Remembering TMI 40 Years Later

Posted by on Feb 3, 2020 in | Comments Off on Remembering TMI 40 Years Later In late March 1979, south-central Pennsylvanians were startled to learn of an accident that had occurred at Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant in the Susquehanna River near Middletown, Dauphin County. In my own experience, the initial news came to me at Dallastown Elementary School in York County after a teacher shouted out to my fifth-grade class to come back inside the school building...
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Delaware County: Where Pennsylvania Began

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Delaware County: Where Pennsylvania Began Delaware County is part of the densely populated belt around Philadelphia, stretching from the city’s western boundary to the circular Delaware state line. Covering approx­imately 185 square miles, it is the third smallest Pennsylvania county yet the fourth largest in population. Its southern boundary is formed by the Delaware River, from which the county takes its name. The site of early...
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Dauphin County: Chocolates, Coal, and a Capital

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Dauphin County: Chocolates, Coal, and a Capital Dauphin County celebrates its two hundredth anniver­sary this year. The events and themes that are the history of the county reflect the experience of Pennsylvania and the United States. Dauphin County has never been a homogeneous commu­nity; indeed, it is difficult to consider it as a single commu­nity. From the beginning it has comprised individuals of diverse ethnic, national and religious...
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The Revolution Affects Pennsylvania Communities

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Revolution Affects Pennsylvania Communities Every county and community in the Commonwealth was in some way involved or connected with the American Revolution and Pennsylvania’s attainment of statehood. Certain places associated with famous events in the struggle for independence come to mind immedi­ately: Philadelphia, Lancaster, and York for civil affairs, and Brandywine, Germantown, Whitemarsh, Valley Forge, and Washington’s...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts On Saturday, May 14, 1994, guides at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site will demonstrate traditional sheep­-shearing methods with both period and modern hand-held tools. They will also discuss the importance of farms and farming practices to an 1830s industrial community. To obtain additional details, write: Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, 2 Mark Bird Ln., Elverson, PA 19520; or...
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Wanted: Women to Meet the Wartime Challenge! A Pictorial Essay

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Wanted: Women to Meet the Wartime Challenge! A Pictorial Essay A woman’s place is in the home. That time-honored maxim certainly held true until the out­break of World War II. This selection of photographs and posters – some startling, some engaging – tells the story of a world turned topsy-turvy. Drawn from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Bureau of Archives and History, the Charles L. Blockson Afro­-American...
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From Chaos to Calm: Remembering the Three Mile Island Crisis, An Interview With Harold Denton

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on From Chaos to Calm: Remembering the Three Mile Island Crisis, An Interview With Harold Denton Thursday, March 28, 1979, is a day forever etched in the memory of most Pennsylvanians and, indeed, many Americans. During the pre-dawn hours, events swiftly unfolded at a nuclear power plant on an island in the middle of the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg that would lead to the worst commercial nuclear accident in the nation’s history. In the days that followed, Three Mile Island (TMI)...
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An Activist Government in Harrisburg: Governor George H. Earle III and Pennsylvania’s “Little New Deal”

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on An Activist Government in Harrisburg: Governor George H. Earle III and Pennsylvania’s “Little New Deal” Despite substantive efforts by Governor Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946) during his second non-consecutive term, from 1931 to 1935, unemployment, underemployment, and poverty continued to plague the Commonwealth. The Great Depression had crippled the nation and Pennsylvania – America’s workshop – was hard hit as unemployment soared to nearly 40 percent in several industrial...
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From the Editor

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on From the Editor Rae Tyson, who has written recent features on early Quakers and the history of motorsports in Pennsylvania, now offers us a snapshot of the photographers who descended on the Adams County battlefield shortly after the epic struggle ended. Rae is uniquely qualified to write “At the Gettysburg Battlefield with Traveling Photographers.” Among the prominent photographers noted –...
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Welcome to Kuppy’s: A Central Pennsylvania Diner Turns 80!

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Welcome to Kuppy’s: A Central Pennsylvania Diner Turns 80! Charles Selcher was twenty years old when Kuppy’s Diner opened on August 5, 1933, at the corner of Brown and Poplar Streets in Middletown, Dauphin County. He was born in 1913 on a farm three miles west of the borough, along what is now state Route 230, and had known co-owner Karl Kupp since the seventh grade. The young men graduated in 1931 from Middletown High School. Selcher went on to...
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