Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Brick-End Barns Upon receiving the Winter 2002 edition of Pennsylvania Heritage, I was fascinated to see “Lost & Found,” showing a fanci­ful brick-end barn in Lancaster County that was, unfortunately, demolished for the building of an outlet mall. I have discovered a brick-end barn still standing in Antrim Township, Franklin County, that is similar to the one illustrated. In...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf County Courthouses of Pennsylva­nia: A Guide By Oliver P. Williams Stackpole Books, 2001 (244 pages, paper, $19.95) An admitted “full-fledged courthouse junkie,” the author traces his interest in county courthouses, courthouse squares, and their immediate surroundings to a curiosity piqued by plaques, monuments, and fountains bearing witness to some aspect of local history. His...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts Roy Cleveland Nuse (1885-1975) played an integral part in both the Bucks County and the Philadelphia art scenes. As a teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, coupled with his exhibitions throughout his long career, he influenced several generations of artists. He made many portraits and figure paintings of his six children, relatives, and neighbors. Nuse lived on two different...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts On Thursday, October 17 [2002], Robert Pow­ell, president of the Historical Society of Carbondale, will present a talk entitled “The Delaware and Hudson Canal Com­pany’s Gravity Railroad” at the National Canal Museum in Easton. His lecture explores the construction, operation, and development of one of the country’s pioneer railroads – a major artery for the...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost Shamokin, Northumberland County, native William H. Lee (1884-1971) was well known as an architect of theaters and academic buildings, designing more than two hundred movie theaters, including the Victoria Theatre in his hometown. Opened in 1918, Shamokin’s Victoria Theatre – known affectionately by generations of residents as “the Vickie” – was commissioned by...
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A Centennial of Color for Crayola Crayons!

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Centennial of Color for Crayola Crayons! One day last winter, a crayon-hued, double-decker bus pulled into the heart of Dallas, Texas. For five days, crayon fans climbed on board to draw, color, and sample new products. The event kicked off the Crayola® ARTrageous Adventure tour, a traveling centennial party for the Crayola crayon, manufactured by Pennsylvania-based Binney & Smith, Inc. After a twenty-five­-city cross-country trek,...
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Pennsylvania Copperheads: Traitors or Peacemakers?

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Copperheads: Traitors or Peacemakers? Panic swept through Philadelphia in 1860, gripping manufacturers and merchants in its throes as southern slave states threatened to leave the federal union. The South had grown into an enormous market for Philadelphia’s merchants, and the city’s textile manufacturers depended on Dixie to supply the cotton they needed. Fears of secession and resulting massive unemployment prompted Mayor Alexander...
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Christy Mathewson: Baseball’s Gentleman and Tragic Hero

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Christy Mathewson: Baseball’s Gentleman and Tragic Hero   On Wednesday, September 23, 1908, twenty thousand baseball fans packed New York City’s Polo Grounds to watch the hometown New York Giants host the reigning World Series champion and archrival, the Chicago Cubs. The contest would determine first place in the race for the coveted National League pennant. Right-handed pitcher Christy “Matty” Mathewson (1880–1925), a thirty-seven-game winner,...
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William Penn’s Legacy: Religious and Spiritual Diversity

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on William Penn’s Legacy: Religious and Spiritual Diversity Alexander Milne Calder’s bronze statue of William Penn atop Philadelphia City Hall surveys the founder’s beloved Holy Experiment fashioned out of the ideals of his Quaker faith. In a seventeenth-century world conditioned by violence, religious persecution, and arbitrary authority, Penn established an unusual colony dedicated to the principles of religious toleration, participatory...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Paint, Pattern and People: Furniture of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 1725–1850 by Wendy A. Cooper and Lisa Minardi published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011; 277 pages, cloth, $55.00 A sumptuous celebration of workmanship and artistry, Wendy A. Cooper and Lisa Minardi’s Paint, Pattern and People: Furniture of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 1725–1850, is a landmark book exploring the...
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