Commonwealth Speakers:Our History, Our Communities


Benjamin Sota's presentation, How the Circus Helped Folks During the Great Depression, discusses America's rich history of circus and vaudeville. Photo courtesy of Heather Mull.

Pennsylvania's history is remarkably diverse and the Commonwealth's communities are, very often, closely tied to their history. To plan for the future, we need to understand the past. The presentations in this category offer different ways to learn about the state.

Discovering Architectural Clues to Your Community's Past
Take a walk through one of your neighborhoods and learn how to detect its historical development in the houses, churches and businesses that line its streets. Almost every building offers visual clues about its past. Assembling these pieces of the puzzle can help residents and visitors start to see how the community has changed over time. Preservationist Bryan Van Sweden will work with your organization to plan a tour route and demonstrate how to "read" buildings by recognizing these architectural clues. Alternatively, this can be offered as a visual presentation using digital photographs of local architecture submitted prior to the program.

Bryan Van Sweden, Camp Hill
Historic Preservation Specialist, Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

Palace of Culture: The Meaning of Andrew Carnegie's Library and Museums
The Carnegie Library and Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh are important not only to Pittsburgh, but also as a microcosm of American library and museum development after 1895. Carnegie Library was the first urban library system in America. It set the pattern for 2,500 free public libraries in the English-speaking world; Pennsylvania received 58 of them. Carnegie Institute, with its Music Hall and museums of Art and Natural History, epitomized the rise of museum and music culture in the United States. The "Carnegie International" and the dinosaur collection are world-class attractions, and now The Andy Warhol Museum and Carnegie Science Center are famous institutions within "Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh." This PowerPoint® presentation will illustrate images of the colossal "Palace of Culture" built by Carnegie, historic and modern exhibits and images of Carnegie, Warhol and other notable people.

Robert Jay Gangewere, Pittsburgh
Former Editor, Carnegie Magazine, Carnegie Institute

Growing Yesterday's Garden: Heirloom Seeds and Pennsylvania German Tradition
The heirloom seed movement is becoming increasingly important to contemporary home gardeners. As Director of Research and Development for the Heirloom Seed Project of the Landis Valley Museum, Irwin Richman is intimately involved with the movement. The conservation of antique varieties and the processing and distribution of high-quality seed preserves an important part of Pennsylvania German cultural heritage. Enhanced by slides, this presentation will discuss heirloom varieties of flowers and vegetables. It also will describe their use in traditional gardens and how they can be adapted to modern needs. The presentation is an outgrowth of research done for Richman's recent 2007 book, Pennsylvania German Farms, Gardens and Seeds.

Irwin Richman, Bainbridge
Professor Emeritus of American Studies & History, Penn State University – Harrisburg

No English Spoken Here: The Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges
Since 1934, groups of Pennsylvania Germans have held annual meetings to celebrate their culture and heritage while paying homage to the weather-predicting abilities of the groundhog. At these meetings, humor, songs, plays and speeches are offered, all in the Pennsylvania German language. Speakers are fined for each word of English that they use! Although less-known than the famous Punxsutawney Phil, there are now 17 Pennsylvania German groundhog lodges that hold annual meetings. This talk, which is in English, will describe the cultural and historical background of the Pennsylvania Germans and explain how these lodges play an important part in developing and maintaining Pennsylvania German ethnic identity in the 20th and 21st centuries. Illustrated with slides, this presentation includes examples of Pennsylvania German humor.

William Donner, Kutztown
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Kutztown University

Frontage Matters: A Critical Walk Around Your Town
Is your town suffering from downtown decay? Is it threatened by unwelcome development? Is local architectural character dissolving into a bland sameness? Is it unpleasant or dangerous to walk or bike to the store? Sandy Sorlien, a national expert in traditional town planning, will lead a tour for citizens who are interested in what makes a neighborhood or Main Street work. We will begin with a simple exercise where participants identify from memory the good and bad parts of different blocks. Then, Sorlien will show a short slide presentation to introduce a few key principles, such as how private frontages like the porch, the stoop, the storefront and the parking lot affect the way we experience the public realm. Then, we'll hit the streets and actually photograph and measure some frontages. Finally, we will return to the studio to create a walk-able frontage map. At the end, we'll have a visual analysis of what works and what doesn't. Presentation time: two to four hours.

