Pennsylvania Stories – Well Told by William Ecenbarger

Posted by on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments Pennsylvania Stories – Well Told by William Ecenbarger Temple University Press, 244 pp., cloth $25 Ecenbarger has earned well-deserved praise and admiration for his work as a newspaper staff writer and freelance writer over the course of a Pennsylvania-based career of nearly 50 years. His previous book, Kids for Cash (New Press, 2012), detailed the corrupt juvenile justice system in northeastern...
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Schuylkill County: Built on Coal

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Schuylkill County: Built on Coal The history of Schuylkill County is inextricably bound to the story – and drama – of the great anthracite industry in the United States. Despite nearly two centuries of active mining, the county’s 783 square miles still boast the largest accessible reserves of hard coal known in the world. Its lives and lifestyles have been quasi-fictionalized by two of the county’s best...
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Historic Preservation in Pennsylvania: A Primer

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Historic Preservation in Pennsylvania: A Primer Depending on the individual, historic preser­vation evokes a myriad of interpretations. To the local historical society, it’s restoring the town’s oldest structure to a house-museum showcasing collections of period antiques. To community planners, it often results in a challenge of saving the best while destroying the rest. And to many, historic preservation means little more than a...
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Mailbox

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Mailbox The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, located in Strasburg, Lancaster County, is seeking information and documentation on railroad work clothes and uniforms worn from 1850 through the first half of the twentieth century. Of particular interest are changes in the styles of work clothing worn by engineers, freight train crews, shop workers, car inspectors, and maintenance and yard employees....
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You Can Go Home Again: An Interview with James A. Michener

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on You Can Go Home Again: An Interview with James A. Michener James A Michener is a man of diverse talents, boundless energy, and seemingly countless interests. He is naturally inquisitive, passionately curious. He is fascinated by the world around him and the people who inhabit it. He collects stories about far-away places as effortlessly as one gathers seashells on the shoreline in summer. He is the Ultimate Con­noisseur. Of people. Of places. Of things....
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John O’Hara: The Child Becomes the Man

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on John O’Hara: The Child Becomes the Man He had dreams,as do all boys. At the age of twelve, he was “looking forward to the day when, like Clint Shaefer, he would own his own Mercer; when, like Al Cullum, he would be on his way to Yale; when, like Bill Ulmer, he would know the 16th Arrondissement better than the third ward.” They were Pottsville fellows, Shaefer, Cullum, and Ulmer – and so was the boy. He was John...
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Homeward Bound: An Interview with David McCullough

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Homeward Bound: An Interview with David McCullough David McCullough is a familiar name – and face. Known to millions as the author of bestselling books, including The Great Bridge, The Path Between the Seas, Truman, Mornings on Horseback, and Brave Companions, and as host of the popular PBS television series “Smithsonian World” and “The American Experience,” he is noted for his remarkable gift of writing richly...
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Scooping the Editor: Inside Pennsylvania Heritage, An Interview with Michael J. O’Malley III

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Scooping the Editor: Inside Pennsylvania Heritage, An Interview with Michael J. O’Malley III For fifteen of its twenty-five years, Pennsylvania Heritage has been edited by Michael J. O’Malley III. It is a task he clearly embraces with enthusiasm – and wonder. “It’s a learning experience each and every day,” he says, “and there’s not a moment in which I don’t learn some­thing. To be able to satisfy one’s curiosity and to learn more...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor The Day Duse Died It was a pleasure, indeed, to have the opportunity to read and to learn from Donald Miller’s article, “Romancing the Stone: Benno Janssen, Architect of Ele­gance,” in the Fall 2000 edition. Janssen’s architectural legacy remains, thanks to the efforts of many, vital and appreciated. I was especially interested in the author’s discussion of visitors...
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Conrad Richter

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Conrad Richter Proudly claimed as a native son by Pennsylva­nians, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Conrad Richter (1890-1968) was born and raised in Pine Grove, in western Schuylkill County, about thirty-five miles north of Harris­burg. Work took him increasingly westward until, in 1928, he and his wife. Harvena Achenbach Richter, relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, which pro­vided material for his first...
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