“The Public Is Entitled to Know”: Fighting for the Public Memory of Henry Clay Frick

On Saturday, July 23, 1892, Russian immi­grant and New York anarchist Alexander Berkman burst into the office of Henry Clay Frick in down­town Pittsburgh, stabbed him three times, and shot him in the ear and neck. Frick fought back and, with his secretary’s assistance, eventually subdued his assailant. Although he had sustained several serious wounds to his legs and chest, Frick insisted...
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Shorts

Fort Hunter Day, a celebra­tion of autumn, will be hosted on Sunday, September 19 [1993], from 10 A. M. to 5 P. M. by Fort Hunter Mansion and Park. The event, free and open to the public, will feature crafts show and demonstrations, carriage rides, period entertainment, and numerous activities designed especially for children. Also featured throughout the day will be demonstrations of...
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Currents

Pippin “I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin,” the largest and most comprehensive retrospective exhibition of the work of this important African American artist and preemi­nent self-taught painter, will begin its national tour at the Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia on Friday, January 21, 1994. This exhibition will present a...
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Country Road (1878) by George Hetzel

An accomplished and influential painter active in western Pennsylvania during the second half of the nineteenth century, George Hetzel (1826-1899) was fascinated by the vanishing-yet still rugged and beautiful-landscape of his adopted homeland. Today, he is credited with inspiring the creation of a school of painters and a style called the “Scalp Level Tradition,” after the region...
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Shorts

“Elegant Etiquette: Nineteenth-Century Figural Napkin Rings,” on view through Sunday, August 10 [1997], at the Brandywine River Museum, showcases a selection of whimsical table articles manufac­tured by American silverplate companies during the second half of the last century. From the 1860s through the end of the century, napkin rings took many forms and were adorned with fig­ures...
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Currents

Xanthus Smith It is Sunday, March 9, 1862. Smoke hangs thick in the air. The water is littered with debris. The air even tastes bitter. Cannon roar. Cries of men pierce the din. Ironclad titans, the vessels Monitor and the Merrimac, clash in one of the fiercest confrontations of the Civil War. This is the Battle of Hampton Roads. Today, museum-goers are able to revis­it the Battle of Hampton...
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Shorts

“Forging Freedom: The Influence of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society on Civil Rights Movements” is on view at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania through Friday, August 31 [2001]. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society was founded in Philadelphia in the late eighteenth century to combat prejudice, eliminate slavery, and create opportunities for blacks. For more information, write:...
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Rediscovering the People’s Art: New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania’s Post Offices

On a February morning in 1937, artist George Warren Rickey (1907-2002) and a group of four men met at the post office in Selinsgrove, Snyder County. Armed with cloth-covered rolling pins, the men attached Rickey’s mural entitled Susquehanna Trail to one of the lobby’s end walls. After six hours, they transformed the entire blank white wall, from marble wainscoting to ceiling, into a...
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