Visionary Road to the Capital by David Biser

Posted by on Aug 9, 2024 in | Comments Off on Visionary Road to the Capital by David Biser Visionary Road to the Capital The Little Known Story of John Harris Jr. by David Biser Orison Publishers, 108 pages, paperback $19.95 This slender volume is a must for anyone interested in early Harrisburg and Pennsylvania’s frontier history. It is the first and only book-length biography of John Harris II (1726–91, sometimes called John Harris Jr.), the founder of Harrisburg, and has been a...
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Forester Gifford Pinchot Becomes Governor, 100 Years Ago

Posted by on Sep 12, 2022 in | Comments Off on Forester Gifford Pinchot Becomes Governor, 100 Years Ago Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946) was elected twice to the highest executive office in Pennsylvania. He served two nonconsecutive terms as governor, 1923–27 and 1931– 35. This photograph was taken at his first inauguration on January 16, 1923, by the Philadelphia Public Ledger, a daily newspaper published from 1836 to 1942. The image shows Pinchot taking his oath of office on a temporary raised dais...
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Pennsylvania’s Buckshot War of 1838

Posted by on Mar 10, 2022 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania’s Buckshot War of 1838   Protesting election results in the United States is nothing new. Neither is storming a capitol building when results are contested. In 1838, only 55 years after the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War, armed opponents confronted each other at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg. Accusations had flown for days previously about which candidates should be seated in...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Spring 2020

Posted by on Oct 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Spring 2020 Topics in the Spring 2020 Newsletter: PHF Sponsors Opening Reception for Violet Oakley Exhibition PHF Cosponsors Workshops in Archaeology, with Focus on PA’s Native American Cultures America250PA Honors Servicemembers and Veterans   pennsylvania-heritage-foundation-newsletter-spring-2020...
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Violet Oakley’s Murals in the Pennsylvania Senate Chamber

Posted by on Apr 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on To Form a More Perfect Union: Violet Oakley’s Murals in the Pennsylvania Senate Chamber At breakfast tables on Sunday morning, December 3, 1911, readers of The New York Times were confronted with a surprising headline running across the magazine section: “A WOMAN CHOSEN TO COMPLETE THE ABBEY PAINTINGS.” Four months earlier, the news that the American artist Edwin Austin Abbey (1852–1911) had passed away in London raised speculation about who would receive the remainder of his...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Apr 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter August 18, 2020, will mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote. In issues of Pennsylvania Heritage leading to this significant anniversary, we will be featuring articles on the early 20th-century movement that led to suffrage as it played out in Pennsylvania, as well as the stories of women’s achievements in the Keystone...
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Take Cover! Pennsylvania’s Civil-Defense Program

Posted by on Nov 12, 2019 in | Comments Off on Take Cover! Pennsylvania’s Civil-Defense Program After World War II, US-Soviet relations broke down swiftly as both forces raced to develop powerful nuclear weapons. Civil-defense officials feared that the concentration of resources, vital industry, and transportation systems would make the commonwealth a likely target for Soviet bombers if the two powers ever went to war. “By every possible criterion, Pennsylvania will be a No. 1 target so...
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Representing Pennsylvania’s “Precious Heritage”: Art of the State 50

Posted by on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Representing Pennsylvania’s “Precious Heritage”: Art of the State 50 Art of the State is an annual juried exhibition that has been showcasing the work of Pennsylvania’s artists at The State Museum of Pennsylvania since 1968. The body of art that has been exhibited reflects half a century of creative endeavor in the Keystone State. Through the years, exhibitors have shared their ideas and engaged viewers in the categories of painting, photography, craft,...
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Honoring Valor: Pennsylvania’s Collection of Civil War Battle Flags

Posted by on Jun 19, 2015 in | Comments Off on Honoring Valor: Pennsylvania’s Collection of Civil War Battle Flags As the American Civil War Sesquicentennial of the past four years draws to a conclusion, it is appropriate to direct attention to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s vast collection of Civil War battle flags and its 1914 transfer from the Executive, Library and Museum Building to the Capitol’s main rotunda cases. This special event, which occurred on Monday, June 15, 1914 – Flag Day...
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Curating a New Home for History: A Conversation with W. Fred Kinsey and Irwin Richman

Posted by on Jun 19, 2015 in | Comments Off on Curating a New Home for History: A Conversation with W. Fred Kinsey and Irwin Richman Established institutions rarely get the opportunity to hit the reset button. But that’s what happened with The State Museum of Pennsylvania in the early 1960s, after the long-anticipated William Penn Memorial Museum and Archives Building cleared its last bureaucratic hurdle. Ground was broken north of the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, in January 1962, and by summer Pennsylvania’s...
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