Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Apr 17, 2026 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, we continue our series of articles on Pennsylvania in the American Revolution. Three features in this edition focus on individuals of the era and their contributions to the new nation. British emigrant Thomas Paine arrived in Philadelphia in November 1774 and soon began working as the editor of Pennsylvania Magazine. In January 1776, he...
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Cradle of Conservation by Allen Dieterich-Ward

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on Cradle of Conservation by Allen Dieterich-Ward Cradle of Conservation An Environmental History of Pennsylvania by Allen Dieterich-Ward Temple University Press, 144 pp., paperback $19.95 Cradle of Conservation is the first comprehensive analysis of the commonwealth’s environmental history and is a superb addition to the Pennsylvania History Series. Better still, this slim volume offers a compelling model for any state eager to better...
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Recovery of the Bald Eagle in Pennsylvania: A Conservation Success Story

Posted by on Mar 29, 2024 in | Comments Off on Recovery of the Bald Eagle in Pennsylvania: A Conservation Success Story   Easily recognizable by its white head and tail, dark brown body, hooked yellow beak, and large black talons, the bald eagle is truly a majestic bird. In Pennsylvania, as well as most other parts of North America, bald eagles are apex predators, atop the avian food chain. Humans have been their only primary adversary over the past couple of centuries. When Columbus arrived in America in...
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Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

Posted by on Mar 17, 2023 in | Comments Off on Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is a 2,600-acre forested conservation area in eastern Pennsylvania run by the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association for ornithological education and research. Located on the border of Berks and Schuylkill counties at the crest of the Kittatinny Ridge, the sanctuary is on one of the world’s largest migratory flyways for raptors and other bird species. The Lenape Indians who...
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Pennsylvania State Archives Multiyear Freezer Negative Project

Posted by on Jun 8, 2020 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania State Archives Multiyear Freezer Negative Project The Pennsylvania State Archives is home to many photographic collections. Recently, a project was initiated to remove unstable nitrate and acetate negatives in the archives’ walk-in freezer to clear storage space and prepare for the future move to a new State Archives building, planned to open in 2022. The negatives have been stored for years in the freezer to slow down their deterioration and...
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Looking Back at 2018

Posted by on Jan 14, 2020 in | Comments Off on Looking Back at 2018 This past year marked the centennials of the end of World War I and the start of the 1918 influenza pandemic. Of special significance to Pennsylvania was the 300th anniversary of the death of founder William Penn. What follows is a brief glimpse of 2018 on the Pennsylvania Trails of History, a few highlights among many.   William Penn’s Legacy To commemorate the 300th anniversary of...
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Dr. Edward H. McCleery, Savior of the Lobo Wolves

Posted by on Dec 17, 2019 in | Comments Off on Dr. Edward H. McCleery, Savior of the Lobo Wolves Edward H. McCleery (1867–1962) was a physician from Kane, McKean County, who saved the lobo wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf, from extinction. While McCleery was a student at Princeton University, he was inspired by a speech given by future president Theodore Roosevelt about his experiences living in the western United States. McCleery then spent several months in Canada’s Yukon territory...
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Loleta Recreation Area

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on Loleta Recreation Area Upon his inauguration on March 4, 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set about combating the economic crisis of the Great Depression with his New Deal program of economic reforms and public work projects. One of the most popular programs established that year was “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which was part of the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) Act....
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Other Recent Releases

Posted by on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments Gifford Pinchot Selected Writings edited by Char Miller Penn State University Press, 264 pp., cloth $74.95, paper $24.95 Pinchot (1865–1946) was a key figure in the conservation movement of the early 20th century, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and two-time governor of Pennsylvania. Environmental historian Miller, author of two previous books on Pinchot, has gathered and annotated a...
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CCC Worker Statue, Pennsylvania Lumber Museum

Posted by on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments America’s woodlands were still in recovery from deforestation when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established in 1933 as one of several work relief programs initiated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. The program achieved two ends with a single effort by giving young men the opportunity to work to provide income for their unemployed families while simultaneously...
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