Trailheads

Posted by on Oct 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on Trailheads Charter Day – always the second Sunday in March – kicks off the spring season on the Pennsylvania Trails of History. Public program schedules start to fill up, and the influx of school group visits reaches its peak. Spring lambs and other animal babies make their appearance at sites with livestock programs, and our many gardens show signs of new life as well. For up-to-date...
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White Glove Service at The State Museum: It’s Not What You Might Think

Posted by on Dec 2, 2013 in | Comments Off on White Glove Service at The State Museum: It’s Not What You Might Think Sometimes hands-on history projects require gloves. White cotton gloves, to be precise. In June 2012 three curators at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, donned gloves and began the first of an orderly series of planned inventories of the museum’s collections known as the Collections Advancement Project (CAP). By the end of summer three more curators joined the team and the...
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“Little Doc”: Architect Of Modern Nursing

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on “Little Doc”: Architect Of Modern Nursing Lavinia Lloyd Dock (1858-1956) labored long and hard as educator, settlement worker, historian, author, editor, columnist, pacifist and radical suffragist. Beyond this, she strove to internationalize the public health movement while continually elevating the status of women. But her contributions to the field of nursing­ – which helped transform what was then a despised trade into a...
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Stewart Culin, “Museum Magician”

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Stewart Culin, “Museum Magician” A temple had given up its treasure – ornately carved columns infused with supernatural beliefs – to the man with an imposing air and an eye for danger. He tells the tale: “Then we found ourselves with the column in the moonlight. We knew we must get it away without loss of time. The snoring continued, and the dogs were quiet, but at any moment they might raise an alarm. I...
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A Music Student Bridges the World

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Music Student Bridges the World Ralph Modjeski seemed destined­ – even at the age of seven – for an accom­plished, if not celebrated, career as a concert pianist. After years of intense training and practice as a music student, he dramatically changed his course of studies at the age of twenty in favor, oddly enough, of a career in civil engineering. He did not, however, abandon his talent and practiced several...
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The Northwest’s Vintners

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Northwest’s Vintners From an early Old Crusted Port to today’s popular – if not ubiquitous – wine cool­ers, Erie County wines have been a significant Pennsylva­nia commodity since 1864. There has been trouble along the way, but the county’s grapes, grown in profusion along the south shore of Lake Erie, have over­come many obstacles and today are a ma­jor element in the Commonwealth’s...
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In the Public’s Best Interest

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on In the Public’s Best Interest Edward Martin distin­guished himself as soldier, governor, senator and, above all, as honored citizen of the Ten Mile area in Pennsylvania, the small rural community in which he was born. His full and varied life had led him from the front lines of battle to the diplomatic circles of the nation’s capitol. The people whose lives he touched knew him as a dignified, loyal and honest...
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A Welsh Community that United in Song

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Welsh Community that United in Song With the development and expansion of the northern anthracite fields in the 1840’s, many ethnic groups flooded the region. Transporting their various customs to the Wyoming Valley, these groups formulated the social structure of the area from their traditions. One of the most significant of these traditions was music. George Korson, in his Minstrels of the Mine Patch, dis­cussed the ethnic...
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Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land

Posted by on Nov 27, 2013 in | Comments Off on Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land In the mid-nineteenth century, the Liberty Bell – capped by an eagle from Peale’s Museum – was enshrined in Independence Hall.   Each year thousands of Americans, as well as foreigners, travel to Philadelphia to visit the dozens of historic sites, structures and complexes associated with the nation’s independence. For many, their first stop is a small glass pavil­ion...
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Lee of Conshohocken

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lee of Conshohocken Shortly after the end of World War II, Pope Pius XII received a small group of GIs from the U.S. Occupation Force. Following the benediction. he asked them where they lived in America. “New York, New York,” answered one. “Very big … bigger even than Rome,” the Pontiff replied as he turned to another, “And you?” “California, Los Angeles.”...
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