Sarah Mary Benjamin, Heroine of Yorktown

Posted by on Apr 17, 2026 in | Comments Off on Sarah Mary Benjamin, Heroine of Yorktown Histories of the American Revolution have traditionally focused on famous leaders and soldiers. Far less has been said about the everyday people, especially women, whose lives and labor shaped the struggle for independence. One such woman was Sarah Mary (Mathews Osborn) Benjamin. Sometimes compared to “Molly Pitcher,” Sarah left vivid accounts of her time accompanying her husband, Aaron Osborn,...
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York County: A Most Treasured Land

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on York County: A Most Treasured Land Planted squarely above the Maryland border, the gigantic horse’s hoof, which is the out­ line of York County, covers an area of 914 square miles, supporting a popula­tion of 300,000. Its eastern contour is delineated by the “long, crooked” Sus­quehanna, its pastern cleanly cut off by Cumberland County on the north, its outer edge defined by Adams Coun­ty on the west. This...
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An Evil and a Remedy: The Lottery in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on An Evil and a Remedy: The Lottery in Pennsylvania Jackpot! For thousands of years the lottery has offered mankind the opportunity to accrue something for nothing-or at least a lot for a little. Usually in fact, it returns nothing. But the potential exists, and for many the dream of winning is irresistible. As most know, a lottery is any contest based on chance, which offers a prize, and which requires participants to pay a fee or buy something....
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Bucks County

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bucks County As one of the three original counties of Pennsylvania created shortly after William Penn arrived in his nascent colony in 1682, Bucks County has a heritage that reaches back to the very beginnings of the Commonwealth. Long before Penn’s arrival, the intrepid settlers of the Dutch and Swedish colonies farther down the Delaware River had ex­plored the wooded banks of the river as far as the...
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“Prepare Thyself … to Meet the Lord Thy God!”: Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on “Prepare Thyself … to Meet the Lord Thy God!”: Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution Religion in the colony of Pennsylvania was distinctive. In contrast to most areas of the western world, this province practiced freedom of religion. It never had an established church. Friends who controlled the first legislative assembly, meeting in Upland, now Chester, in 1682, specified that no one was “at any time [to] be com­pelled to frequent or Maintain anie religious worship, place...
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The Black Absence

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Black Absence Should it come as a surprise that no history of black Pennsylvanians in the American Revolution has been written? That the best modern study of the Negro in the American Revolution devotes less than four pages to his role in Pennsylvania? That the challenge to American historians to recover this aspect of the black past remains unmet at the time of the Bicentennial? There are a number of reasons...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents The Gift A spectacular collection of nearly three hundred and fifty colorful feathered objects is featured in an unusual exhibi­tion at The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropol­ogy, Philadelphia. Designed to invite the museum visitor “to be an anthropologist” and explore culture as it is experi­enced by diverse South American natives, “The Gift of Birds: Featherwork...
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