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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“Keeping with the Dignity of the Commonwealth”: 50 Years of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on “Keeping with the Dignity of the Commonwealth”: 50 Years of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence The stately Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence overlooking the Susquehanna River at 2035 North Front Street in the Uptown neighborhood of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, reaches its half-century mark in 2018, a milestone that is being observed with a variety of events and programs throughout the year. The Georgian Revival mansion was completed in 1968, during the term of Gov. Raymond P. Shafer, its...
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Sparking a Rock ‘n’ Roll Revolution: An Interview with Dick Clark

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Sparking a Rock ‘n’ Roll Revolution: An Interview with Dick Clark For many baby boomers – members of that much-touted generation who came of age in the fifties and sixties – rock ‘n’ roll provided a defining point in their adolescent lives. Few will ever forget the first time they jitterbugged to Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets, or took to the dance floor with The Twist by Chubby Checker. Many cherish the memory of...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Historic Houses of Philadelphia by Roger W. Moss University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998 (256 pages, cloth,$34.95) Sumptuous, a word frequently used by restaurant reviewers and critics of haute cuisine, aptly describes Historic Houses of Philadelphia, the latest fare by Roger W. Moss, known widely for his books on Victorian era architecture and ornamentation. Fifty historic houses, mansions, and...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor A Little Math In case no one else noticed, in “Letters to the Editor” appearing in the Winter 1999 edition, letter writer Jack Bitner of Mt. Gretna states that $68,000 in 1880 would be worth three to four million dollars today. The editorial response to Eric G. Blumenthal’s question about Asa Packer’s worth in the same column states it was valued at twenty million dollars...
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A Letter from the Chairman

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Letter from the Chairman It’s no secret that Pennsylvania abounds with spectacular resources, both natural and historic, including vast forestlands, state parks, majestic mountains, verdant valleys, and hundreds of historical organizations and cultural institutions, including the more than two dozen historic sites and museums that make up the popular and well-traveled Pennsylvania Trail of History. No matter where...
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Remembering a Twentieth-Century Public Servant

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Remembering a Twentieth-Century Public Servant They gathered at their Lake Ariel cottage in rural Wayne County on a warm summer weekend in 1985. For Bob and Ellen Casey, the house on the Jake was their favorite retreat, filled with many happy memories. Casey treasured being with family, as he later would reflect, “The overarching memory of the time when our children were young was the sheer fun we all had together.” While cooking...
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Library of the Founding Fathers

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Library of the Founding Fathers Three centuries after the birth of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the world continues to be amazed by his overwhelming contributions, from the proprietary period in the early years of Pennsylvania through the birth of the United States of America. Of his many accomplishments, Franklin’s love of the printed word seems most obvious. In 1731, he and several friends founded the first...
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PHMC Highlights

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on PHMC Highlights Beatrice Hulsberg, curator for The State Museum of Pennsylvania, is overseeing the conservation of a rare, circa 1790 creamware bowl bearing the portraits of Benjamin Franklin and George Washing­ton that will be featured in the landmark traveling exhibit, “Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World.” Attributed to England’s legendary maker Josiah Wedg­wood, the bowl, which...
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Executive Director’s Letter

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Letter This spring marks the launch of a number of exciting initiatives celebrating important people, places, and events in our history. In anticipation of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial in 2009 celebrating the 200th anniversary of the sixteenth president’s birth in 1809, Governor Edward G. Rendell has appointed a state commission to work with the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission to...
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