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May 13, 2008
The years following the Civil War were times of great change in America. The industrial revolution brought new riches to many, an influx of immigrants, and new roles for women. In the mid-1800’s, America had less than twenty millionaires, by the last decade of the 19th century at least 4000 more had joined their ranks.
The wealthy built palaces (such as Henry Clay Frick’s mansion Clayton, pictured here) and businesses staffed by workers whose lives were in stark contrast to their employers. Maid or millionaire, was it the Gilded Age?
At this month’s meeting, join a discussion about what life was really like whether you were millionaire or maid in Pittsburgh’s Victorian era.
Beth Braughler, Assistant Curator of Education at The Frick Pittsburgh, will present “Victorian Pastimes in Pittsburgh: All That Glitters is not Gold.”
Ms. Braughler oversees all adult programming, developing and coordinating exhibition related lectures, films and performances, outreach to the senior community, university student programs, professional development continuing education programs for teachers, and Elderhostel© programs. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wittenberg University and has done graduate work in art history, education and studio arts at the University of Pittsburgh and in the MBA program at Kent State University. After teaching in the public schools for 20 years, she became involved in museum education in 1998 developing adult and children’s education programs for the College of William and Mary’s James Monroe historic site, Ashlawn-Highland.
For more information on Clayton and Pittsburgh’s Gilded Age, visit The Frick Art & Historical Center.
Past Speakers
April 8, 2008
Fort Pitt Museum Educator Doug MacGregor will present a program entitled: Fifty Years of Amazing Western Pennsylvania History 1753-1803. Mr. MacGregor will highlight milestones in the region's history up until the time Lewis and Clark embarked on their western expedition.
Situated in the re-created Monongahela Bastion at Point State Park, the Fort Pitt Museum commemorates the strategic importance of the Forks of the Ohio during the Great War for Empire in which British, French, Colonial, and Native American forces struggled for control of North America. Through exhibits and programs, the museum also addresses the important role of Fort Pitt during the American Revolution and the early development of the city of Pittsburgh. The site presents tours, exhibits, educational programs, and publications to broaden understanding of the significance of the area known as "the Point." In meeting this goal, Fort Pitt Museum closely examines the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the various military fortifications established on the site, the many cultures that influenced the development of the region, and the importance of the fur trade and other early commerce.
For more information on the Fort Pitt Museum, visit the Fort Pitt Museum & Bushy Run Battlefield website.
March 12, 2008
Everyone in the group closes their eyes for a moment and drifts back in time ... back ... back ... back to the 1890’s. Next, they meet none other than George Westinghouse ... dressed in his black, long-tailed jacket and best black top hat. Sit back and listen as Ed Reis, the Westinghouse Historian at the Senator John Heinz History Center, does a captivating first-person impersonation of George Westinghouse.
Ed Reis was born and raised in the Hazelwood section of Pittsburgh. He attended Duquesne University where he obtained a BS Degree in Business Administration and a MS Degree in Business Information Systems. He worked in Pittsburgh for four different companies before retiring as a manager from the Westinghouse Electric Corporation
While working for Westinghouse he became an ardent Westinghouse memorabilia collector. He also became interested in the history of Westinghouse and its founder George Westinghouse. He discovered that George Westinghouse’s accomplishments had benefited mankind in a variety of ways. The Westinghouse air brake revolutionized the railroads, the world was electrified using Westinghouse alternating current (AC) electricity, George Westinghouse played a major role in developing natural gas as a new source of energy and he also revolutionized the shipping industry with his invention of the marine turbine engine. George Westinghouse had 361 patents granted to him during his lifetime and during his lifetime he started 60 different companies. He was truly one of America’s greatest industrialists and yet most people know very little about this most interesting man.
- Eighteen years ago Ed Reis became a member of the Board of Directors of the George Westinghouse Museum. In 1998 he became the Executive Director of the George Westinghouse Museum.
- The George Westinghouse Museum merged with the Senator John Heinz History Center in late 2007. At that time Ed Reis became the part-time Westinghouse Historian at the Senator John Heinz History Center.
January 8, 2008
The speaker for January 2008 meeting will be Barbara Jones, curator at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Ms. Jones will be speaking about the current exhibit at the museum, “Born of Fire.”
“Southwestern Pennsylvania. The steel making capital of the world for more than 100 years. A region built from pig iron and slag – steaming with blast furnaces, pump houses and rolling mills.
But this is a region – and a story – that documents more than the strength of steel. This is about the fragile human fabric that gave it life. For this is the story of the people who lived here, who raised entire communities in the steep hills that peered down into the mills. It’s about entire generations of men and women whose tireless efforts literally built the nation: the Brooklyn Bridge – the Empire State Building – the armaments that helped America fight the evils of tyranny.
This is about a region that influenced not only the country, but also the world.
It is not a story for the history books. It is a story that lives today – in books, in art, on film and in song. It is a story of a shared past and future forged from steel.”
For more information on the exhibit, visit the “Born of Fire” website.
For more information on the museum, visit the Westmoreland Museum of American Art website.
November 13, 2007
The speaker for November 2007 meeting was John M. Brewer Jr., a historian and consultant for the Pittsburgh Courier archive project, who spoke about his book “Pittsburgh Jazz.” This book is committed to connecting Pittsburgh style jazz as the synthesis that resulted in the art form called bebop. This photographic presentation was captured by Pittsburgh Courier photographers between the 1930s and 1980s.
Book Description:
Pittsburgh Jazz documents the almost forgotten magic created in the city of Pittsburgh by a host of artists, uptown inner city streets, and jazz joints that served patrons from a menu packed full of delightful music. The magical improvised songs, compositions, and unique styles of hundreds of those who were born, raised, or influenced by what occurred in the smoke filled clubs, bars, restaurants, and theaters is difficult to comprehend. And yet, every jazz artist in the world was attracted here to “stand the test” waiting in the Steel City.