Sandy Sorlien, Philadelphia
Photographer & Instructor

Old Buildings for Young People
How did I get here? What happened in that old building? How can we use these older structures? Heavy on images, this interactive talk is designed to persuade young people to explore their local history. Preservationist Daniel Holland will encourage them to ask questions about the places where they live and inspire them to play a role in their community's revitalization. Geared toward high school students or younger children.

Daniel Holland, Pittsburgh
Founder & Chair, Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh

From the Golden Plough to the Golden Arches
When the first settlers traveled from one village to another, they stopped for rest and provisions at roadside taverns. Painted images of a "Red Lion" or a "Golden Plough" provided a beacon so even the illiterate knew that services could be purchased there. Today, even the youngest child can spot a McDonald's from the interstate by its famous golden arches. As long as people have traveled from place to place, enterprising business people have provided items and services for them to buy. Melinda Crawford will take a fun look at how roadside attractions developed through history—from taverns to diners, livery stables to gas stations and inns to motels. Crawford's PowerPoint® presentation includes images taken from old postcards and photographs as well as contemporary photography. From horseback to Model T to minivan, come along for the ride.

Melinda Higgins Crawford, Hanover
Executive Director, Preservation Pennsylvania

Drawn to the Northern Climes: Arctic Exploration and the Delaware Valley
When most people think of Arctic exploration, they think of distant frozen lands, ill-fated expeditions and the mysterious Inuit who call the region home—not Pennsylvania. But, as this presentation will illuminate, the Delaware Valley was a hotbed of Arctic exploration activity in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Historian Rob Lukens will provide an overview of those explorers from the Delaware Valley and the local institutions that supported such expeditions. To better understand issues of gender, race and ethnicity surrounding such expeditions, Lukens will focus on Samuel Entrikin, a West Chester resident and the second-in-command of Lieutenant Robert Peary's 1893-1895 Greenland expedition. This story draws on never-before-researched correspondence, diaries, manuscripts, photographs and artifacts. With over 60 projected archival photographs, this presentation will transport audience members to a time of gentlemen explorers, armchair travelers and daring women who braved the northern climes.

Rob Lukens, West Chester
Historian. Executive Director, Historic Yellow Springs

Mining for Truth: Coal Culture
Coal communities are the setting for many works of documentary and fine art, including novels, stories, paintings, photographs, films and songs. Some of these works have had a long and prosperous history. Others recently have been re-discovered by folk historians and contemporary artists exploring coal culture. With coal producing about half of the electricity in the U.S., new stories and mediums of expression are emerging. Christine Goldbeck will discuss the art of mining and art about mining, as audiences look at and listen to artists whose work preserves the industrial and cultural history of coal.

Christine Goldbeck, Shenandoah
Publisher & Editor, The Mine Country

America's Game and the Culture of a Nation
Baseball is a microcosm of American culture. Through the spirit of baseball past, and dressed as Asa "Count" Brainard (a hurler for the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings), interpreter Richard Pawling will help audiences to relive the formative years of our national pastime. Asa saw vast changes in the game—from the beginning days in the 1840s, when baseball was a gentleman's sport; to the Civil War when baseball was played by the common man on both sides of the conflict; through the late 19th century formation of the Negro Leagues; to the dawn of a new century. Stepping into the present, cultural geographer Pawling will connect baseball's early days to the evolution of American culture.

Richard Pawling, Sinking Spring
Educational/Interpretive Specialist. Adjunct Instructor, Penn State University

How the Circus Helped Folks During the Great Depression
Circus and vaudeville theatre inspired folks to imagine and laugh during the hard times of the 1930s. Dressed in a '30s newsboy cap and a pair of burlap sack pants, like many folks wore, Benjamin Sota will discuss America's rich history of circus and vaudeville. Sota's performance of circus acts like slack rope walking and juggling and old footage will help transport audience members to the theatre halls of yester year. The presentation also will talk about what made Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton icons in their time and look at how theatre and circus performances have changed over time.

