Podcasts about pennsylvania historical

Coming up on this week's edition of The Spark Weekly. Braver Angels ran a local workshop this past November, just before the holidays. This workshop helps participants understand the different roles family members play in family conversations and what can be done to prevent family divisions over politics. also on the program... We’ll be focusing on the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which is embarking on its ten-year historic preservation plan. We’ll also ask about the recent move by the PA State Archive into a new building, and have you ever wondered how to apply for a blue and gold historic marker?Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is embarking on a ten-year historic preservation project. Andrea Lowery, Executive Director of PHMC, recently joined Asia Tabb on The Spark to discuss the commission’s ambitious goals for safeguarding the state’s rich history.Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  Many Americans want to learn more about their family histories. Genealogy research has become one of the most popular hobbies across the country. Websites like Ancestry.com have become the "go to" resource for tracing family trees. In 2008, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission contracted with Ancestry to digitize the state's historic records. It's free to access for Pennsylvanians, but not for out-of-staters. It's become an issue for some and has actually gone to court. Spotlight PA investigative reporter Angela Couloumbus reported on this story and joined us on The Spark Thursday, where she provided background on the controversy,"In 2008, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission signed a contract with Ancestry.com to digitize certain of its physical documents. So you had things like birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, veteran burial cards, slave records. I mean, there was a whole host of documents that it wanted to digitize and have in that form, because that is how people are researching. They're going online and that's instead of coming physically to the state archives building. So the contract was signed, and over the years there were addendums to it, adding more and more documents into the digital form. Then fast forward to last September and well, actually, now in September of 2022, there was a right to know request by a professional genealogist based in New York City asking for copies of those digital records. And thus the fight begins." Couloumbus was asked if Ancestry.com claimed ownership of the records,"Yes. That is the fundamental question. Go back to the Right-to-Know request in September of 2022 by the professional genealogist. PHMC denied the request on various grounds, but fundamentally it says it does not have those records. And the genealogist appealed. It went to the Office of Open Records, the Office of Open Records sided in the genealogist favor. There's a lot of legal arguments, but fundamentally it said that Ancestry should be able to provide these documents. There are many. It's a huge amount of data." The genealogist countered that the records belong to the state. Couloumbus described where the case is now,"It was appealed to Commonwealth Court. Commonwealth Court took a look at it. And in the interim, Ancestry got involved and said, hey, we weren't really aware of this appeal at the Office of Open Records. And as a result, we didn't really have an opportunity to weigh in. And so we're weighing in now with these arguments. And Commonwealth Court saw that and kicked it back down to the Office of Open Records and said, okay, take another look at this case. Take Ancestry.com or legal arguments into consideration and come up with a new decision. And that's where we're at now. The Office of Open Records has a deadline sometime this month to rule on the case, but pretty much everybody involved in this case has said, whatever they decide, there's going to be an appeal back up to Commonwealth court, and they're prepared to take it all the way up to the state Supreme Court."        Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite a plea from Abigail Adams to her husband to “Remember the Ladies,” women, especially married women, didn't have many legal rights in the Early Republic. Even so, women used existing legal structures to advocate for themselves and their children, leaning on their dependent status and the obligations of their husbands and the state to provide for them.  I'm joined this week by Dr. ​​Jacqueline Beatty, Assistant Professor of History at York College of Pennsylvania, and author of In Dependence: Women and the Patriarchal State in Revolutionary America. Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Chester,” composed by William Billings in 1778, performed by the United States Marine Corps Band in 2014; the recording is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons. The episode image is: ”A New England kitchen. A hundred years ago,” by H. W. Peirce, ca. 1876, via the Library of Congress. Additional Sources: “When Women Lost the Vote,” Museum of the American Revolution. “Lydia Chapin Taft – New England's First Woman Voter,” New England Historical Society. “Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March - 5 April 1776 [electronic edition],”. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society.  “Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 April 1776 [electronic edition],” Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society. “On the Trail of America's First Women to Vote,”  by Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times; Published Feb. 24, 2020, Updated Aug. 7, 2020. “Coverture: The Word You Probably Don't Know But Should,” National Women's History Museum, September 4, 2012. “Boston: A City Steeped in U.S. History,” History.com; Published March 7, 2019, Updated March 13, 2019. “Massachusetts Constitution and the Abolition of Slavery,” The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “Philadelphia: Colonial City to Modern Metropolis [video],” Penn Museum, July 6, 2018. “An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery - March 1, 1780,” Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. “Historic Overview,” Explore Charleston. “How Slavery Built Charleston,” by Brentin Mock, Bloomberg, July 20, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for May 7.J. R. Winters received a patent for the fire escape ladder.He was born in Leesburg, Virginia to an African-American brickmaker and a Shawnee Indian mother, who was the daughter of a noted herbalist and medical practitioner.In 1830, at the age of 14, he relocated to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. During this time that Winters lived in Chambersburg, a city known for Quaker abolitionist activity, he was active in the Underground Railroad. In the 1870s as buildings became taller, Winters noticed that firemen had to take ladders off of their horse-drawn wagons to climb to windows, rescue people, and spray water on fires.The ladders had to be foldable or collapsible so that fire wagons could turn corners in narrow streets and alleys. He built a fire wagon made with a mounted ladder that could be folded and received a patent for it on May 7, 1878.Three years later in 1882 Winters received a patent for a fire escape ladder that could be attached to buildings. While all of his inventions saved lives and made firefighting and building escape easier, Winters reportedly received much praise but little money for his inventions.In 2005, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission erected a historical marker honoring Winters at 130 North Second Street.Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

