Pennsylvania in Watercolor: Revisiting Nick Ruggieri’s Bicentennial Series

Posted by on Dec 1, 2025 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania in Watercolor: Revisiting Nick Ruggieri’s Bicentennial Series   In 1971, the Harrisburg Patriot-News commissioned local artist and newspaperman Nick Ruggieri (1908–96) to create a series of paintings depicting Pennsylvania scenes—both historic and contemporary — across all 67 counties. The project was intended to be the capital city newspaper’s contribution to the upcoming Bicentennial, a national celebration in which the Keystone State was expected...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Summer 2024

Posted by on Aug 9, 2024 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Summer 2024 Topics in the Summer 2024 Newsletter: PHF and State Archives to Begin Digital Gateway Project on Harrisburg’s Seventh Ward PHMC Volunteers Honored PHF Holds Third Annual Sip & Savor 2024-Summer-PHF-Newsletter...
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Visionary Road to the Capital by David Biser

Posted by on Aug 9, 2024 in | Comments Off on Visionary Road to the Capital by David Biser Visionary Road to the Capital The Little Known Story of John Harris Jr. by David Biser Orison Publishers, 108 pages, paperback $19.95 This slender volume is a must for anyone interested in early Harrisburg and Pennsylvania’s frontier history. It is the first and only book-length biography of John Harris II (1726–91, sometimes called John Harris Jr.), the founder of Harrisburg, and has been a...
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The New Pennsylvania State Archives Building: A Design to Preserve the Commonwealth’s Significant Documents and an Engangered American Hardwood

Posted by on Aug 9, 2024 in | Comments Off on The New Pennsylvania State Archives Building: A Design to Preserve the Commonwealth’s Significant Documents and an Engangered American Hardwood In my 42-year career as an architect, it’s been rare to get the opportunity to manage the design of a major civic building such as the Pennsylvania State Archives. The former State Archives building, completed as part of a complex with The State Museum of Pennsylvania in December 1964, was designed by the central Pennsylvania firm of Lawrie & Green and served its purpose for nearly 60 years....
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From the Executive Director

Posted by on Mar 27, 2024 in | Comments Off on From the Executive Director   One of the many things we do at the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission is support the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence at 2035 North Front Street in Harrisburg. We assist with exhibitions there, some of which feature selections from our art and decorative arts collections, others that highlight our historical objects. We also help facilitate loans from other institutions for...
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Haul of Records—The Pennsylvania State Archives Moves to a New Building: An Interview with State Archivist David Carmicheal

Posted by on Jul 25, 2023 in | Comments Off on Haul of Records—The Pennsylvania State Archives Moves to a New Building: An Interview with State Archivist David Carmicheal Like its national counterpart, the Pennsylvania State Archives has a mission to acquire, preserve and provide access to public documents, focusing on the records of state government, as well as private papers relevant to history. To better fulfill this mission, the State Archives is moving into a new state-of-the-art facility at 1681 North Sixth Street in Harrisburg. In 1903 the Division of...
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The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania: 300 Years of the Highest Court in the Commonwealth

Posted by on May 13, 2022 in | Comments Off on The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania: 300 Years of the Highest Court in the Commonwealth The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was established on May 22, 1722, in Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester counties, 67 years before the United States Supreme Court came into existence. It is the oldest appellate court in the nation. Its status became official as part of the Judiciary Act of 1722, separating it from the control of the royal governor. The act made significant progress in establishing...
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The Fastest Man on Earth: Barney Ewell and the Story of Two Missed Olympiads

Posted by on Mar 11, 2022 in | Comments Off on The Fastest Man on Earth: Barney Ewell and the Story of Two Missed Olympiads Who is the fastest sprinter of all time? Usain Bolt won eight Olympic gold medals between 2008 and 2016. He also secured 11 World Championships, and his world records in the 100 metres and 200 metres have yet to be broken. Before Bolt was Carl Lewis, winner of nine Olympic golds and 10 World Championships in the 1980s and 1990s. A generation earlier was Tommie Smith and Bob Hayes. Before Smith...
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Pennsylvania’s Buckshot War of 1838

Posted by on Mar 10, 2022 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania’s Buckshot War of 1838   Protesting election results in the United States is nothing new. Neither is storming a capitol building when results are contested. In 1838, only 55 years after the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War, armed opponents confronted each other at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg. Accusations had flown for days previously about which candidates should be seated in...
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Harrisburg in World War II by Rodney Ross

Posted by on Dec 1, 2021 in | Comments Off on Harrisburg in World War II by Rodney Ross Harrisburg in World War II by Rodney Ross The History Press, 192 pp., paperback $21.99 Like the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun, author Rodney Ross fires off brief declarative sentences to tell his story of how Pennsylvania’s capital city prepared for and aided the war effort between 1941 and 1945. As it became apparent that the United States would enter the war, the citizens of Harrisburg were...
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