Clinton County: Still Part of Penn’s Woods

Posted by Rebecca Gross on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Clinton County: Still Part of Penn’s Woods Clinton County, one of the sixth-class counties of Pennsyl­vania, occupies 900 square miles of river valley and mountain land near the geographical center of the state. Nearly two-thirds of the area re­mains forested, al though most of the trees are second growth after a near denuding of the land by a booming lumber industry in the second half of the last century. It was in the wood­lands of...
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The Volunteer Bands of Hummelstown, 1869-1927

Posted by Thomas Houts on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Volunteer Bands of Hummelstown, 1869-1927 Since 1980, junior and senior high school students throughout Pennsylvania have participated in the National History Day program, which was developed to stimulate student interest in history. Each year, district, state and national History Day contests are held, and students compete in either the junior or senior divisions in one of several categories: historical papers, projects, performances...
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Preparing Teachers for Homestead Parochial School, 1888-1921

Posted by Mary Grover on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Preparing Teachers for Homestead Parochial School, 1888-1921 Teacher education was not a carefully systematized and regularized process in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centur­ies. Before the mandate for college de­grees, teacher examinations and certifi­cation, teachers in American classrooms would generally teach as they had been taught. This was particularly true in Ro­man Catholic parochial schools before diocesan administration of the...
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The Great Circus Train Wreck of 1893

Posted by Fred Long on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Great Circus Train Wreck of 1893 Six-year-old Harry Snyder had slept fit­fully and awoke at dawn to the first silts of sunlight piercing his bed­room window. He heard the softly muffled rumble of a train descending the nearby mountain. The sound grew alarmingly louder with an ur­gency that sent a chill through the young boy’s body. He leaped out of bed and rushed to the window to see the train gliding around the curve in...
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Life in an Industrial Boom Town: Monessen, 1898-1923

Posted by Matthew Magda on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Life in an Industrial Boom Town: Monessen, 1898-1923 In reading about our nation’s past, we often forget how different life was for our ancestors. We read about historical figures and movements, but rarely – except in excellent historical novels – do we gain a glimpse into the living environment. We also tend to for­get that there are many past environ­ments, each producing its own style and pace of living. During the late...
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Montgomery County: Cultural Microcosm of the Commonwealth

Posted by Judith Meier on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Montgomery County: Cultural Microcosm of the Commonwealth The third most populous county in Pennsylvania, with ap­proximately 480 square miles of rolling hills criss-crossed by rivers, streams and superhighways, Montgom­ery County is a microcosm of the Com­monwealth, a reflection of its cultural development. Pan of Philadelphia County until 1784, Montgomery Coun­ty served as a sanctuary for numerous ethnic and religious groups seeking the freedom...
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Women Go to Work!

Posted by Dorothy Krupnik on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Women Go to Work! The illusion of the Victorian woman – a creature accustomed to leisure and com­fort- was alive and well in Indiana County at the turn of the century. Newspaper columns reported a variety of social activities in which women participated, including temperance and missionary societies, social and reading clubs. Advertisements for medicines appealed to women who considered themselves delicate,...
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A Treasure Trove of Books

Posted by Barbara Deibler on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Treasure Trove of Books Considered one of the finest repositories of rare books in the nation, the Rare Book Collection of the State Library of Pennsylvania was, at its conception, nothing more than an accumulation of law books necessary for the founding fathers to organize and govern the province. In­deed, for two more centuries, the collection of rarities and unique volumes, as it is known and safeguarded today, was...
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A Music Student Bridges the World

Posted by Thomas Duszak on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Music Student Bridges the World Ralph Modjeski seemed destined­ – even at the age of seven – for an accom­plished, if not celebrated, career as a concert pianist. After years of intense training and practice as a music student, he dramatically changed his course of studies at the age of twenty in favor, oddly enough, of a career in civil engineering. He did not, however, abandon his talent and practiced several...
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Pennsylvania’s First Television Station: “Loving What We Were Doing”

Posted by Linda Kowall-Woal on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania’s First Television Station: “Loving What We Were Doing” No champagne corks popped at Philadel­phia’s old Philco plant on October 17, 1941, to celebrate. The achievement failed to rate even a few lines in local newspapers as reports of the increasingly grim drama unfolding in Eu­rope took chilling precedence. Like so many of the seemingly minor events that herald major changes in our way of living, America’s first commercial network...
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