Schuylkill County: Built on Coal

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Schuylkill County: Built on Coal The history of Schuylkill County is inextricably bound to the story – and drama – of the great anthracite industry in the United States. Despite nearly two centuries of active mining, the county’s 783 square miles still boast the largest accessible reserves of hard coal known in the world. Its lives and lifestyles have been quasi-fictionalized by two of the county’s best...
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The Aaronsburg Story

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Aaronsburg Story Thanks to Penn State coach Joe Paterno and his loyal fans, it’s not uncommon to find tens of thousands of motorists jamming Centre County roads on autumn weekends. Fifty years ago this fall – Sunday, October 23, 1949, to be precise – thirty thousand people from throughout the United States converged not in State College to enjoy a football game but in the considerably smaller...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Class in Camelot The early 1960s may have seen America’s “Camelot” of President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, but we had our own magical kingdom here in Pennsylvania as well with the administration of Governor William W. Scranton. I enjoyed the recent article on Governor Scranton [“The Gentle­man from Pennsylvania: An Interview with William W. Scranton” by Michael J....
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Martin Ritt Takes on The Molly Maguires

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Martin Ritt Takes on The Molly Maguires Far from the glitter and glamour of Hollywood, in a remote mountain range of Pennsylvania, the film industry’s best and brightest gathered in the late 1960s to make a film that has been described as a dismal financial failure and, ironically, an extraordinary critical suc­cess. Before cameras whirred in and around the communities of Hazleton, Luzerne County, Jim Thorpe, Carbon County,...
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Conrad Richter

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Conrad Richter Proudly claimed as a native son by Pennsylva­nians, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Conrad Richter (1890-1968) was born and raised in Pine Grove, in western Schuylkill County, about thirty-five miles north of Harris­burg. Work took him increasingly westward until, in 1928, he and his wife. Harvena Achenbach Richter, relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, which pro­vided material for his first...
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Sampling a Taste of the Past Along the Pennsylvania Trails of History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Sampling a Taste of the Past Along the Pennsylvania Trails of History One of the best ways to experience the Keystone State’s history and heritage is to travel the Pennsylvania Trails of History®, a network of two dozen exciting historic sites and museums administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), the Commonwealth’s official history agency. PHMC has organized its popular destinations into four main trails – Military...
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