which she mentioned. How well I recall the “Toonerville Trolley” at the edge of Strawberry Mansion in Fairmount Park that we had to ride for ten or fifteen minutes to reach the park. Pure Magic! Those are the only words that fit the masterful reproductions of the carousel horses used to illustrate Miss Kowall’s terrific article. The center spread especially evoked for me the image of William Blake’s “Ti­ger! Tiger! burning bright.” Sixty-five years ago when I was riding those horses at Woodside, I did not realize what a great carver was their carver, Salvatore Cernigliaro, but I do now – thanks to the author and Pennsylvania Heri­tage.

David Platt
Long Beach, N. Y.

David Platt is a member emer­itus of the editorial board of Jewish Currents, a progressive monthly publication of the Association for Jewish Secular­ism, New York, N. Y.

 

Constitutional Celebration

Your beautiful magazine is a joy to receive and I wish, that when I traveled in Pennsylva­nia, I had known more about some of the things I had seen. The magazine clarifies some, but only seeing is believing. The article by Peter J. Parker in the winter edition, “Pomp, Pageantry and a Parade: Cele­brating the Constitution’s Centennial,” which describes the one hundredth anniver­sary activities in 1887, men­tions my grandfather for whom I was named. Hampton C. Carson was secretary of the Constitutional Centennial Commission and later became president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where the official records of the 1887 observances are pre­served. It was a pleasant sur­prise to learn that the author of this article serves as director of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania!

H. C. Randolph, Sr.
Plymouth Meeting, Pa.

 

A Pleasant Surprise

It was a pleasant surprise to see Col. Henry W. Shoemak­er’s smiling countenance in the “Executive Director’s Message” of the summer issue. He was a most imaginative folklorist. That photograph triggered other memories, particularly of Sylvester K. Stevens (then executive director of the PHMC) picking up my father and me at our home at Six­teenth and Forster streets in Harrisburg and, with his sec­retary, driving to the dedica­tion of the Bushy Run Battlefield in Jeannette. The highlight of the day for me w.1s not the talk by C. Hale Sipe (although I’m sure it was splendid), but Stevens’ new blue 1938 Chrysler Royal se­dan. The eyes of this fifteen year old had never beheld a more splendid automobile! I have owned several Chryslers since then, but none had the magic of Stevens’ 1938 Royal.

Albert M. Rung
Santa Barbara, Cal.