Sarah Mary Benjamin, Heroine of Yorktown

Posted by on Apr 17, 2026 in | Comments Off on Sarah Mary Benjamin, Heroine of Yorktown Histories of the American Revolution have traditionally focused on famous leaders and soldiers. Far less has been said about the everyday people, especially women, whose lives and labor shaped the struggle for independence. One such woman was Sarah Mary (Mathews Osborn) Benjamin. Sometimes compared to “Molly Pitcher,” Sarah left vivid accounts of her time accompanying her husband, Aaron Osborn,...
read more

From the Executive Director

Posted by on Apr 17, 2026 in | Comments Off on From the Executive Director Over the past 40 years, technology has transformed how people connect — with one another and with information. At the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC), we’ve seen remarkable progress in using digital tools to enhance engagement with the history we steward: the documents, maps and photographs preserved in the Pennsylvania State Archives; information about historical...
read more

Revolutionary Things: Objects from the Collection

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Revolutionary Things: Objects from the Collection Massachusetts has the Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill and the Shot Heard Round the World; Virginia can lay claim to Mount Vernon, Monticello and Yorktown; and New Jersey and New York bore the brunt of the fighting in the conflict. But few if any of the original 13 colonies can compete with Pennsylvania in terms of the sheer concentration of people, places and things associated with the nation’s...
read more

Haym Salomon, Financier Who Helped Fund a Revolution

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Haym Salomon, Financier Who Helped Fund a Revolution The story of Haym Salomon (1740–85) is both inspiring and deeply bittersweet. One of the most successful financiers of the American Revolution, he directly supported the final victories of the Continental Army, yet he died in poverty. Born in Leszno, Poland–Lithuania, to a Jewish family, Salomon traveled across Western Europe in his early adulthood, learning multiple languages and acquiring...
read more

A Quaker Epistle: Pacifism and the American Revolution

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on A Quaker Epistle: Pacifism and the American Revolution A 1775 document preserved in the Pennsylvania State Archives, “An Epistle from the Meeting for Sufferings,” offers insight into the beliefs, practices and morals of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, during the great social upheaval of the Revolutionary War period. The Meeting for Sufferings was a standing committee that addressed matters concerning the wider Quaker community during times of...
read more

Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter With this edition of Pennsylvania Heritage, we begin our commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the year of American independence. In the coming months, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and its Trails of History sites will be offering an array of related programs, exhibitions and events that you’ll hear about in these pages. This winter, The State Museum of Pennsylvania...
read more

Benedict Arnold’s Daybook

Posted by on Dec 1, 2025 in | Comments Off on Benedict Arnold’s Daybook Gen. Benedict Arnold’s 1778–79 daybook is one of the most intriguing documents of the Revolutionary era held in the collection of the Pennsylvania State Archives (Record Group 4.15). In its pages, Arnold kept a record of receipts and expenditures during his military campaigns in the American Revolutionary War and his tenure as military governor of Philadelphia. Arnold was one of the most...
read more

Pennsylvania and the American Revolution: An Interview with Gordon S. Wood

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania and the American Revolution: An Interview with Gordon S. Wood   The American Revolution was the most significant event in our country’s history. Independence from Great Britain not only resulted in the birth of a new nation but also one dedicated to a uniquely democratic form of government unknown to the world in the 18th century. It also forged a national identity, rooted in the principles of liberty, equality and republicanism, that has endured for...
read more

The Hanna’s Town Resolves

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on The Hanna’s Town Resolves On May 16, 1775, the citizens of Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland County gathered at Hanna’s Town to draft a series of resolutions condemning the actions of Parliament and to organize themselves into an armed militia. The resulting 755-word document, known as the Hanna’s Town Resolves, challenged the scope of British authority and took the western backcountry one step closer to revolution. Signed 14...
read more

The Arrest of Philip Skene

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on The Arrest of Philip Skene The British ship Sally entered the port of Philadelphia on June 7, 1775, after leaving London weeks before. Aboard the ship was a British officer who was also a land speculator in the colony of New York and a soon to be suspected spy — Maj. Philip Wharton Skene (1725–1810). The Revolutionary War had just begun and already intrigue, speculation and suspicion were spreading wildly throughout...
read more