Sydney Ware, Eastern State Penitentiary Artist

Posted by on Dec 17, 2019 in | Comments Off on Sydney Ware, Eastern State Penitentiary Artist Built in the 1820s as part of a new type of prison system, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was founded on the belief that prisoners could be rehabilitated during incarceration through separate confinement and industrious labor. During the penitentiary’s span of operation, 1829–1971, numerous records were compiled about the inmates and maintained at the prison, including statistics on...
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Honoring Valor: Pennsylvania’s Collection of Civil War Battle Flags

Posted by on Jun 19, 2015 in | Comments Off on Honoring Valor: Pennsylvania’s Collection of Civil War Battle Flags As the American Civil War Sesquicentennial of the past four years draws to a conclusion, it is appropriate to direct attention to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s vast collection of Civil War battle flags and its 1914 transfer from the Executive, Library and Museum Building to the Capitol’s main rotunda cases. This special event, which occurred on Monday, June 15, 1914 – Flag Day...
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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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Washington County: From Ice Age to Space Age

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Washington County: From Ice Age to Space Age Southwestern Pennsylvania was for centuries a happy hunt­ing ground for Indians who were living there as long as two thousand years ago. In fact, as the result of archaeological discoveries made at the Meadowcroft Rock Shelter near Avella between 1973 and 1975, University of Pittsburgh anthropologists have proven conclusively that Ice Age people roamed the forests of Washington County even...
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“A Veritable Stone Wall of Death”

Posted by on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on “A Veritable Stone Wall of Death” “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed.” The Lord’s angels commanding Lot to leave the city of Sodom. Genesis 19:17   It was a beautiful, sunny day-a welcome respite from a September of rain and hard frosts that had swollen the Sinnemahoning Creek and its tributary Freeman Run to unusually high levels....
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Ninety-Five Years of the Pennsylvania Society: A “Who’s Who” of Business and Politics

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Ninety-Five Years of the Pennsylvania Society: A “Who’s Who” of Business and Politics From industrialist Andrew Carnegie to television personality Mister Rogers, The Pennsylvania Society has both honored and drawn its energy from prominent personages of the Commonwealth’s civic, business, academic, entertain­ment, and government circles for nearly a century. Best known for its legendary annual December awards dinner that lasts for but a few hours each year, the organization...
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Banned In Pennsylvania!

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Banned In Pennsylvania! During the nearly half century of its powerful reign, no one exemplified the Keystone State’s film censorship board more dramatically than Philadelphian Edna Rothwell Carroll (1894-1981), its chairman from 1939 to 1955. Determined, self-possessed, and intensely devoted to her mission – to protect the public from movies deemed immoral – she had been active in Republican Party...
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Current and Coming

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Current and Coming Quilts Come Home The Keystone State’s newest attraction, the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum, made its debut recently, drawing national attention for its role as a leading educational facility for interpreting and exhibiting the rich and diverse cultural traditions of Lancaster County and southcentral Pennsylvania. The mu­seum was established by the Heritage Center of Lancaster County....
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message This issue of Pennsylvania Heritage includes the new format of the Pennsylvania Heritage Society’s quarterly newsletter. If you’re an individual or family member of the Pennsylvania Heritage Society, you’ll undoubtedly appreciate the many interesting programs available to you with free or discounted admissions. If you’re not a member, I hope you will consider joining to...
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Act 207 Regulating Motor Vehicle Speed (1913)

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Act 207 Regulating Motor Vehicle Speed (1913) On May 23, 1913, Governor John K. Tener signed into law Act 207, amending an act originally approved several years earlier, in 1909, “Relating to motor-vehicles; regulating their speed upon the public streets and highways of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; providing for their registration, and the licensing of operators … “The legislation directed the State Highway Department...
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