Pennsylvania’s Bicentennial Time Capsule

Posted by on Apr 17, 2026 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania’s Bicentennial Time Capsule In 1976, Reynolds Metals Co. created 56 aluminum time capsules as a gift to the United States. These identical capsules were given to the governors of the 50 states, as well as four territories, the National Archives, and the Bicentennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage. At that time, Reynolds was the world’s third largest aluminum and packaging company and the second largest in the United States. The...
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Revolutionary Things: Objects from the Collection

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Revolutionary Things: Objects from the Collection Massachusetts has the Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill and the Shot Heard Round the World; Virginia can lay claim to Mount Vernon, Monticello and Yorktown; and New Jersey and New York bore the brunt of the fighting in the conflict. But few if any of the original 13 colonies can compete with Pennsylvania in terms of the sheer concentration of people, places and things associated with the nation’s...
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Pennsylvania in Watercolor: Revisiting Nick Ruggieri’s Bicentennial Series

Posted by on Dec 1, 2025 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania in Watercolor: Revisiting Nick Ruggieri’s Bicentennial Series   In 1971, the Harrisburg Patriot-News commissioned local artist and newspaperman Nick Ruggieri (1908–96) to create a series of paintings depicting Pennsylvania scenes—both historic and contemporary — across all 67 counties. The project was intended to be the capital city newspaper’s contribution to the upcoming Bicentennial, a national celebration in which the Keystone State was expected...
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Montgomery County: The Second Hundred Years

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Montgomery County: The Second Hundred Years County histories, written in most cases during the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, serve as the starting point for most research in local history. Montgomery Coun­ty’s classic county history, by Theodore W. Bean, is no exception. History, however, did not stop as the final pages of that volume were written. Much has happened since. Just as the Centennial of our nation spurred...
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Preserving Yesterday’s Life for Tomorrow

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Preserving Yesterday’s Life for Tomorrow Historic preservation has taken on a new dimension in Bedford County. Old Bedford Village, just off the Pennsylvania Turn­pike at Bedford Exit 11, is a nonprofit venture helping to preserve the history AND economy of this central Pennsyl­vania county. Bedford County as it exists today, is bounded on the south by the Mason­-Dixon Line, on the west, north and east by Somerset, Cambria, Blair,...
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Evolution of a Preservation Agency: Centre County’s Historic Registration Project

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Evolution of a Preservation Agency: Centre County’s Historic Registration Project The commemoration of America’s Bicentennial gave birth to numerous community-minded pursuits during its nationwide celebra­tion. Although many of these special endeavors were shelved when the year was over, the administrators of one at least. the Historic Registration Project in Centre County. realized that their work had just begun. Now, four years later, this unique organization is still...
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Bicentennial Happenings

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bicentennial Happenings Adams County Gettys Crossroads and Tavern was a gathering point for troops for Continental Army, 1775. Allegheny County Pittsburgh Resolves, May 16, 1775. (Note: Pittsburgh was then under Virginia control, and so these Resolves went to the Virginia legislature.) Pittsburgh was a military base for holding the western country and for dealing with Indians. Indian Council at Pittsburgh, Oct. 15-Nov....
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Centre County Plans

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Centre County Plans Preparations for the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution in Centre County have proceeded along lines very much like those of two centuries ago when it was remarked that the revolution in America had taken place in the hearts and minds of the people long before the war for independence officially broke out. And so, two centuries later, a dozen local groups representing...
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Bicentennial News

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bicentennial News Commission Activities The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is actively involved in planning and carrying out major historical programs for the overall commemoration of the Bicentennial Commission. Among twenty-five project grants approved by the National Historical Publication Commission on May 21, 1974, was one to accelerate editing and publication of The Papers of Henry Bouquet by...
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Bicentennial Happenings

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bicentennial Happenings Centre County Frontier area exposed to raids. Potter’s Fort built as a refuge for settlers by Gen. James Potter, 1777. Chester County July 8, 1776. Election for Provincial Convention. Declaration of Independence published. Battle of Brandywine, Sept. 11, 1777. Paoli Massacre, Sept. 20, 1777. Clarion County Beyond the frontier of settlement. Settled after the Revolution. On route of...
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