There are more than 2,500 historical markers located throughout Pennsylvania. The bright blue and yellow markers tell the story of Pennsylvania's past from the well known to the not-quite-as-familiar and include subjects such as Native Americans and settlers, government and politics, athletes, entertainers, struggles for freedom and equality and factories and businesses. The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission is taking nominations until June 1 for new markers to commemorate historic properties, persons and events of state or national significance. Nominations must be submitted electronically by June 1 through PA-SHARE, PHMC's web-based application that replaces the existing paper-based system. Nominations are reviewed by a panel of independent historical experts from across the state. The panel recommendations are then presented to PHMC's commissioners for review and a formal vote to approve, reject or modify the panel recommendations at their September 7 meeting. Howard Pollman, Director of External Affairs at the PHMC is on Monday's Smart Talk discuss what's considered historic and the process for nominating something for a marker. Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dom welcomes in Pennsylvania Representative Parke Wentling, who represents parts of Mercer, Crawford, Erie, and Lawrence counties, to discuss the review and potential removal of up to 2,500 roadside markers by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Wentling wrote about the situation, telling that he fears that the commission will become less of a true historical arbiter and more of a miniaturized version of George Orwell's Ministry of Truth from his famous 1984. Wentling further explains his point of view, telling that there's an erasure of history movement that is pushing too far, honing in on markers that are rife with history themselves. (Photo by Getty Images) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dom welcomes in Pennsylvania Representative Parke Wentling, who represents parts of Mercer, Crawford, Erie, and Lawrence counties, to discuss the review and potential removal of up to 2,500 roadside markers by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Wentling wrote about the situation, telling that he fears that the commission will become less of a true historical arbiter and more of a miniaturized version of George Orwell's Ministry of Truth from his famous 1984. Wentling further explains his point of view, telling that there's an erasure of history movement that is pushing too far, honing in on markers that are rife with history themselves. Then, after playing Dom's Money Melody, Giordano moves back into a conversation centered on Critical Race Theory and education. Giordano plays back a clip of a teacher in Austin, TX, who wrote a Dr. Seuss parody targeting parents at school board meetings raising qualms about curriculum. Also, Giordano discusses his side question, offering suggestions for who he believes to be deeply unhappy celebrity, and takes listeners' calls discussing topics of the day including the side topic and critical race theory. (Photo by Getty Images) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has been reviewing historical markers and plaques around the state for potential editing or removal, most notably those pertaining to the Civil War. One school district intends to use a Google platform to more closely monitor students' emails. Amtrak may be cutting its service. Plus, the nation's cheapest cup of coffee is right here in Pennsylvania. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

General Sir William Howe launched his campaign to capture Philadelphia in late July 1777, with an army of 16,500 British and Hessian soldiers aboard a 265-ship armada sailing from New York. Six difficult weeks later, Howe’s expedition landed near Elkton, Maryland, and moved north into Pennsylvania. Washington’s rebel army did all it could to harass Howe and fought and lost a major battle at Brandywine on September 11. Philadelphia fell to the British. On October 4, obscured by darkness and a heavy morning fog, Washington launched a surprise attack on the British garrison at Germantown. His early attack found initial success and drove the British legions before him. The recapture of the colonial capital seemed within Washington’s grasp until poor decisions by the American high command brought about a reversal of fortune and a clear British victory. Like Brandywine, however, the bloody fight at Germantown proved that Continental soldiers could stand toe-to-toe with British Regulars. Michael C. Harris is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and the American Military University. He has worked for the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fort Mott State Park in New Jersey, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission at Brandywine Battlefield. He has conducted tours and staff rides of many east coast battlefields. Michael is certified in secondary education and currently teaches in the Philadelphia region. Description courtesy of Savas Beatie.

Outside of major metropolitan areas, the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights has had its own unique and rich history—one that is quite different from the national narrative set in New York and California. "Out in Central Pennsylvania" highlights one facet of this lesser-known but equally important story, immersing readers in the LGBTQ community building and social networking that has taken place in the small cities and towns in the heart of Pennsylvania from the 1960s to the present day. Drawing from oral histories and the archives of the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project, this book recounts the innovative ways that LGBTQ central Pennsylvanians organized to demand civil rights and to improve their quality of life in a region that often rejected them. William Burton is an author based in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Barry Loveland is retired from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and is the cofounder and chair of the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Description courtesy of Penn State Press.

