Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message This past spring, Gov. Robert P. Casey presented awards for excellence in the arts to dancer Judith Jamison, in the humanities to Sonia Sanchez, and in the sciences to Ruth Patrick, a pioneer in the study of water pollution. The recognition program was conceived to recognize the unique and diverse ways in which Pennsylvanians have contributed to the human understanding of the world in which we...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message I am delighted by the many innovative cooperative pro­grams in which the Pennsylva­nia Historical and Museum Commission has been able to participate recently. Certainly one of the most exciting ven­tures for us is the arrangement – approved by our Commissioners last September – through which the Friends of the Pennsylva­nia Historical and Museum Commission has become the publisher of...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message We live in an age in which centennials and bicentennials – not to mention anniversaries of all sorts – have become commonplace. In preparing for the seventy-fifth anniver­sary of the Pennsylvania His­torical and Museum Commission this year, we asked ourselves if the com­memoration would be lost in the multitude of local and regional celebrations, a mere footnote in the...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message Because so much of what the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission does is highly visible, my first column as Executive Director is devoted entirely to a new program that may not attract attention for some time. None­theless, I am convinced that we have launched a project that will yield profound and positive consequences for the Commission and for public history in Pennsylvania. A...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message The beginning of the school year is a good time to assess the status of the teaching of history in Pennsylvania. If asked to grade our efforts, I doubt I would give any higher than a “Gentleman’s C.” While debate on the subject is cer­tainly not new, a recent report by the Pennsylvania Depart­ment of Education (PDE) offers a new analysis of specific is­sues and makes some...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message Once again, the Pennsylva­nia Historical and Museum Commission will sponsor a conference on the Common­wealth’s Black history and heritage. The conference will take place on Friday and Sat­urday, May 5-6 [1989], in Altoona, and will feature papers and special events concerning the Black presence in the central region of Pennsylvania. High­lights of this year’s conference include the...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message Our state Department of Commerce has recently adopted Pennsylvania: America Starts Here as the official slogan to promote tourism throughout Pennsylvania. In doing so, the Commonwealth is calling attention to the tremendous appeal of historic attractions in Pennsylvania for residents and visitors alike. The sheer economic impact of visitation to museums, battlefields, historic villages and...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message Very often the least visible activity in an agency such as the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is crucial to its successful opera­tion. So, too, it is with the conservation of objects, arti­facts, documents and works of art. Throughout the entire country, public history profes­sionals are recognizing that not only is conservation a logical extension of the collec­tion and...
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Expanding A Vision: Seventy-Five Years of Public History

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Expanding A Vision: Seventy-Five Years of Public History Three-quarters of a century ago, it proba­bly surprised no one that the first act of the Pennsylvania Historical Com­mission, not long after its creation in 1913, was to survey all monuments and memorials in the Commonwealth’s sixty­-seven counties. At that time it was universally assumed that public history involved com­memoration and the rituals associated with recognizing significant...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 27, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message The exchanging of gifts is certainly one of the most mem­orable parts of every holiday season. Even state agencies, such as the Pennsylvania His­torical and Museum Commis­sion, make a yearly “wish list” in the hopes of garnering holiday generosity. Our list this year places an emphasis upon the invisible Commission – and the needs that are not immediately evident to the public,...
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