Flagship Niagara at Erie Maritime Museum

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Flagship Niagara at Erie Maritime Museum Among the more unusual treasures – and the only sailing vessel – interpreted by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the U.S. Brig Niagara is the Commonwealth’s official flagship and goodwill ambassador. Berthed in her homeport at the Erie Maritime Museum, the ship carried Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to his stunning victory over the British in the Battle of Lake...
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Garden Temple at Old Economy Village

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Garden Temple at Old Economy Village One of the earliest gardens in the United States, the garden at Old Economy Village in Ambridge, Beaver County, symbolized the Garden of Eden for the Harmony Society, which occupied the complex from 1824 until it was dissolved in 1905. The nineteenth-century Christian community, best known for its piety and industrial prosperity, was founded by George Rapp (1757-1847) who believed that the...
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Mount Pleasant at Fairmount Park

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Mount Pleasant at Fairmount Park Each year the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission names an outstanding example of Pennsylvania’s history as a Commonwealth Treasure. For 2001 the Commission has designated Fairmount Park. The forty-four hundred acre park is being recognized for its wealth of manmade and natural sites, which create a rich legacy of architecture, history, culture, and ecology. Founded in 1855, with...
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1872 Morgan Coverlet at Somerset Historical Center

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on 1872 Morgan Coverlet at Somerset Historical Center Objects and artifacts are crucial to telling the story of southwestern Pennsylvania’s pioneer life and the changes encountered by the region’s early settlers, ordinary people – farmers, millers, traders – who helped propel westward expansion. The Somerset Historical Center owns a collection of twenty-two coverlets made in Somerset County, including five bearing the...
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WWII Knitted Socks at Pennsylvania Military Museum

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on WWII Knitted Socks at Pennsylvania Military Museum During World War II, the American Red Cross sponsored a program to provide handmade garments for refugees and members of the military services by organizing volunteer sewing and knitting workshops. Ruth McDanel Davis, of New Brighton, Beaver County, newlywed bride of a soldier stationed overseas, volunteered for this home front program and knitted gloves, socks, and sweater jackets during three...
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West Family Tureen at Hope Lodge

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on West Family Tureen at Hope Lodge The family of William West Sr. (1724-1782) resided from 1776 to 1784 at Hope Lodge in Fort Washington, Montgomery County, one of the finest Georgian period houses in the United States. Built between 1743 and 1748, Hope Lodge offers a look at architecture and art of the Colonial era and the popular Colonial Revival period of the early twentieth century. Of particular note is a remarkable service...
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General Irvine’s Pistols at Fort Pitt Museum

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on General Irvine’s Pistols at Fort Pitt Museum General William Irvine (1741-1804), a physician who practiced in Carlisle, Cumberland County, and a member of the Continental Congress, enjoyed a distinguished military career. He served in the Revolutionary War, during which he commanded Fort Pitt, and led Pennsylvania troops during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. For many years, Irvine’s papers and personal arms – an elegantly...
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Embroidered Casket at Pennsbury Manor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Embroidered Casket at Pennsbury Manor Affluent seventeenth-century English families sent their daughters to boarding school to learn embroidery, writing, dancing, reading, and music. By her late teens, a young woman was expected to complete an embroidery project as the culmination of her needlework education. Among her common choices were baskets, looking glass frames, and dressing boxes, or caskets. If she chose a casket, she would...
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Barnhart Log Loader at Pennsylvania Lumber Museum

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Barnhart Log Loader at Pennsylvania Lumber Museum The introduction, in 1885, of steam-powered log loaders to efficiently load logs on rail cars and replace tedious, back-breaking manual labor, revolutionized the country’s logging industry. Two years later, Henry Barnhart, co-founder of the Marion Power Shovel Company, Marion, Ohio, developed the Barnhart loader, which proved to be, along with the Barnhart Model 10, the most popular loader...
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Ware Prison Drawing at Pennsylvania State Archives

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Ware Prison Drawing at Pennsylvania State Archives One of the more unusual governmental records safeguarded by the Pennsylvania State Archives, observing its centennial in 2003, is a statistical record kept between 1893 and 1896 by inmate number 5932 at Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary. The ledger was elaborately embellished with calligraphy, vignettes, and drawings – many of them crime-related – by Sidney Ware, an...
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