Religious Freedom: Key to Diversity

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Religious Freedom: Key to Diversity “There can be no reason to persecute any man in this world about anything that belongs to the next.” – William Penn   To describe Pennsylvania’s re­ligious diversity is to present the history of its religious develop­ment. Although many other states be­came religiously heterogeneous during the nineteenth century, Pennsylvania was pluralistic even as a colony within...
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Montgomery County: Cultural Microcosm of the Commonwealth

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Montgomery County: Cultural Microcosm of the Commonwealth The third most populous county in Pennsylvania, with ap­proximately 480 square miles of rolling hills criss-crossed by rivers, streams and superhighways, Montgom­ery County is a microcosm of the Com­monwealth, a reflection of its cultural development. Pan of Philadelphia County until 1784, Montgomery Coun­ty served as a sanctuary for numerous ethnic and religious groups seeking the freedom...
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A Treasure Trove of Books

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Treasure Trove of Books Considered one of the finest repositories of rare books in the nation, the Rare Book Collection of the State Library of Pennsylvania was, at its conception, nothing more than an accumulation of law books necessary for the founding fathers to organize and govern the province. In­deed, for two more centuries, the collection of rarities and unique volumes, as it is known and safeguarded today, was...
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“Prepare Thyself … to Meet the Lord Thy God!”: Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on “Prepare Thyself … to Meet the Lord Thy God!”: Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution Religion in the colony of Pennsylvania was distinctive. In contrast to most areas of the western world, this province practiced freedom of religion. It never had an established church. Friends who controlled the first legislative assembly, meeting in Upland, now Chester, in 1682, specified that no one was “at any time [to] be com­pelled to frequent or Maintain anie religious worship, place...
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One Should Not Overlook Union County

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on One Should Not Overlook Union County Union County on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River is one of Pennsylvania’s smaller counties, encompassing a bare 258 square miles, with a population of 30,000, including 3000 college stu­dents and 1900 inmates of two federal prisons. Few of its residents have held high political office and fewer of its names have appeared in Who’s Who in America. Yet the historical...
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Religion on a Moving Frontier: The Berks County Area, 1700-1748

Posted by on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Religion on a Moving Frontier: The Berks County Area, 1700-1748 Because of the tolerant policy of the Penns, thousands of people of various ethnic backgrounds and religious faiths poured into the colony of Pennsylvania, many of them moving directly to the frontier. Within fifteen years after the founding of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania frontier had moved more than fifty miles north and west of the city. By 1700 the area comprising the southeastern part of...
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Finding a Light in the Forest: Conrad Weiser Homestead

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Finding a Light in the Forest: Conrad Weiser Homestead More than any other, Conrad Weiser (1696-1760) captured the imagination of the Pennsylvania German community during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time when its leaders asserted its right to be considered a major participant in the building of America. The veneration he was accorded led to the creation in 1923 of the historic park bearing his name and interpreting his...
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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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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Palace of Culture: Andrew Carnegie’s Museums and Library in Pittsburgh by Robert J. Gangewere published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011; 332 pages, cloth, $35.00 Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) is remembered as one of the world’s great philanthropists. As a boy, he witnessed the benevolence of Colonel James Anderson, a prosperous iron maker, who opened his personal library of several...
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