Currents

Posted by PA Heritage Staff on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents It’s a Zoo! When the Zoological Society of Philadelphia was organized at the home of Dr. William Camac (its first presi­dent) on March 21, 1859, it was the first of its kind in North America. In spite of its auspicious beginnings, the early years of the Philadelphia Zoo – now touted as “America’s First Zoo”­ – were dampened by the Civil War, which not only...
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Explaining William Penn on the 350th Anniversary of His Birth: An Interview with Richard S. Dunn

Posted by William Kashatus on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Explaining William Penn on the 350th Anniversary of His Birth: An Interview with Richard S. Dunn In his journal entry of December 29, 1667, noted seventeenth century English diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) wrote that his young neighbor William Penn “has returned from Ireland a Quaker – or some very melancholy thing – that he cares for no company, nor comes into any.” For Pepys, who despised the noncon­formist Quakers, Penn’s reclusiveness was “a...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by Brent Glass on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message “How tall is the statue?” It’s a question visitors repeatedly ask guides and guards as they enter The State Museum of Pennsylvania’s Memorial Hall and encounter Janet de Coux’s towering bronze casting of a young William Penn (1644-1718) clasping a diminutive figure in his left hand. Museum staffers explain that the statue stands nearly eighteen feet high and weighs...
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