Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown by Pat Farabaugh

Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown by Pat Farabaugh The History Press, 187 pp., paperback $21.99 Those with an interest in Pennsylvania history and natural disasters will never want for more in the examination of the Johnstown Flood and its aftermath. Farabaugh’s study condenses the standard story of Johnstown’s floods while engaging a parallel narrative of the decline of its...
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Cambria City

Nestled between a bend in the Conemaugh River and a steep bluff, Cambria City is a distinctive, dense neighborhood that tells the story of hundreds of immigrants who came to work in Pennsylvania’s steel mills and coal mines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Following the founding of the Cambria Iron Works in 1852, investors purchased land across the river from the mill, subdivided it,...
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Currents

Feathered Friends An exhibition entitled “Fine Feathered Friends: Rare Ornithological Books from the Francis R. Cope, Jr., Collec­tion” will open at the Library Company of Philadelphia on Monday, April 25 [1994]. The collection contains major works by the most important ornithologists of the nine­teenth century, including John James Audubon, John Gould, Daniel Giraud Elliot, and R....
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Shorts

The Johnstown Area Heritage Association will host “Johnstown FolkFest ’95” from Friday through Sunday, September 1-3 [1995], in the community’s historic district of Cambria City. The Labor Day weekend event will fea­ture ethnic entertainment, tours of historic buildings, and cultural crafts. For more information, write: Johnstown Area Heritage Association, P. O. Box 1889,...
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Shorts

In recognition of the recent seventy-fifth anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States, the Chester County Historical Society is examining the roles of local women in the social reform movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through an exhibition entitled “‘Do Everything’: Women and Reform in Chester County.” Abolition, temperance,...
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Shorts

“Elegant Etiquette: Nineteenth-Century Figural Napkin Rings,” on view through Sunday, August 10 [1997], at the Brandywine River Museum, showcases a selection of whimsical table articles manufac­tured by American silverplate companies during the second half of the last century. From the 1860s through the end of the century, napkin rings took many forms and were adorned with fig­ures...
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Out and About

On a Grand Scale For a century, the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Hall of Architecture has captivated both Pittsburghers and visitors as a portal to a magical, ancient world of architecture and as a muse for generations of aspiring artists, artisans, and architects. Today, the Hall of Architecture is recognized as a national treasure, as well as distinguished as the largest architectural cast...
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