Guest: Gareth Porter. Both in 1918 and 2020 pandemics forced the US military to make changes in their operations but the Pentagon has also revealed a resistance to stand down even when it’s necessary to protect troops. We talk about the similarities and differences between the situations in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic and World War I and today’s Coronavirus pandemic during never ending imperial wars. We also talk about the kinds of movements, changes and consequences that might be catalyzed by this latest crisis. Gareth Porter is an independent Investigative historian and journalist on the national security state. He is the author of numerous books including Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam (2005) and Manufactured Crisis: the Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare (2014).and the co-author with John Kiriakou of his latest book The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War. Gareth is the winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for Journalism  FOLLOW Gareth on Twitter at @GarethPorter. Find his work at The American Conservative, Truthdig, Antiwar.com, Middle East Eye and other media outlets. He’s also now at The Grayzone. Read his new book: The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War.  Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at aroundtheempire.com.  SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.  SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app. Recorded on April 10, 2020. Music by Fluorescent Grey. Reference Links: How Generals Fueled 1918 Flu Pandemic To Win Their World War, Gareth Porter, The American Conservative 1918 Influenza Epidemic Records, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) Philadelphia, Nurses, and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918, US Navy Book (2020): The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War.  Book (2005): Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam Book (2014): Manufactured Crisis: the Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare  

On the eve of the American Revolution, the northeast prepared for war. After both claiming much of modern northeastern Pennsylvania, Connecticut settlers poured into the Wyoming valley. After taming the soil and organizing communities, these "Yankees" established a veritable New England colony within the modern boundaries of Pennsylvania. Feeling slighted, the Penn family waged a partisan war against the Yankees, leading to a civil war between the colonies known as the "Yankee-Pennamite War." On this episode our guests are lawyer Steven Killian and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commissioner Bill Lewis...spared no expense. 

Today's episode is on Historic Tax Credits with Robert Powers. When can I obtain Historic Tax Credits? How do they work? When to apply? What expenses create credits versus expenses that do not qualify? The what, where, when and how's to historic tax credits today and more...If you are about to restore an older property you do not want to miss this one!Robert Michael Powers is the President of Powers & Company, Inc., a national consulting firm specializing in the preservation and conservation of historic structures. Formed in 1995, the firm consists of a full-service professional team whose work has been recognized by the Urban Land Institute, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. With over thirty years of diverse experience on projects throughout the United States, Mr. Powers is a national expert on the interpretation and application of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation in historic preservation tax incentive projects. Mr. Powers is known for his ability to problem-solve and craft practical solutions with clients that are sensitive to both preservation and development issues. Mr. Powers was Principal in Charge at Powers & Company, Inc. for the preservation of the U.S. Post Office, Main Branch at 30th Street and the PSFS Building, both in Philadelphia. At the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building and Complex. Mr. Powers was the Consulting Supervisory Conservator on the interior restoration of the buildings within the Capitol complex. In addition, Mr. Powers has consulted on such notable preservation projects as Los Angeles City Hall and the Headquarters for Urban Outfitters in the Philadelphia Naval Business Center. Prior to establishing his own firm, Mr. Powers for twelve years, honed his skills at the National Park Service administering the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentive Program for projects within seventeen states. More information on the work of Mr. Powers and Powers & Company can be found on the company web site at www.powersco.net. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brandywine Creek calmly meanders through the Pennsylvania countryside today, but on September 11, 1777, it served as the scenic backdrop for the largest battle of the American Revolution, one that encompassed more troops over more land than any combat fought on American soil until the Civil War. Long overshadowed by the stunning American victory at Saratoga, the complex British campaign that defeated George Washington’s colonial army and led to the capture of the capital city of Philadelphia was one of the most important military events of the war. Michael C. Harris’s impressive Brandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777, is the first full-length study of this pivotal engagement in many years. Michael C. Harris is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and the American Military University. He has worked for the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fort Mott State Park in New Jersey, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission at Brandywine Battlefield. He has conducted tours and staff rides of many east coast battlefields. Michael is certified in secondary education and currently teaches in the Philadelphia region. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Michelle and son Nathanael.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission today announced the publication of “First Pennsylvanians: The Archaeology of Native Americans in Pennsylvania.” The first comprehensive review of Native American archaeology in Pennsylvania for a general audience, the book is based on recent findings and previously unpublished research.  With more than 240 illustrations of lifestyles, sites and artifacts, “First Pennsylvanians” discusses developments in the cultures of Native Americans who lived in the Delaware, Susquehanna and Ohio River basins from the Paleoindian period of 10,000 to 16,500 years ago to the time of first contact with Europeans. Authors Kurt W. Carr, Ph.D., Senior Curator of Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, and Roger W. Moeller, Ph.D., an archaeologist who has conducted significant archaeological research in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country, characterize each period by environmental conditions, tools, food, settlement patterns and social organization.