Edward Holland Blacksmith Shop

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on Edward Holland Blacksmith Shop Edward Ellis Holland (1888–1964) worked as a blacksmith in North Union Township, Fayette County, for more than 40 years. In 1910, at age 21, Holland owned his own shop (shown here), located behind his residence on Coolspring Street. His services included general blacksmithing and farrier work. By 1921, with the rising prominence of the automobile, Holland had expanded his business to include the...
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The Historic National Road

Posted by on Dec 1, 2023 in | Comments Off on The Historic National Road Distinctive seven-sided toll houses like the one shown on this early 20th-century postcard marked the route of the National Road in southwestern Pennsylvania. The National Road was the first highway planned and funded by the federal government and was intended to connect the East Coast with the country’s western frontier by opening a route through the Allegheny Mountains. Construction of the...
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Albert Gallatin, Visionary of the Early Republic

Posted by on Dec 1, 2023 in | Comments Off on Albert Gallatin, Visionary of the Early Republic Albert Gallatin (1761–1849) came to America with a vision, not a dream. While tens of thousands of his fellow immigrants settled the New World in pursuit of personal success, he carried grander hopes. In his pursuit of shaping the young American nation, the Swiss-born Gallatin left behind an impressive legacy as a politician, a diplomat, and the longest-serving secretary of the treasury in U.S....
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The Making of a Leader: George C. Marshall

Posted by on Mar 17, 2023 in | Comments Off on The Making of a Leader: George C. Marshall During the second weekend of September 1939, Gen. George C. Marshall, the newly elevated chief of staff of the U.S. Army, made an official “homecoming” visit to his place of birth, Uniontown, Pennsylvania. As a result, two strands of history stood adjacent on the front page of the local newspaper, the Uniontown Daily News Standard. One headline announced the Nazi invasion of Poland with the...
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House on a Hill: Connecting with the Past in Western Pennsylvania

Posted by on Dec 3, 2020 in | Comments Off on House on a Hill: Connecting with the Past in Western Pennsylvania “It is our family and local histories that are our most precious parts of culture, in my estimation. They put ‘meat on the bones’ of the artifacts we find. Of course, all family history is myth until we have the documentation that backs it up.” — Lynne Humphries-Russ   The narrow access road was hidden, and I almost missed the turnoff. I was anxious to see the...
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Romani and Sinti in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Mar 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Romani and Sinti in Pennsylvania This fascinating early 20th-century postcard of a scene from Williamsport, Lycoming County, provides a view of life in Pennsylvania that is seldom represented in formal historic records or in preservation efforts. Cultures that exist outside the mainstream and especially those not linked to specific places pose a special challenge to historians. The word “Gypsy,” which appears on...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Winter 2016

Posted by on Apr 19, 2016 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Winter 2016 Topics in the Winter 2016 Newsletter: PHF Hosts the 50th Anniversary Gala for The State Museum and Archives Complex The Giving Circle Pennsylvania Turnpike Exhibit Opens Pennsylvania Turnpike Exhibit Sponsors PA Modern Exhibit Opens Join the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation   pennsylvania-heritage-foundation-newsletter-winter-2016...
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Shooting Targets and Raising U.S. Sharpshooters Regiments

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Shooting Targets and Raising U.S. Sharpshooters Regiments Originally filed with records related to the 2nd United States Sharpshooters, these targets were for years presumed by Pennsylvania State archivists to have been produced by members of the famed infantry regiment while firing target practice with their Sharps rifles. Further investigation, however, has uncovered additional information that reinterprets why and by whom the targets were created....
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Fayette at the Crossroads

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Fayette at the Crossroads Fayette County has always been at the crossroads, both literally and figuratively, its destiny shaped by its location, the incredible riches of its natural resources and the vi­tality of a people descended from al­most every nation of Europe. It has a son of dual personality, geo­graphically divided between mountains and lowlands, historically divided into two almost equal eras of economic...
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Back to the Land! Pennsylvania’s New Deal Era Communities

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Back to the Land! Pennsylvania’s New Deal Era Communities The economic collapse of 1929 ushered in a decade fraught with deep, often tremu­lous, questioning of the na­tion’s development and future. Many were the cries to re­turn to the land. As a result, two all-new rural communities founded in Pennsylvania in the mid-1930s – Norvelt, in Westmoreland County, and Penn-Craft, in adjacent Fayette County – remain today as testimony to...
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