Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Winter 2026

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Winter 2026 Topics in the Winter 2026 Newsletter: Winter Events of the Trails of History Forthcoming U.S. 250th Events on the Trails of History Winter-2026-newsletter...
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Bettis: Where Pittsburgh Aviation Took Off by Brian Butko and Sue Morris

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Bettis: Where Pittsburgh Aviation Took Off by Brian Butko and Sue Morris Bettis Where Pittsburgh Aviation Took Off by Brian Butko and Sue Morris Senator John Heinz History Center, 124 pp., paperback $19.95 Most of the 9 million people flying to or through Pittsburgh know only Pittsburgh International Airport, a sprawling, 10,000-acre facility, the largest civil-aviation field in Pennsylvania today. But in fact, it’s only the latest in a succession of four major...
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William Penn: A Radical, Conservative Quaker by J. William Frost

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on William Penn: A Radical, Conservative Quaker by J. William Frost William Penn A Radical, Conservative Quaker by J. William Frost Pennsylvania State University Press, 258 pp., hardcover $119.95, paperback $29.99 In this learned and revealing study of William Penn’s Quaker ideas, identity and interests, J. William Frost provides close readings and brilliant exegesis of Penn’s many and varied writings, preachments and speeches that dispel several myths and...
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Back to the Cloister Fund

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Back to the Cloister Fund In 1925, Rev. Samuel Zerfass faced a quandary. He needed a new suit, but he lacked the funds for such a substantial purchase. Zerfass was a minister with the Society of German Seventh Day Baptists, a last vestige of the Ephrata Cloister religious community. With a dwindling membership and an entire campus of historic structures in disrepair, financial resources were limited. Undaunted, Zerfass...
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“Scenes of War Are Not Forgotten” The Civil War Drawings of Anthony Goldsmith

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on “Scenes of War Are Not Forgotten” The Civil War Drawings of Anthony Goldsmith “The scenes of war have long since past and the Ex Soldiers have long since settled down to peaceful vocations of life yet the scenes of war are not forgotten,” a Civil War veteran wrote in an 1889 letter to his former comrade-in-arms Anthony Goldsmith (1839–99). “The picket[,] the Skirmish line[,] the Battles[,] the Raids and night marches are all fresh in our memories, yet there are many...
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Welcome Aboard the Party Train: The Pennsylvania–Texas Power Nexus

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Welcome Aboard the Party Train: The Pennsylvania–Texas Power Nexus As U.S. House Speaker and Vice President John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner (1868–1967) of Texas could attest, no congressional outing in the 1930s was complete without Pittsburgh’s Joe Guffey (1870–1959). In 1901, Guffey’s uncle, James, with money borrowed from the Mellon family, brought in Spindletop on the Gulf Coast. James Guffey midwifed the Texas petroleum industry — and provided the Mellons...
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“Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie!” An Interview with Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame Goaltender Bernie Parent

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on “Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie!” An Interview with Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame Goaltender Bernie Parent On Tuesday evening, May 27, 1975, the Philadelphia Flyers, defending National Hockey League (NHL) Champions, faced the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals at Buffalo’s Memorial Stadium. Philadelphia enjoyed a three-games-to-two lead in the best-of-seven series and they were determined to clinch their second straight championship that night. The Flyers, better known as the “Broad...
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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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Bath Crossroads Historic District

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Bath Crossroads Historic District Nearly 40 years before the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, the quaint village of Bath began to emerge in Northampton County, just 8 miles north of Bethlehem. Thanks to recent local preservation efforts by the Bath Borough’s Historic Architectural Review Board, approximately 34 acres of the original crossroads village is now listed in the National Register of Historic...
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Haym Salomon, Financier Who Helped Fund a Revolution

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on Haym Salomon, Financier Who Helped Fund a Revolution The story of Haym Salomon (1740–85) is both inspiring and deeply bittersweet. One of the most successful financiers of the American Revolution, he directly supported the final victories of the Continental Army, yet he died in poverty. Born in Leszno, Poland–Lithuania, to a Jewish family, Salomon traveled across Western Europe in his early adulthood, learning multiple languages and acquiring...
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