On the Road in Search of William Penn’s Holy Experiment

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on On the Road in Search of William Penn’s Holy Experiment When we think of historic sites in Pennsylvania, places such as the hallowed ground at Gettysburg, Philadelphia’s stately Independence Hall, or Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh, immediately come to mind. These places are normally associated with great military engagements or important political events. Yet when William Penn (1644–1718) ruminated about the things that would make Pennsylvania unique, he...
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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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Muhlenberg House

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Muhlenberg House The patriarch of American Lutheranism, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–1787) was a German Lutheran pastor summoned to North American to minister to Pennsylvania colonists. Born at Einbeck in Hanover, he studied theology at the Georg-August University of Gottingen and at Halle University, an important Pietist institution. He completed his studies in 1738 and four years later immigrated to...
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1769 German Manuscript

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on 1769 German Manuscript A German manuscript translated as “List of Necessitous Churches and Persons under the care of the Christian Synod of Overyssel prepared by Theodorus Van der Bell, Pastor of Rhynsburg, 1769,” reports on the status of the Dutch and German Reformed churches in Meckelenburg- Schwerin, Debritzin, Hesse-Hamburg, Baden-Durlach, Erkrad, Westphalia, Holstein, Gronow, Grunstad, Gulik, Homburg, Kircheim,...
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Letters

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters Better And Better Your very fine magazine just keeps getting better and better. I wasn’t sure how you would handle this year’s theme [“William Penn’s Legacy: Religious and Spiritual Diversity”], as I had my doubts how you could tackle such a huge topic, but you did it beautifully. The articles are balanced, timely, and relevant. Joe Martin Erie, Pa.   Our First...
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Discovering Religious Diversity Along the Pennsylvania Trails of History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Discovering Religious Diversity Along the Pennsylvania Trails of History William Penn (1644-1718) knew well the sting of discrimination and the misery of persecution for his religious beliefs. He suffered the consequences of breaking with the Church of England, leading to estrangement from his father, Admiral Sir William Penn (1621-1670). When imprisoned for attending meetings of the Society of Friends – commonly called Quakers and Friends – the younger...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost American religious leader Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844), best known as the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his wife Emma Hale Smith, lived in Harmony, now Oakland Township, on the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania from late 1827 to 1830. While in Susquehanna County most of the Book of Mormon was translated between April 7 and early June 1829. According to church...
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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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St. Mary’s Church and Convent

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on St. Mary’s Church and Convent “Scene from typewriting room window. Much enjoyed on hot days during typewriting period (much more so than the typewriters),” wrote Josie Johnson to a Miss M. L. Elliott of Detroit, Michigan, on the front of a postcard dated July 30, 1908. The back of the card indicates that Johnson was a student and Elliott a teacher. The postcard depicts a landmark in St. Marys, Elk County, in...
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Letters

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters Aiming for the Stars A friend recently lent me a copy of your very fine magazine with the article on the astronuclear lab [“Aiming for the Stars: the Forgotten Legacy of the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory” by Willis L. Shirk Jr., Summer 2011]. What a fascinating history! I bet very few Pennsylvanians know about the state’s involvement in the NERVA [Nuclear Energy for...
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