Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Dec 1, 2025 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter What comes to mind when you think of Pennsylvania? The features in this edition spotlight perspectives on commonwealth culture through a painter’s scenic landscapes, a sculptor’s three-dimensional portraits of historical and folkloric figures, the state animal, and a popular food product. In the early 1970s, artist Nick Ruggieri was commissioned by the Harrisburg Patriot-News to select a...
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From the Executive Director

Posted by on Dec 1, 2025 in | Comments Off on From the Executive Director We are thrilled to be sharing some PHMC news with you: We are embarking on a major renovation of The State Museum of Pennsylvania. Our Midcentury Modern masterpiece is a wonderful home for telling Pennsylvania’s story, but after serving Pennsylvanians for 60 years, it has some elements that no longer meet the needs of the modern visitor or, to be honest, the needs of our collections. This $55...
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Getting Pennsylvania on Speaking Terms

Posted by on Sep 8, 2025 in | Comments Off on Getting Pennsylvania on Speaking Terms Following Alexander Graham Bell’s famous exhibition of the telephone at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia, a sprawling telephone network would soon connect people in every corner of the United States. The telephone quickly became a popular communication tool among merchants and business owners who valued its instantaneous nature, such as John Wanamaker, who first installed...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Summer 2025

Posted by on Sep 8, 2025 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Summer 2025 Topics in the Summer 2025 Newsletter: PHF to Launch Podcast Series Summer Events on the Pennsylvania Trails of History Jacobs Joins PHF Board Summer-2025-PHF-Newsletter...
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1st Pennsylvania Regiment Flag and Banners of Liberty

Posted by on Sep 8, 2025 in | Comments Off on 1st Pennsylvania Regiment Flag and Banners of Liberty One of the most significant objects in the collection of The State Museum of Pennsylvania is currently being featured in Banners of Liberty, a special exhibition of rare and original Revolutionary War–era flags at the Museum of the American Revolution (MOAR) in Philadelphia. The 40-by-54-inch silk flag belonged to the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line between 1776 and 1783. Over...
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Bark Peelers’ Festival 50

Posted by on Sep 8, 2025 in | Comments Off on Bark Peelers’ Festival 50 The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum’s Bark Peelers’ Festival event celebrates its 50th occurrence in July 2025. Referred to as the “Bark Peelers’ Convention” from its inception in 1974 through the 2014 iteration, the festival is the museum’s largest and most well-known yearly special event. Attendance has fluctuated over the years, from a high of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people during the 1980s...
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The History of Silver Lake by Scott and Kathleen Webb

Posted by on Sep 8, 2025 in | Comments Off on The History of Silver Lake by Scott and Kathleen Webb The History of Silver Lake As Told Through Its Deeds by Scott and Kathleen Webb GWN Publishing, 155 pp., hardcover $39.99, paperback $29.99 Silver Lake is an ancient body of water adjacent to Lewisberry, York County, just 13 miles south of Harrisburg. Once the prehistoric home of reptiles and amphibians, the lake was used as a mill pond in the late 18th and 19th centuries and was developed into...
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The World War One Diary & Art of Doughboy Cpl. Harold W. Pierce, edited by William J. Welch

Posted by on Sep 8, 2025 in | Comments Off on The World War One Diary & Art of Doughboy Cpl. Harold W. Pierce, edited by William J. Welch The World War One Diary & Art of Doughboy Cpl. Harold W. Pierce Duty, Terror and Survival edited by William J. Welch Pen & Sword, 224 pp., hardcover $37.95 Cpl. Harold Pierce’s diary is a fascinating glimpse of army life in a combat division in the First World War. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Pierce joined the 28th “Keystone” Division in 1917 and served through the armistice in...
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Raising Philadelphia by Justin McHenry

Posted by on Sep 8, 2025 in | Comments Off on Raising Philadelphia by Justin McHenry Raising Philadelphia The Making of America’s First Great City, 1750–1775 by Justin McHenry Brookline Books, 224 pages, hardcover $32.95 McHenry’s appetite for research and his passion for storytelling combine here to illuminate threads of history and biography into readable stories for a broad audience. Focusing on Philadelphia’s transformation into a cultural and political epicenter...
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The Continental Building

Posted by on Aug 29, 2025 in | Comments Off on The Continental Building As Pennsylvania prepares for the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, much attention will be given to Independence Hall and the surrounding mall in Philadelphia. But it’s not only these colonial buildings that deserve our attention. In the adjacent blocks stand several significant modernist structures worth noting, too. One such example, the Continental Building, was listed in the...
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