Absalom Hazlett by Spencer Sadler

Posted by on Aug 25, 2021 in | Comments Off on Absalom Hazlett by Spencer Sadler Absalom Hazlett A Loyal Soldier in John Brown’s Army by Spencer Sadler Arcadia, 144 pp., paperback $21.99 Most readers will undoubtedly associate Harpers Ferry (the locale) with John Brown (the man). Brown’s charismatic personality and single-minded focus tend to overpower any narrative. Many of the 22 men who joined this well-intentioned yet ill-fated 1859 arsenal raid are usually collectively...
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Linton Park, Pennsylvania Folk Artist

Posted by on Jun 4, 2021 in | Comments Off on Linton Park, Pennsylvania Folk Artist   Linton Park (1826-1906) is recognized today as a significant artist in the primitive or folk tradition; however, his work was unknown during his lifetime. At his death, in fact, he had less than $100 to his name. He never married or had children, and his relatives and neighbors considered him an eccentric hermit. Evidence indicates that he was a self-taught painter, only beginning in the...
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Art of the State 2016 / Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers

Posted by on Sep 9, 2016 in | Comments Off on Art of the State 2016 / Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers Art of the State 2016 More than 500 guests visited The State Museum of Pennsylvania on June 26 to attend the opening of the 49th annual Art of the State. The juried exhibition, cosponsored by The State Museum and the nonprofit Jump Street, with WITF as a media sponsor, showcases 122 pieces from artists around the state. At the opening, 20 artists received awards in five categories: craft,...
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Camp Beaver

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Camp Beaver   “Hello Mary” wrote Frank Lloyd. “I’m in camp and have a fine time. You should be here.” Lloyd was at Camp Beaver, a 1914 National Guard encampment at Indiana, Indiana County. The camp was named in honor of James A. Beaver (1837-1914), decorated Civil War officer, judge of Pennsylvania’s Superior Court and governor of the Commonwealth, 1887-91. The entire National Guard of Pennsylvania was...
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Whiskey Run: Where Coal Dust Mixed with Murder

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Whiskey Run: Where Coal Dust Mixed with Murder In an overgrown valley about 12 miles west of Indiana and one mile from West Lebanon lies the site of a mysterious R&P (Rochester and Pittsburgh) coal town known as Whiskey Run. For over fifty years, the community of Whiskey Run has been synonymous with violence, secrecy and unsolved murder. Even the source of the town’s name is uncertain, with several versions vying for authenticity....
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Women Go to Work!

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Women Go to Work! The illusion of the Victorian woman – a creature accustomed to leisure and com­fort- was alive and well in Indiana County at the turn of the century. Newspaper columns reported a variety of social activities in which women participated, including temperance and missionary societies, social and reading clubs. Advertisements for medicines appealed to women who considered themselves delicate,...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf A new four-volume history of Indiana County is planned for publication in 1978. Written by Clarence D. Stephenson, it is to be entitled Indiana County: 175th Anniversary History. The volume will be the first book-size history of Indiana County in 65 years. Further details can be obtained by writing Indiana County History 1978, Box 176, Marion Center, Pa. 15759.   The Northampton County...
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Ernest: Life in a Mining Town

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Ernest: Life in a Mining Town In 1904, the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company began deep mining in Ernest, Pennsylvania. In 1965, the industry there came to an end. Between these two dates, people lived out their lives in this small community northwest of Indiana, where for over sixty years every facet of existence revolved around the digging of coal from the hillsides surrounding the town. But what was life like in a...
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A Woman’s Day: Work and Anxiety

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Woman’s Day: Work and Anxiety Many books and articles have been written about the lives of early Pennsylvania coal miners and their involvement in labor-management strife, unionization problems, and mine disasters. But has anyone remembered the women who packed the miners’ dinner pails, washed their blackened clothing, and waited in anguish outside the mines when disaster struck? The lives of these women also were...
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The Depression Strikes Indiana County

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Depression Strikes Indiana County The Great Depression of 1929-32 without question was one of the watershed periods in American history. Joseph Alex Morris once wrote that “people later would speak of ‘before 1929’ or ‘after 1929’ as Noah’s children may have spoken of the days before and after ‘The Flood.'” The personal deprivation and social upheaval of those times sent shock...
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