Black Settlement on Yellow Hill

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Black Settlement on Yellow Hill Anyone who has ever read about the Battle of Gettysburg or visited the historic American Civil War battlefield undoubtedly learned about the generals, the courageous soldiers who fought in the grisly three-day encounter, and the thousands that lost their lives on that hallowed ground in Adams County. The stories of the famous engagements that took place at Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, and the...
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A Tall Order for a Tall Ship: Pennsylvania’s Flagship Niagara – An Interview with Captain Walter P. Rybka

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Tall Order for a Tall Ship: Pennsylvania’s Flagship Niagara – An Interview with Captain Walter P. Rybka Continuing his stellar career with sailing landmarks – including several vessels built specifically to train sailors – Walter P. Rybka joined the staff of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) in 1991 as master of the Flagship Niagara. It was the Brig Niagara, his relief flagship, that Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry commandeered and led the American forces to a...
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Meet Our Readers

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Meet Our Readers Pennsylvania Heritage is a unique benefit for the members of the Pennsylvania Heritage Society (PHS). The magazine has won prestigious design and editorial awards and is widely read throughout the Keystone State in libraries, schools, historical societies, and, of course, by PHS members. Many, after enjoying each issue, pass it on to relatives, friends, and neighbors. In addition to enjoying the...
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1836 Letter to Senator John Strohm

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on 1836 Letter to Senator John Strohm The John Strohm Papers, 1816– 1874, Manuscript Group 121, held by the Pennsylvania State Archives, contains the correspondence of John Strohm (1793–1884), a Lancaster County Whig who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1831 to 1833, was a state senator from 1834 to 1842, and served two terms in Congress, from 1845 to 1849. Among this correspondence is a letter written by...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Building Harrisburg: The Architects and Builders, 1719–1941 by Ken Frew published by the Historical Society of Dauphin County and the Historic Harrisburg Association, 2009; 396 pages, cloth, $75.00 Ken Frew spent thirty years researching and writing Building Harrisburg: The Architects and Builders, 1719–1941, and the investment of time and effort, as well as considerable talent, has resulted in...
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Mr. Peanut’s Hometown: Wilkes-Barre and the Founding of Planters Peanuts

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Mr. Peanut’s Hometown: Wilkes-Barre and the Founding of Planters Peanuts Few may realize it, but for nearly a half-century, the Luzerne County seat of Wilkes-Barre, in northeastern Pennsylvania, was the peanut capital of the world. Founded in 1906, the Planters Peanut Company operated its national headquarters at 632 South Main Street in an impressive two-story Federal-style building. A handsome balustrade encircled the roof of the elegant concrete edifice and was...
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Marking Pennsylvania’s African American History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Marking Pennsylvania’s African American History Charged with collecting, preserving, and interpreting more than three centuries of the Keystone State’s history and culture — as well as millions of years of its prehistory — the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) has launched a number of widely acclaimed, innovative, and popular public history programs over the years. One of its most popular is the state historical marker...
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Pioneering the Civil Rights Movement

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pioneering the Civil Rights Movement Many individuals tend to overlook the political work championed by Black abolitionists during the second half of the nineteenth century. Instead, they celebrate slavery’s demise and then suddenly move on to the civil rights movement of the twentieth century, possibly unaware of what took place on the nation’s streets and in legislative offices and courtrooms from the 1860s through the 1890s. The...
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Pennsdale Meeting

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsdale Meeting William Penn (1644–1718), who joined the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, in 1667, believed that the freedom of conscience, as it applied to religion, would ultimately result in political and economic advantages. By 1680 at the age of thirty-five he concentrated on establishing his own Quaker colony in America for which England’s King Charles II granted him the land the following year....
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Peter Kalm in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Peter Kalm in Pennsylvania The territory now recognized as Pennsylvania was once part of a Swedish colony stretching from Delaware to New York. Swedish farmers settled in small villages along the Delaware River, in southern New Jersey, and in the Hudson Valley. Established by the New Sweden Company in March 1638, it was administered from Fort Christina (Wilmington) in what is now Delaware. In 1655, a band of Dutch...
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