World War II Trails

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on World War II Trails For the past few years we have been commemorating anniversaries of two major geopolitical and military conflicts, World War I and World War II. The Pennsylvania Trails of History sites have been focusing attention on the commonwealth’s role in these global events as part of PHMC’s Pennsylvania at War initiative. As the centennial of the end of World War I approaches, the 75th anniversary of...
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Loleta Recreation Area

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on Loleta Recreation Area Upon his inauguration on March 4, 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set about combating the economic crisis of the Great Depression with his New Deal program of economic reforms and public work projects. One of the most popular programs established that year was “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which was part of the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) Act....
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Stockings, Cap Braids and Bomber Turrets: Wyomissing Industries Mobilizes for World War II

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on Stockings, Cap Braids and Bomber Turrets: Wyomissing Industries Mobilizes for World War II   “Textile Machine Works suspends production of knitting machines for the duration.” – The Yarn Carrier, October 1942 The Textile Machine Works was one of a handful of companies with common ownership that became known as Wyomissing Industries, located just west of Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The 13,430th and last knitting machine, a “Reading” model, was the embodiment of 40 years...
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Readco and the Transition to Military Manufacturing in World War II

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on Readco and the Transition to Military Manufacturing in World War II Once the United States entered World War II in December 1941, every facet of American life was affected. The unprecedented quantities of ammunition, weapons and vehicles required to sustain the war effort called for many Pennsylvania manufacturers to retool their production to fulfill these critical needs. Companies like Ford’s assembly plant in Chester, Delaware County, began producing military...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter In Pennsylvania Heritage, we often run stories related to current anniversaries. Anniversaries give us the opportunity to focus on moments that have remained significant from our shared past — in our case as a community of Pennsylvanians — to gain a better perspective on what came before us and how the achievements, challenges and even misfortunes of history can instruct us in the present. Three...
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Trails to the 28th Infantry Division National Shrine

Posted by on Nov 12, 2019 in | Comments Off on Trails to the 28th Infantry Division National Shrine The year 2018 marks the centennial of the last year of World War I and the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of November 11, 1918, that ended the war’s active combat. (The Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war between Germany and the Allies, was signed in June of the following year.) Memorializing those lost in the war was an important step in putting the Great War in the past....
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Tough and Determined: Pioneering Newspaper Editor Rebecca F. Gross

Posted by on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Tough and Determined: Pioneering Newspaper Editor Rebecca F. Gross On a night in the winter of 1947-48, Rebecca F. Gross, 42 years old and the editor of a 10,000-circulation daily newspaper in the small town of Lock Haven, Clinton County, was scheduled to have dinner with two luminaries of the time: Robert Capa, the internationally famous war photographer, and John Steinbeck, the novelist and future Nobel laureate. The dinner was an event set up for members of...
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Artful Trails

Posted by on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Artful Trails In honor of the 50th Art of the State exhibition, open through September 10, 2017, at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, we’re exploring art at other historic sites and museums along PHMC’s Pennsylvania Trails of History. As visual storytellers, our sites employ a multidisciplinary approach to documenting and sharing Pennsylvania heritage. Artworks frequently play a role in the study...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Summer 2017

Posted by on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Summer 2017 Topics in the Summer 2017 Newsletter: Third Annual Giving Circle Dinner The Giving Circle PHF-Held Endowment Funds Whiskey Still for Fort Pitt Museum Collection PHF Welcomes New Board Member PHF Receives Grant in Partnership with Eckley Miners’ Village Join the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation   pennsylvania-heritage-foundation-newsletter-summer-2017...
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Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

Posted by on Mar 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Navy Yard was established in 1801 on Federal Street in the Southwark District of Philadelphia, an area along the Delaware River roughly 2 miles southeast of City Hall (part of this area was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Southwark Historic District in 1972). In 1868 the Navy Yard, later renamed the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, was moved to League...
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