Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown by Pat Farabaugh

Posted by on May 13, 2022 in | Comments Off on Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown by Pat Farabaugh Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown by Pat Farabaugh The History Press, 187 pp., paperback $21.99 Those with an interest in Pennsylvania history and natural disasters will never want for more in the examination of the Johnstown Flood and its aftermath. Farabaugh’s study condenses the standard story of Johnstown’s floods while engaging a parallel narrative of the decline of its...
read more

Cambria County: Coming Full Circle

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Cambria County: Coming Full Circle Located in the highlands of west­-central Pennsylvania and amidst forbidding mountains – the Allegheny escarpment and the Laurel Ridge standing sentinel on its eastern and western borders­ – the territory that would become Cambria County was not easily accessible to early Pennsylvanians. Migrants bound westward during the second half of the eighteenth century avoided its...
read more

Northampton County: From Frontier Farms to Urban Industries – and Beyond

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Northampton County: From Frontier Farms to Urban Industries – and Beyond Sweeping across southcentral Pennsyl­vania lies the Great Valley and nestled in its northeastern corner is mod­ern Northampton County. Bordered on the east by the Delaware River, on the south by South Mountain and the piedmont, and on the west by the valley of the Lehigh River, the three hundred and seventy-two square mile re­gion is one of gently rolling hills and wooded valleys, with...
read more

Frederick J. Osterling and a Tale of Two Buildings

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Frederick J. Osterling and a Tale of Two Buildings There was much to build in a growing industrial city like turn-of-the-century Pittsburgh, and many of the important architectural com­missions went to Frederick J. Osterling, a versatile designer, a respected businessman and a prominent – if occasionally controversial – architect. But when Osterling received that commission of which all archi­tects dream, it resulted in the sudden...
read more

Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Guide to Photo­graphs at the Pennsylvania State Archives by Linda A. Ries Pennsylvania Histori­cal and Museum Commission, 1993 (229 pages, paper, $6.95) Although the Pennsylvania State Archives safeguards mostly documentary materi­als – such as the private and personal papers of individuals, governmental records, maps, military records, industrial reports, and similar archival items...
read more

Ninety-Five Years of the Pennsylvania Society: A “Who’s Who” of Business and Politics

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Ninety-Five Years of the Pennsylvania Society: A “Who’s Who” of Business and Politics From industrialist Andrew Carnegie to television personality Mister Rogers, The Pennsylvania Society has both honored and drawn its energy from prominent personages of the Commonwealth’s civic, business, academic, entertain­ment, and government circles for nearly a century. Best known for its legendary annual December awards dinner that lasts for but a few hours each year, the organization...
read more

Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost In 1954, the year before it was demolished, Horticultural Hall was described by the Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine as the “most spectacular garden under glass in America.” The 1.5-acre hothouse, designed by Hermann J. Schwarzmann, was erected in Philadelphia’s Fair­mount Park for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and served as the centerpiece of gardens totaling thirty-five...
read more

Out and About

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Out and About Soul Soldiers The Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center recently unveiled the most comprehensive exhibition ever to explore the issues of the Vietnam War from an African American perspective. “Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era” tells the story of the Vietnam War’s impact on African American life and culture by examining both the war and the civil rights...
read more

Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf The Spectator and the Topographical City by Martin Aurand published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006; 232 pages, cloth, $29.95 Martin Aurand’s The Spectator and the Topographical City examines Pittsburgh’s built environment as it relates to the city’s unique topography. The author explores the conditions present in the natural landscape that led to the creation of architectural...
read more