Rebecca Harding Davis, Literary Realist

Author and journalist Rebecca Harding Davis (1831–1910) is best known for writing one of the earliest works of American literary realism, the short story “Life in the Iron-Mills.” In her career, she authored more than 500 publications, including novels, short fiction, essays and newspaper editorials. Several of these works gained a national reputation through their commentary on the working...
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Washington County: From Ice Age to Space Age

Southwestern Pennsylvania was for centuries a happy hunt­ing ground for Indians who were living there as long as two thousand years ago. In fact, as the result of archaeological discoveries made at the Meadowcroft Rock Shelter near Avella between 1973 and 1975, University of Pittsburgh anthropologists have proven conclusively that Ice Age people roamed the forests of Washington County even...
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A Philadelphia Family at the “Centre of the Universe”

For forty years after the Civil War, a Victorian home on South 21st Street in Philadelphia was con­sidered “The Centre of the Universe” by its promin­ent residents and their visitors. American writers and actors were drawn to this cultural center by the talented parents of Richard Harding Davis, the flamboyant archetype war correspondent who thrilled readers at the turn of the...
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