Benjamin Sota, Pittsburgh
Founder & Executive Director, Zany Umbrella Circus

Finding Ancestral Devils in the Details
Using documents that span more than 300 years, today's family historians are discovering greater detail about our ancestors than ever before. Researchers are rethinking how they use records and are expanding their searches to whole families and communities. James Beidler will show how today's genealogists find more than just names and dates when compiling a family tree. A PowerPoint® display will outline the types of approaches used and includes case studies advocating the wider approach of community-based genealogy.

James Beidler, Leesport
Writer/Editor & Genealogist

Sex, Sports and Schooling: Growing Up in the Year 1900
1900 was a year of great transition, but tradition still reigned in terms of public schooling (with Philadelphia's Central High perhaps the best in the country), the relations between the sexes and the place of sports in education. Roger Lane will describe what it was like to grow up in a time when only a handful of Americans graduated high school, kids didn't date and football, a new sport with fluctuating rules, was a dirty and deadly game.

Roger Lane, Haverford
Research Professor of Social Sciences, Haverford College

Seeing Your History Through the 21st Century
Archivist Valerie Metzler will discuss how to preserve your family's, organization's or business' history through proper appraisal (choosing what to keep) and storage. Illustrated with slides, the presentation will demonstrate the hazards of improper storage, show some in-home conservation techniques and practical methods of preservation. The tools of the archival and conservation trade (like boxes, folders, bone folders, microspatula, polyester film and tweezers) also will be presented. Additionally, Metzler will discuss methods of conducting oral history interviews, the pros and cons of audio and video tapes, photograph conservation and genealogy research methods. This presentation can be adapted to suit specific audiences.

Valerie Metzler, Altoona
Archivist & Historian

Writing From Your Own Experience
Poets, fiction writers, essayists, memoirists—all of us draw from the experiences of our lives. In an intimate cross-genre workshop setting, we'll work on ways to access the memories and luminous details that provide vital subjects for writing. We will use writing prompts and memory exercises to spark creativity. We'll also discuss craft—how to shape the true stories of our lives into art. Participants should bring old photos and/or small memorabilia to use as part of the writing exercises.

Lori Jakiela, Trafford
Writer. Associate Professor of English, University of Pittsburgh – Greensburg

The Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania
America's first coast to coast highway opened in 1913, connecting Time Square in New York City to San Francisco. The Lincoln Highway was a marketing concept cooked up by Carl Fisher of the Prest-O-Lite Company (makers of automobile headlights) and a number of automobile manufacturers who wanted to sell more cars and car parts. The Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania still is in use today and roughly follows Route 30 from east to west. Some of the most famous Lincoln Highway landmarks were located in Pennsylvania including the Shoe House in York County. Melinda Crawford's PowerPoint® presentation includes old postcards and photographs and contemporary photography showing original alignments of the road, roadside markers and attractions. Crawford is the current director of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association.

Melinda Higgins Crawford, Hanover
Executive Director, Preservation Pennsylvania

Travelin' on the Main Line Canal
Dressed as an 1850 traveler, Jan Kinney will tell the story of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal. Created in 1826, the Main Line is an important part of history. Although called a canal, it actually consisted of 276 miles of canal and 118 miles of railroad and was considered a technological wonder of the age. At a time when crossing the state meant weeks of traveling over dusty turnpikes or rivers of mud in bone-jarring stagecoaches, the Main Line was soon recognized as the quickest and most comfortable way to travel. In spite of its relatively short tenure (it lasted less than 75 years), the Main Line set the stage for railroad travel, opened the Ohio Territory and gave countless immigrants access to Western Pennsylvania and beyond.

Jan Kinney, Altoona
Storyteller

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