Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Dreams Do Come True I enjoyed the update about The Dream Garden, the Maxfield Parrish mural installed at the Curtis Building in Philadelphia [see “Executive Director’s Message,” Fall 2001]. We can only hope that it will be saved for Philadelphians. I had heard that Parrish created another mural for the employee cafeteria, which was, I believe, located near the top of the...
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To Forge History for the Future

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on To Forge History for the Future Not infrequently, the history of how an object, artifact, or even building or structure has been preserved for the future is every bit at least as interesting as the reasons for which it was saved. Historical organizations and cultural institutions – from large city museums to county historical societies – brim with compelling “behind-the-scenes” stories that provide...
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Making a Future for the Past: New Dating Meets New Deal Archaeology

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Making a Future for the Past: New Dating Meets New Deal Archaeology Imagine a scene set about nine hundred years ago. It is early autumn in a small farming village in the rugged Appalachian mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania. A harried mother stands in front of her small, beehive-shaped house and watches two young men playing chunkey – a lacrosse-type game – in the central plaza of her village. She gazes wistfully across the plaza, which is...
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Gnagey Blanket Chest at Somerset Historical Center

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Gnagey Blanket Chest at Somerset Historical Center Among the most famous makers in the history of southwestern Pennsylvania furniture is Jacob Gnagey (1796-1883), a farmer and cabinetmaker who lived in Summit Township, Somerset County. In 1862,he made a blanket chest for Israel Folam, possibly as a wedding present on his marriage to Lydia Vought, township residents. With its distinctive hand-forged hinges, finely dovetailed joints, red...
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September 11, 2001 FBI Artifacts

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on September 11, 2001 FBI Artifacts Nearly five years ago, on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the unthinkable had occurred: terrorists attacked the country’s financial and military centers at the World Trade Center in New York City and at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Western Pennsylvania was not immune and felt the direct impact with the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, in rural Somerset County,...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Pennsylvania Civil War Trails: The Guide to Battle Sites, Monuments, Museums and Towns by Tom Huntington Stackpole Books and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2007; 150 pages, paper, $14.95 As the 2011 opening of the American Civil War Sesquicentennial draws near, the national observance is guaranteed to produce a spate of weighty tomes analyzing the epic event of the nineteenth...
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Maple Sugar Camp Replica at Somerset Historical Center

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Maple Sugar Camp Replica at Somerset Historical Center By 1850 farmers in Somerset County were producing more than 370,000 pounds of maple sugar yearly, and by the 1880s they had increased production to more than one million pounds annually, accounting for nearly half of maple sugar made in Pennsylvania. Based on extensive research of the county’s sugar maple camps, the somerset Historical Center, one of two dozen historic sites and museums...
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Rediscovering the People’s Art: New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania’s Post Offices

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Rediscovering the People’s Art: New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania’s Post Offices On a February morning in 1937, artist George Warren Rickey (1907-2002) and a group of four men met at the post office in Selinsgrove, Snyder County. Armed with cloth-covered rolling pins, the men attached Rickey’s mural entitled Susquehanna Trail to one of the lobby’s end walls. After six hours, they transformed the entire blank white wall, from marble wainscoting to ceiling, into a...
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Celebrating Volunteers on the Pennsylvania Trails of History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Celebrating Volunteers on the Pennsylvania Trails of History Every spring we honor those who contribute their experience and expertise to support the mission and work of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). In 2011–2012 volunteers donated approximately 117,000 hours at historic sites and museums along the Pennsylvania Trails of History®. This impressive collective donation is valued at nearly $2.5 million, based on data provided by...
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Exploring the Pennsylvania Energy Trail of History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Exploring the Pennsylvania Energy Trail of History Pennsylvania’s vast natural resources helped fuel the growth and development of both state and nation, spawning innumerable advances in transportation, industry, technology, and science. These resources propelled an economy that supported generations of men and women. The Pennsylvania Trails of History, a network of historic sites and museums administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and...
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