Pomp, Pageantry and a Parade: Celebrating the Constitution’s Centennial

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pomp, Pageantry and a Parade: Celebrating the Constitution’s Centennial With the thunder of a one hundred gun naval salute at precisely ten o’clock on the morning of Thursday, September 15, 1887, the nation’s centennial celebra­tion of the adoption of the United States Con­stitution opened with great fanfare in Philadelphia. The booming cannon blast from a naval squadron on the Delaware River launched three jubilant days of parades, military marches,...
read more

A Special Place for Photography

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Special Place for Photography Edward L. Wilson wanted photography to have a special place at the Centennial Exhibition. Smartly dressed, the publisher of the nationally­-read Philadelphia Photographer stood out from the typically rumpled and chemical-stained lensman. But his enthusiastic promotion caused him to stand out even more. Wilson nudged his colleagues toward professionalism and toward his vision of a productive,...
read more

The Many Faces of Thomas Eakins

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Many Faces of Thomas Eakins Thomas Eakins, one of the country’s foremost painters, was probably photographed more often – and in more ways­ – than any other nineteenth century American artist. In 1985, the Pennsylvania Acad­emy of the Fine Arts, founded in Philadelphia in 1805, ac­quired a large collection of photographs, manuscripts, and works of art relating to Thomas Eakins. Saved first by his wife,...
read more

Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Guide to Genealogical Sources at the Pennsylvania State Archives by Robert M. Dructor Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1998 (374 pages, paper, $12.95) The Pennsylvania State Archives acquires, preserves, and makes available for study the valuable public records of the Commonwealth, with particular attention given to the official records of state government. In fulfilling its...
read more

At the Gettysburg Battlefield with Traveling Photographers

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on At the Gettysburg Battlefield with Traveling Photographers   As Union and Confederate troops converged on the Adams County community of Gettysburg in mid-summer 1863 to wage what has been described the pivotal battle of the American Civil War, little did they know how long it would take for the rest of the world to discover the outcome. Of the five hundred journalists who covered the war, forty-five reported on the Battle of Gettysburg waged from...
read more

Pennsylvania Heritage Recommends

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Recommends The Civil War in Pennsylvania: A Photographic History Written by a trio of savvy and inveterate collectors of photographs, artifacts, objects, and ephemera documenting the American Civil War and its associations with the Keystone State and its soldiers and citizens, The Civil War in Pennsylvania: A Photographic History (Senator John Heinz History Center for Pennsylvania Civil War 150, 2012,...
read more