Susanna Wright: Poet and Polymath on the Susquehanna

Posted by on Apr 17, 2026 in | Comments Off on Susanna Wright: Poet and Polymath on the Susquehanna   No right has man his equal to control, Since, all agree, there is no sex in soul; Weak woman, thus in agreement grown strong, Shakes off the yoke her parents wore too long. Those lines of poetry, written in a rigidly paternalistic 18th-century America, establish Susanna Wright (1697–1784) as one of America’s early supporters of women’s equality. More subtly, the poem, entitled “To Eliza...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Apr 17, 2026 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, we continue our series of articles on Pennsylvania in the American Revolution. Three features in this edition focus on individuals of the era and their contributions to the new nation. British emigrant Thomas Paine arrived in Philadelphia in November 1774 and soon began working as the editor of Pennsylvania Magazine. In January 1776, he...
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William Penn: A Radical, Conservative Quaker by J. William Frost

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on William Penn: A Radical, Conservative Quaker by J. William Frost William Penn A Radical, Conservative Quaker by J. William Frost Pennsylvania State University Press, 258 pp., hardcover $119.95, paperback $29.99 In this learned and revealing study of William Penn’s Quaker ideas, identity and interests, J. William Frost provides close readings and brilliant exegesis of Penn’s many and varied writings, preachments and speeches that dispel several myths and...
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A Quaker Epistle: Pacifism and the American Revolution

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on A Quaker Epistle: Pacifism and the American Revolution A 1775 document preserved in the Pennsylvania State Archives, “An Epistle from the Meeting for Sufferings,” offers insight into the beliefs, practices and morals of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, during the great social upheaval of the Revolutionary War period. The Meeting for Sufferings was a standing committee that addressed matters concerning the wider Quaker community during times of...
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A Beacon of Liberty for the Enslaved: 250 Years of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on A Beacon of Liberty for the Enslaved: 250 Years of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society   By the early 1700s, French Protestants — largely Calvinists known as Huguenots — suffered in their country from severe religious persecution, among them a boy, Antoine Bénézet (1720–72), and his parents. When their property was seized unless they renounced their faith, they departed their country, making their way to London, where they joined a welcoming group that stood for tolerance,...
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Pennsylvania and the American Revolution: An Interview with Gordon S. Wood

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania and the American Revolution: An Interview with Gordon S. Wood   The American Revolution was the most significant event in our country’s history. Independence from Great Britain not only resulted in the birth of a new nation but also one dedicated to a uniquely democratic form of government unknown to the world in the 18th century. It also forged a national identity, rooted in the principles of liberty, equality and republicanism, that has endured for...
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Irish-Townsend House

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on Irish-Townsend House In 2021, members of the New Brighton Historical Society (NBHS) learned that the asking price on the Irish-Townsend House had been slashed by 50 percent. The historic building had been sitting empty and deteriorating for years, and its out-of-state owner wanted to sell. Mike Spratt, president of NBHS, took the walkthrough with the realtor. “The [NBHS] leadership team was amazed how much of the...
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Dr. Anna E. Broomall: Advancing Care and Careers for Women

Posted by on Mar 27, 2024 in | Comments Off on Dr. Anna E. Broomall: Advancing Care and Careers for Women In 1869 a group of students from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) in Philadelphia attended a clinical lecture at the Pennsylvania Hospital. This marked the first time at the hospital that women were permitted to attend such a lecture alongside male medical students. Unfortunately, the women were unable to finish the first lecture as they were chased out of the amphitheater with...
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Prisoners of Congress by Norman E. Donoghue II

Posted by on Dec 1, 2023 in | Comments Off on Prisoners of Congress by Norman E. Donoghue II Prisoners of Congress Philadelphia’s Quakers in Exile, 1777–1778 by Norman E. Donoghue II Pennsylvania State University Press, 288 pages, hardcover $44.95 Norman E. Donoghue II’s exceptionally readable and richly sourced Prisoners of Congress is a long-needed scholarly treatment of the case of the “Virginia Exiles”: 20 Philadelphians, nearly all Quakers, “exiled” to house arrest in Winchester,...
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Our Beloved Friend: The Life and Writings of Anne Emlen Mifflin by Gary B. Nash and Emily M. Teipe

Posted by on Sep 18, 2023 in | Comments Off on Our Beloved Friend: The Life and Writings of Anne Emlen Mifflin by Gary B. Nash and Emily M. Teipe Our Beloved Friend The Life and Writings of Anne Emlen Mifflin by Gary B. Nash and Emily M. Teipe Pennsylvania State University Press, 370 pp, $124.95 hardcover Our Beloved Friend: The Life and Writings of Anne Emlen Mifflin resurrects the life and work of a neglected but significant Pennsylvania Quaker leader. Born in 1755 to a wealthy family, Anne Emlen came of age during the Revolutionary...
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