The Jefferis Collection: A Pennsylvania Treasure

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Jefferis Collection: A Pennsylvania Treasure In February 1905, four men entered a small brick building on Miner Street in West Chester and began a month of careful labor. Using cotton and fine wood shavings, they individually wrapped 35,000 mineral speci­mens with their handwritten labels, carefully placed them into boxes, nailed the boxes shut and hauled box after box to the West Chester railroad station. Newspaper reporters kept the...
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Historical Sketch of Elk County

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Historical Sketch of Elk County Elk County is named for that noble animal that once abounded in the region in great numbers. The last native elk, however, was shot in 1867 in Elk County by an Indian, Jim Jacobs. Today, Pennsylvania’s only Elk herd roams freely over the area bounded by Elk and Cam­eron Counties. It is descended from the Elk herd imported into Pennsylvania in 1913 from Montana and Wyoming. The history of...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts The descendants of natural­ist John Bartram and members of the John Bartram Associa­tion will celebrate the centennials of the association and the family reunion during the weekend of June 25-27 [1993]. The event will feature tours of Historic Bartram’s Garden, speakers, bus tours, and a gala picnic on the grounds to commemorate the family’s first reunion in 1893. To obtain...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message “Please, don’t change Mammal Hall!” Whenever I mention our plans for The State Museum of Pennsylvania, nearly everyone immediately recalls the wonderful dioramas that depict the Commonwealth’s abundant natural heritage. I have not seen an exhibit on a similar theme anywhere in my travels throughout the country that rivals its artistic and educational value. Those loyal...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Keystone of Justice: The Pennsylvania Superior Court By Patrick J. Tamilia and John J. Hare Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2000 (366 pages; cloth, $29.95; paper, $19.95) A result of crisis in appellate proceedings, once solely the domain of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was the creation, in 1895, of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania....
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Abraham Lincoln Mask (1860) by Leonard W. Volk

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Abraham Lincoln Mask (1860) by Leonard W. Volk One of the most famous likenesses of President Abraham Lincoln is an unusu­al life-mask made in March 1860 by sculptor Leonard W. Volk (1828-1895) in his Chicago studio. Volk measured Lin­coln’s head and upper torso and made a plaster impression of his face, on which he based his exquisite bust of the beard­less future president. Lincoln’s life-mask lay neglected for twenty years,...
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Making a Future for the Past: New Dating Meets New Deal Archaeology

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Making a Future for the Past: New Dating Meets New Deal Archaeology Imagine a scene set about nine hundred years ago. It is early autumn in a small farming village in the rugged Appalachian mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania. A harried mother stands in front of her small, beehive-shaped house and watches two young men playing chunkey – a lacrosse-type game – in the central plaza of her village. She gazes wistfully across the plaza, which is...
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Edward Drinker Cope, Pennsylvania’s Greatest Naturalist

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Edward Drinker Cope, Pennsylvania’s Greatest Naturalist Despite Americans’ age-old fascination with dinosaurs, probably few recognize the name Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897). Although his name may not be as familiar as others in the long record of natural history – John James Audubon, John and William Bartram, Louis Agassiz – he has earned bis rightful place among America’s most accomplished and eminent natural scientists....
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Current and Coming

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Current and Coming Pennsylvania has long been recognized as the keystone of the nation and for good reason. Since its founding in 1681 by William Penn (1644–1718), the Commonwealth has welcomed settlers of all nationalities; nurtured writers, artists, musicians, poets, and playwrights; and spawned inventors, innovators, scientists, and business and labor leaders. Its natural resources and the industries they...
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Rising from the Muck: The Marshalls Creek Mastodon

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Rising from the Muck: The Marshalls Creek Mastodon For as long as I can remember, I have known of the little village of Marshalls Creek, near East Stroudsburg, in northeastern Pennsylvania’s Monroe County. My maternal grandparents, Bertha and Arthur Pflieger, rented a cottage each summer in the Poconos at the Cottage Colony, part of the Mountain Lake House, a popular resort for many New Yorkers and city dwellers during the 1940s and the...
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