Philadelphia Cream Cheese: The Pennsylvania Story

Posted by on Dec 1, 2025 in | Comments Off on Philadelphia Cream Cheese: The Pennsylvania Story Whether smeared on a bagel, baked into cheesecake, or stuffed in peppers, Philadelphia Cream Cheese is a popular dairy product found in kitchens across the United States and throughout the world. Various sources note that the origin of cream cheese is not in Philadelphia but in New York State. Yet, its history is more nuanced than those common fast facts. The product has a complex history that...
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Community Initiative Awards

Posted by on Sep 18, 2023 in | Comments Off on Community Initiative Awards Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) announced the winners of its Community Initiative Awards acknowledging accomplishments made in 2022. PA SHPO started the awards program in 2016 to recognize the hard work and dedication of outstanding organizations, municipalities, agencies and individuals that advance and expand the definition of historic...
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Anna Howard Shaw, Suffragist

Posted by on Apr 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on Anna Howard Shaw, Suffragist Anna Howard Shaw was an early activist and leader of the women’s suffrage and temperance movements. From the 1880s until the time of her death in 1919, she campaigned across America at the grassroots level for these causes and was noted for her compelling lectures. Born in England in 1847, Shaw moved with her family to America in 1851. The family first settled in Massachusetts until 1859 and...
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Life of a Portrait: Laura Wheeler Waring’s Anna Washington Derry

Posted by on Mar 12, 2020 in | Comments Off on Life of a Portrait: Laura Wheeler Waring’s Anna Washington Derry Until recently, painter Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948) has been relegated to the sidelines in artist histories. A member of the African American elite, she specialized in portraits and figurative painting and did not share the hand-to-mouth experience of many of her fellow artists. Rather, she worked as an art instructor and choir director for nearly 40 years at the institution now known as...
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American Helicopter Museum & Education Center: Commemorating the Delaware Valley’s Contributions to Vertical Flight

Posted by on Oct 29, 2019 in | Comments Off on American Helicopter Museum & Education Center: Commemorating the Delaware Valley’s Contributions to Vertical Flight Nestled in a large but unassuming building at the Brandywine Airport, just northeast of  West Chester, Chester County, is a museum that may seem out of place in Pennsylvania: the American Helicopter Museum & Education Center. After all, Russian émigré Igor Sikorsky (1889–1972) flew the first successful helicopter in the United States at Stratford, Connecticut, on September 14, 1939, many...
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Artful Trails

Posted by on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Artful Trails In honor of the 50th Art of the State exhibition, open through September 10, 2017, at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, we’re exploring art at other historic sites and museums along PHMC’s Pennsylvania Trails of History. As visual storytellers, our sites employ a multidisciplinary approach to documenting and sharing Pennsylvania heritage. Artworks frequently play a role in the study...
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Into the Dark World of Catching Crooks, Culprits and Convicts: An Interview with Robert K. Wittman

Posted by on Mar 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Into the Dark World of Catching Crooks, Culprits and Convicts: An Interview with Robert K. Wittman by Michael J. O’Malley III Robert King “Bob” Wittman in no way resembles the highly romanticized portrayals of FBI agents made famous over the decades by movie studios and television series. He is not the heavy-hitting, gang-busting, chain-smoking G-man, replete with fedora rakishly angled atop his head. Instead, he embodies the old-school preppy style – looking as though...
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Camp Elder Civil War Paroled POW Camp

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Camp Elder Civil War Paroled POW Camp Located in Westtown Township, Chester County, Camp Elder was a holding facility for the Union’s paroled Prisoners of War (POWs) from mid-July to August 1863. Because of logistical problems associated with holding enemy prisoners during the American Civil War both Union and Confederate armies issued hundreds of thousands of paroles to soldiers captured in battle. Terms of this practice were...
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White Glove Service at The State Museum: It’s Not What You Might Think

Posted by on Dec 2, 2013 in | Comments Off on White Glove Service at The State Museum: It’s Not What You Might Think Sometimes hands-on history projects require gloves. White cotton gloves, to be precise. In June 2012 three curators at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, donned gloves and began the first of an orderly series of planned inventories of the museum’s collections known as the Collections Advancement Project (CAP). By the end of summer three more curators joined the team and the...
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Delaware County: Where Pennsylvania Began

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Delaware County: Where Pennsylvania Began Delaware County is part of the densely populated belt around Philadelphia, stretching from the city’s western boundary to the circular Delaware state line. Covering approx­imately 185 square miles, it is the third smallest Pennsylvania county yet the fourth largest in population. Its southern boundary is formed by the Delaware River, from which the county takes its name. The site of early...
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