Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Nov 5, 2019 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter Forty some years ago, when I was in elementary school, I took a field trip with my science class to The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg to see the dioramas of Pennsylvania’s wildlife in Mammal Hall. Walking around the dark, circular gallery, I peered through windows into the fascinating, realistic habitats of 13 mammals, from the common to the locally extinct, and was transported to...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Oct 25, 2019 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter The cover of this edition of Pennsylvania Heritage is graced with the famous 1822 painting titled The Artist in His Museum, in which Charles Willson Peale portrayed himself at age 81 in the museum he established in Philadelphia, located at the time in the Long Gallery on the second floor of the Pennsylvania State House (now called Independence Hall). In the painting, Peale lifts a curtain,...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Oct 22, 2019 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter Sometimes Pennsylvania history occurs outside the boundaries of the Keystone State. Throughout the past, Pennsylvanians have traveled to other parts of the U.S. or have gone abroad to make their marks in the commonwealth’s history. Pennsylvania’s involvement in World War I is a good example, when soldiers from the state joined their fellow American servicemen in the Allied fight against the...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments “Persons and places conceive each other.” While preparing this edition of Pennsylvania Heritage, I was reminded of this quote from the preface of an American studies textbook I read as a graduate student, American Ground: Vistas, Visions and Revisions, edited by Robert H. Fossum and John K. Roth. It continues: “No people would have become American without a place of their own. Nor would any...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter Historical research is often motivated by a personal connection to a subject. Two articles in this issue of Pennsylvania Heritage come from authors who have investigated individuals significant to their own lives and found links to broader themes in Pennsylvania history. David D. Hursh became intrigued by his maternal great-grandfather, Rudolph M. Hunter, after years of hearing family lore about...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Mar 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter This issue of Pennsylvania Heritage marks the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into the First World War in April 1917. The focus comes as part of PHMC’s Pennsylvania at War initiative, a multiyear commemoration of the centennial of World War I and the 75th anniversary of World War II. The Keystone State contributed significantly to the Allied effort in World War I, with more than...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Dec 13, 2016 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter America is experiencing a beer renaissance that began three decades ago, and Pennsylvania has been at its forefront from the start. New craft breweries have flooded the market with an amazing variety of styles, diversifying the taste buds of beer drinkers nationwide. The Brewers Association (BA) defines a craft brewer as independent, small (6 million barrels or less a year) and traditional...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Sep 9, 2016 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter Forgotten human history exists beneath us in Pennsylvania, from as far back as 20,000 years ago to as recently as the previous century. In the last 50 years, many lost worlds have been recovered as a result of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA). A provision in NHPA, popularly known by its number in the document, Section 106, calls for the heads of federal agencies to “take...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Jun 6, 2016 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter The roots of rock ‘n’ roll music have been traced to several places in America, Philadelphia among them. It was there in 1949 that the Gotham label released what is considered to be one of the first rock ‘n’ roll records, “Rock the Joint,” by Jimmy Preston & the Prestonians of Chester, Delaware County. “Rock the Joint” had an impact on another rock...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Apr 19, 2016 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter There are more than 90,500 districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In Pennsylvania alone there are more than 3,300 listed properties. The National Register was created as part of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), now in effect for 50 years and enacted on the assumption that preservation of “irreplaceable heritage...
read more