Revolutionary Things: Objects from the Collection

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Revolutionary Things: Objects from the Collection Massachusetts has the Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill and the Shot Heard Round the World; Virginia can lay claim to Mount Vernon, Monticello and Yorktown; and New Jersey and New York bore the brunt of the fighting in the conflict. But few if any of the original 13 colonies can compete with Pennsylvania in terms of the sheer concentration of people, places and things associated with the nation’s...
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Independence Bells of Philadelphia by Thomas Kaufmann

Posted by on Sep 18, 2023 in | Comments Off on Independence Bells of Philadelphia by Thomas Kaufmann Independence Bells of Philadelphia by Thomas Kaufmann The History Press, 224 pp., paperback $23.99 On July 8, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read to the people assembled in the Pennsylvania State House yard. The bells that rang around Philadelphia expressed the feeling of celebration in such a riotous way that John Adams wrote, “The Bells rung all Day, and almost all night. Even the...
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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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Lehigh County: The Land and Its People

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lehigh County: The Land and Its People Lehigh County encompasses the western half of the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. Bounded on the east by the Lehigh River, the main geographical feature of the larger valley, and on the north by the Blue Mountain range, the land is a mosaic of lime­stone plain, sinks and rolling hills. While the southern region of the county lies astride the so-called South Moun­tain and the hills of the...
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Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land

Posted by on Nov 27, 2013 in | Comments Off on Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land In the mid-nineteenth century, the Liberty Bell – capped by an eagle from Peale’s Museum – was enshrined in Independence Hall.   Each year thousands of Americans, as well as foreigners, travel to Philadelphia to visit the dozens of historic sites, structures and complexes associated with the nation’s independence. For many, their first stop is a small glass pavil­ion...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Famous Faces John W. Mosley (1907-1969), characterized by an admirer as “our most magnificent and beloved photographer,” was Philadelphia’s leading black photographer, whose images appeared in nearly every African American newspaper on the East Coast (see “His Eye Was On The Positive” by Richard D. Beards in the winter 1990 edition of Pennsylvania Heritage)....
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message “Pennsylvania Memories Last a Lifetime.” A new tourism marketing campaign offers many opportunities and a new approach to call attention to the Keystone State’s rich and varied histori­cal and cultural assets. Pennsylvania’s amazing array of memorable places gives travelers a deeper appreciation of our national heritage while providing an enjoyable family experience. An...
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The Difference This Day Makes

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Difference This Day Makes On February 1 of this past year, a day of crisp blue skies and mild chill, voices swelled above the Liberty Bell as they have every first day of February for the last fifty-five years. With prayer and in song – and in remembrance, determination, and hope – African Americans in Philadelphia celebrated National Freedom Day, the anniversary of the signing of the Thirteenth Amendment to...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts Opening Saturday, May 29 [1999], at Allentown’s Liberty Bell Shrine Museum is “‘Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land’: The Liberty Bells of Pennsylvania.” The exhibit, continuing through Tuesday, August 31 [1999], will focus on the eight bells that summoned citizens of Pennsylvania communities to hear the public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf The Red Rose Girls: An Uncommon Story of Art and Love By Alice A. Carter Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2000 (216 pages, cloth, $39.95) Highly successful and immensely unconventional Philadelphia artists Jessie Wilcox Smith (1863-1935), Eliza­beth Shippen Green (1871-1954), and Violet Oakley (1874-1961) captivated early twentieth-century society with their brilliant careers and uncommon lifestyle. At a...
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