Currents

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Pennsylvania Germans Historians trace the origins of Pennsylvania German settlement to late seventeenth-century Philadelphia and the arrival of the earliest immigrants. These arrivals came from many regions in what are now the countries of Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and the Alsace region of France. Lutheran, Reformed, Moravian, Catholic, Jewish, and Anabaptist (including...
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Fanny M. Jackson and Philadelphia’s Institute for Colored Youth

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Fanny M. Jackson and Philadelphia’s Institute for Colored Youth This idea was deep in my soul. Where it came from I cannot tell. It was in me to get an education and teach my people.” The sentiment was written nearly a century ago, in 1912, by Fanny M. Jackson Coppin (1837-1913), principal of Philadelphia’s Institute for Colored Youth (ICY). All but forgotten today, Coppin and her distinguished career of nearly four decades at the Institute for...
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John A. Brashear (1840-1920)

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on John A. Brashear (1840-1920) Somewhere beneath the stars is work which you alone were meant to do. Never rest until you have found it,” proclaims a plaque at a small museum on Pittsburgh’s South Side. For the author, John Alfred Bras­hear (1840-1920), the stars were his life’s work. At the age of nine, encouraged by his grandfather, Brashear peered through a telescope with a lens ground from fire­hardened...
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All Creatures Great and Small: The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society’s Revolution of Kindness Reformed Society and Improved Lives

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on All Creatures Great and Small: The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society’s Revolution of Kindness Reformed Society and Improved Lives On a cold February morning in 1965, Donora Mayor Albert P. Delsandro took his daily stroll in the Washington County community’s Palmer Park and made a shocking discovery. Thirteen dead dogs, each with amputated ears, lay in the tall, yellowed grass. A little-known Pennsylvania stray dog law authorized a $2 bounty for every pair of grisly trophies sent to Harrisburg. Countless citizens expressed...
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Exhibit: Pennsylvania’s Civil War

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Exhibit: Pennsylvania’s Civil War Recently opened by the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh is a major exhibit providing visitors with an in-depth look at Pennsylvania’s significant contributions to the Union during the American Civil War. In addition to highlighting these efforts and important conflicts such as the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania’s Civil War showcases Pittsburgh’s role as the “Arsenal of the...
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Remembering Place: Black National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Remembering Place: Black National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania The National Historic Landmarks (NHL) program was established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and refined by amendments to it in 1980. The federal law requires the U.S. Department of the Interior to certify the historic authenticity of NHLs based on strident criteria, including association with events, people, and great ideas; distinguishing characteristics in architectural or...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost Camp meetings, evangelistic Christian gatherings conducted under large tents and pavilions, originated in the United States in the early nineteenth century. These outdoor revivals lasted several days during summer months. One of the Commonwealth’s earliest rural revivals was conducted by the Methodist Episcopal Church in Clinton County. The grounds were laid out in 1869 at Pine (or Pine...
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Supreme Court of the United States Document

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Supreme Court of the United States Document Court papers, legal opinions, and correspondence relating to Civil Action Number 24119 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, entitled Edward Lewis Schempp, Sidney Gerber Schempp, individually and as parents and natural guardians of Ellory Frank Schempp, Roger Wade Schempp and Donna Kay Schempp v. School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania, James F....
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William Penn’s Pennsylvania: A Legacy of Religious Freedom

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on William Penn’s Pennsylvania: A Legacy of Religious Freedom In a letter written August 25, 1681, William Penn (1644–1718) described his new colony to friend and fellow Quaker James Harrison (circa 1628–1687). He hoped that in the development of Pennsylvania “an example may be set up to the nations.” The colony would serve as a “holy experiment,” a place where people of different ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs would find a peaceful home. His...
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Charles Taze Russell

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Charles Taze Russell Born in Allegheny City (annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907 and known today as the city’s North Side), Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916) was a well-known Christian restorationist minister and founder of the Bible Student movement, which spawned Jehovah’s Witnesses and independent groups after his death. Russell was a charismatic individual but claimed no special vision for his teachings and no special...
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