Trailheads

Posted by on Oct 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on Trailheads Charter Day – always the second Sunday in March – kicks off the spring season on the Pennsylvania Trails of History. Public program schedules start to fill up, and the influx of school group visits reaches its peak. Spring lambs and other animal babies make their appearance at sites with livestock programs, and our many gardens show signs of new life as well. For up-to-date...
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Windows on Pennsylvania’s Natural Places: Restoring Mammal Hall at The State Museum

Posted by on Nov 5, 2019 in | Comments Off on Windows on Pennsylvania’s Natural Places: Restoring Mammal Hall at The State Museum At The State Museum of Pennsylvania, the beavers are busier than ever repairing their dam. The mountain lion gazes more intently at its prey, advancing stealthily upon a slanted tree trunk. And you might imagine you feel a chill as you approach the freshly fallen snow in the bison’s nighttime scene. If you haven’t visited the museum’s third-floor Mammal Hall recently, you’ll now notice that the...
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Natural History Trails

Posted by on Oct 30, 2019 in | Comments Off on Natural History Trails Charles Willson Peale’s Philadelphia Museum, although relatively short-lived, influenced the development of similar projects elsewhere. In 1827, the year Peale died, the Harmony Society at Economy in Pennsylvania opened one of the first natural history museums west of the Alleghenies. Like Peale’s museum, the Harmonist effort was largely exhausted by the middle of the 19th century, and its...
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Monster Bones: Charles Willson Peale and the Mysterious Nondescript Animal

Posted by on Oct 28, 2019 in | Comments Off on Monster Bones: Charles Willson Peale and the Mysterious Nondescript Animal On October 14, 1800, a New York City newspaper called Mercantile Advertiser published a rather lengthy news/opinion piece on some large and very curious bones that had been unearthed on a farm belonging to John Masten, located about 14 miles from the New York state village of Newburgh. The unidentified author observed that “these huge bones irresistibly force upon us by the power of associating...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Oct 25, 2019 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter The cover of this edition of Pennsylvania Heritage is graced with the famous 1822 painting titled The Artist in His Museum, in which Charles Willson Peale portrayed himself at age 81 in the museum he established in Philadelphia, located at the time in the Long Gallery on the second floor of the Pennsylvania State House (now called Independence Hall). In the painting, Peale lifts a curtain,...
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John James Audubon by Gregory Nobles

Posted by on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments John James Audubon The Nature of the American Woodsman by Gregory Nobles University of Pennsylvania Press, 330 pp., cloth $34.95, The 10 chapters of this excellent book review the life and times of John James Audubon (1785–1851) in a refreshingly honest manner, detailing Audubon’s development as a brilliant bird artist and scientist and, most importantly, his careful creation of an image of...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter

Posted by on Jun 6, 2016 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter Topics in the Summer 2016 Newsletter: Giving Circle Dinner Pennsylvania Wildlife Art Exhibit Opens Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry Day Naturalist Scott Weidensaul to Speak at The State Museum Lulos Joins PHF Board Join the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation  ...
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From the Executive Director

Posted by on Apr 19, 2016 in | Comments Off on From the Executive Director For many of us, spring is the traditional season to think about nature and the great outdoors, but here at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), we think about it all year long. It’s hard to separate Pennsylvania’s history from its natural history; in fact, PHMC is officially charged with “the conservation of Pennsylvania’s historic and natural...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter Topics in the Spring 2014 Newsletter: PHMC Launches Natural History Initiative Trails of History Sites and Museums Highlights for April – June 2014 Welcome New PHF Members Welcome New State Museum Affiliate Members PHF Board  ...
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Baird of the Smithsonian

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Baird of the Smithsonian “You see sir, I have taken (after much hesitation) the liberty of writing to you. I am but a boy, and very inexperienced, as you no doubt will observe from my description of the Flycatcher.” In this way, young Spencer Fullerton Baird, seventeen years of age, introduced himself by letter to John James Audubon. His accurate description and measurements of the flycatcher enabled Audubon...
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