The Value of Pennsylvania History

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Value of Pennsylvania History George W. Bush won the presidential election of 2000 because the fifty states cast more electoral votes for him, even though more people actually voted for his opponent, Albert A. Gore Jr. The election reminded Americans about a curious institution called the Electoral College, and an equally peculiar system known as federalism in which each state conducts elections according to distinct laws...
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Portrait of Valentine Blanchard

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Portrait of Valentine Blanchard Upon graduating from Lancaster’s Franklin and Marshall College in 1900, Worth B. Stottlemyer settled in Arling­ton, Virginia, where he prospered in the insurance and real estate businesses. An insatiable collector, he amassed a cache of antiques and works of art, intending to open an antiques shop in Frederick, Maryland, upon retiring. While building his enormous collection, Stottle­myer...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Member of the Crew I found the piece about the SS United States quite interesting [see “Lost & Found,” Spring 2003]. I am privileged to have sailed on her as a member of the crew in 1962. In my Coast Guard Mer­chant Seaman’s papers, I was designated an “ordinary seaman.” This voyage was from New York to Newport News, Virginia, and back. The ship went into dry...
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Current and Coming

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Current and Coming First in the West More than fifteen organizations in western Pennsylvania are collaborating to commemorate the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with a wide array of events, activities, and programs, such as exhibitions, reenactments, lectures, workshops, living history presentations, and performances. Participants include local and regional governments, educational organizations,...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost Even though she had been altered through the years, the Motor Vessel Niagara, launched in 1897, had been recognized by the mid-1990s as a rare and significant example of a late-nineteenth-century Great Lakes freighter. She first carried pulpwood and, from 1900 to 1925, hauled coal and ore. In 1927, she was converted for dredging. The Erie Sand Steamship Company purchased the Niagara in 1959...
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A Centennial of Color for Crayola Crayons!

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Centennial of Color for Crayola Crayons! One day last winter, a crayon-hued, double-decker bus pulled into the heart of Dallas, Texas. For five days, crayon fans climbed on board to draw, color, and sample new products. The event kicked off the Crayola® ARTrageous Adventure tour, a traveling centennial party for the Crayola crayon, manufactured by Pennsylvania-based Binney & Smith, Inc. After a twenty-five­-city cross-country trek,...
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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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Slaves at the President’s House

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Slaves at the President’s House President George Washington arrived in Philadelphia on the morning of Sunday, November 21, 1790, exhausted and depressed. The journey north from Mount Vernon, his beloved Virginia plantation, had not been pleasant. Heavy rain made the roads impassable at various points along the route, extending the journey from two to three days. A drunken coachman overturned the president’s baggage wagon...
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“In Immortal Splendor”: Wilkes-Barre’s Fugitive Slave Case of 1853

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on “In Immortal Splendor”: Wilkes-Barre’s Fugitive Slave Case of 1853 On Saturday morning, September 3, 1853, U.S. Federal Marshal George Wynkoop of Philadelphia and two deputies, John Jenkins and James Crossen, sat down to breakfast in the dining room of the Phoenix Hotel on River Street in the Luzerne County seat of Wilkes-Barre. At the far end of the room was a handsome, powerfully built mulatto named Bill (or, according to various newspaper accounts, known as...
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Making Heritage Chocolate at the Historic Crossing

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Making Heritage Chocolate at the Historic Crossing On Saturday, June 16, 2012, Washington Crossing Historic Park (WCHP) in Bucks County, administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), partnered with the American Heritage Chocolate division of Mars Inc. to present a program entitled “Taste a Revolution in Chocolate.” The chocolate-making demonstration and lecture on the history of chocolate was attended by...
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