The Skills That Built a New Nation Are Building the Next Generation: The InHarmony Initiative at Old Economy Village

  A student runs a hand along the smooth edge of a wooden board, carefully checking for splinters before lifting it onto a workbench in the woodshop at Old Economy Village, a preserved 19th-century Harmonist settlement and National Historic Landmark in Ambridge. For many students, it is the first time they have created something tangible, something that began not on a screen but in their...
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Americana Insights 2025, edited by Lisa Minardi

Americana Insights 2025 edited by Lisa Minardi Americana Insights, distributed by University of Pennsylvania Press, 321 pp., hardcover $64.95 It’s not often that a monumental tome comes along to update and correct the hundred-year-old record of a folk art form. Devoted exclusively to Pennsylvania German redware pottery, volume three of the Americana Insights series examines the work of the most...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Winter 2021

Topics in the Winter 2021 Newsletter: PHF Continues Partnership with The State Museum on Art of the State Art of the State Ceremony and Tours Presented Virtually for 2020 PHF Cosponsors Virtual Archaeology Workshops   Winter-2021-phf-newsletter    ...
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Art of the State 2019 / Scholars in Residence

Art of the State 2019 On June 23, 2019, Pennsylvania’s finest artists mingled with guests at the opening of Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2019 at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. The 52nd annual juried exhibition, presented by the museum in association with the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation, PHMC’s nonprofit partner, showcased 110 works of art by 103 artists from 35 counties...
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Kutztown Folk Festival: America’s Oldest Folklife Celebration

The Kutztown Folk Festival, originally called the Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Festival, is a milestone among American community celebrations. Observing 70 years in 2019, it is the first and longest-running folklife festival in the history of the United States. Although many other popular celebrations preceded the Kutztown festival, it has had a national impact as the first festival founded and...
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Trailheads

History never truly sleeps on the Pennsylvania Trails of History, but winter is generally a slower season with reduced schedules and fewer programs and events. Charter Day, the celebration of Pennsylvania’s founding (the second Sunday in March), is the traditional start to our spring season. As the weather warms, activity increases at the sites and museums. The landscape loses its dull winter...
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A British Lord in the Pennsylvania State Archives / Art of the State 2018

A British Lord in the Pennsylvania State Archives In April 2018 a member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom visited the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, to study documents related to Pennsylvania’s founder and first proprietor William Penn in hopes of learning more about issues of tolerance. Nathanael Ming-Yan “Nat” Wei of Shoreditch was introduced in the House...
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Art of the State 2017

Art of the State, the annual juried exhibition at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, marked its 50th occurrence this year, showcasing 130 works selected from more than 2,200 submissions. Since 1968 the museum has served as the venue each year for Pennsylvania artists to share their ideas and engage viewers through a diverse body of artwork (see “Representing...
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Editor’s Letter

Historical research is often motivated by a personal connection to a subject. Two articles in this issue of Pennsylvania Heritage come from authors who have investigated individuals significant to their own lives and found links to broader themes in Pennsylvania history. David D. Hursh became intrigued by his maternal great-grandfather, Rudolph M. Hunter, after years of hearing family lore about...
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Representing Pennsylvania’s “Precious Heritage”: Art of the State 50

Art of the State is an annual juried exhibition that has been showcasing the work of Pennsylvania’s artists at The State Museum of Pennsylvania since 1968. The body of art that has been exhibited reflects half a century of creative endeavor in the Keystone State. Through the years, exhibitors have shared their ideas and engaged viewers in the categories of painting, photography, craft,...
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