Mr. Brewer is also a consultant for the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Charles “Teenie” Harris photograph project, and the curator and founder of the Trolley Station Oral History Center in Pittsburgh.
October 10, 2007
The speaker for the October 2007 meeting will be Sean Gibson, great grandson of Negro League star Josh Gibson, and president of the The Josh Gibson Foundation. It is the goal of the Foundation to establish a history and learning center in Homestead to reach out to the families and youth of the community on which Josh Gibson left his mark.
Current educational programming supported by the Foundation is primarily focused on after school reading, tutoring, and computer skills training. The Foundation is utilizing recreation centers throughout the city of Pittsburgh. Students are able to receive academic help as well as life skills training through both individualized and group learning settings.
In addition to direct instruction, the Josh Gibson Foundation provides motivational programming. The goal of this is to show children at risk that there is a larger world outside of their community that is full of options for them. Motivational guest speakers are brought in from the community to talk with students about their futures, career options, and personal growth.
Sean will have artifacts and talk about the Negro League in general and Josh Gibson in particular. For more information on the Foundation, click here.
September 11, 2007
The speaker for the September meeting will be Ms. KellyLynn Linn, Curator of the Fort Pitt Block House Museum, will give a presentation of the history of the Block House through the years and what the facilities have to offer those who make a visit there. The Block House recently underwent renovations, including a new roof. Ms. Linn will bring us up to date on what she found by climbing the scaffolding when the old roof was removed. She will also discuss archeological findings during the renovation of Point State Park.
The small structure popularly known as “the blockhouse” (in actuality a strong defensive structure outside Fort Pitt itself that provided covering fire in any attack) is not only the last surviving building of the original fort and Pittsburgh’s earliest building, but the oldest authenticated structure west of the Allegheny Mountains. Dating to 1764, it was used for many other purposes during its long history. Today, the restored blockhouse, which is administered by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), serves as a final link to the 18 acres that formed the first site of the city of Pittsburgh. There is no admission charge to the blockhouse.
You can visit the web site for the Fort Pitt Museum by clicking here.
July 10, 2007
Immigrants from Southeastern Europe - areas now contained within the present-day boundaries of the Republics of Bulgaria and Macedonia - first began to arrive in Pittsburgh and other American cities in the early 1900s. In 1930, Pittsburgh's Bulgarian community leaders established a social and cultural organization - the Bulgaro-Macedonian Beneficial Association (BMBA) - that they named Otets Paissii, to honor the monk who wrote the first history of the Bulgarian people. In 1935, a permanent home for the society was constructed on West Eighth Avenue in West Homestead.
Through the years, the organization has continually evolved to meet the needs and interests of new generations, establishing special groups geared toward women, children, education, cooking and the arts.
In 1994, the Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center (BMNECC) was born, incorporated as a tax-exempt, non-profit organization. The original facility has undergone significant renovations and remains a highly functional base as the country's national center for Bulgarian and Macedonian culture and education. It is the oldest Bulgarian Macedonian organization in the United States.
Patricia Penka French is the President of the Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center located in West Homestead. The oldest Bulgarian organization of its kind currently in the United States, the mission of the BMNECC is to preserve and share the culture and traditions of the Bulgarian and Macedonian people. As well as conducting her duties as the cultural center President, Ms. French has worked for the US State Department for four decades as an interpreter and has traveled to Bulgaria nearly fifty times. She will speak on the mission and activities of the center and the history of the Bulgarian and Macedonian immigrants and their contributions to the Steel Valley.
For more information on the BMNECC, visit their Web site.
June 12, 2007
The USW is 1.2 million working and retired members throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, working together to improve jobs; to build a better future for families; and to promote fairness, justice and quality both in the workplace and in our societies.
Howard I. Scott Jr., a Pittsburgh native who is an organizer and writer, and has been a USW staff member for 17 years, gave an industrial and labor history presentation supplemented by a collection of work badges, union pins, old photos and postcards, and various other materials representing Western Pennsylvania’s work and social heritage. As a key industrial center, Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania have long been in the forefront of modern industry and labor organization. This presentation stressed local history from the perspective of the working people, who were decisive to the region’s success.
For more information on the USW, visit their Web site
May 10, 2007
Created by Congress in 1996, the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is committed to preserving, interpreting, and managing the historic, cultural, and natural resources related to Big Steel and its related industries. Encompassing 3,000 square miles in the seven counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Westmoreland, Greene, Fayette, and Washington, Rivers of Steel is building on this area’s remarkable transition from heavy industry to high technology and diversified services as well as bolstering the new regional economy by promoting tourism and economic development based on this region’s historic industrial saga.
Ronald Baraff, Manager of Museum Collections and Archives for Rivers of Steel, will be our featured speaker for the May monthly meeting.
Mr. Baraff who is an expert on our local steel heritage will speak on the mission of the Rivers of Steel organization as well as the Carrie Furnaces.
April 10, 2007
Stephen Collins Foster, the ninth of William B. and Eliza T. Foster’s ten children (plus a son fathered by William before the marriage and later raised as their oldest child), was born July 4, 1826, in a white cottage high on the hillside above the Allegheny River in Lawrenceville, east of Pittsburgh. Foster’s life has become part of American legend.
Kathryn Miller Haines, Associate Director, Center for American Music, University of Pittsburgh Library System, was the featured speaker at the Society’s April meeting and presented “A Pittsburgh Composer and His Memorial: Stephen Foster and the creation and work of the Center for American Music,” a multimedia presentation exploring why Foster is important to Pittsburgh, the efforts to have a memorial created for him at the University, and the tremendous work the memorial performed while trying to document Foster's life, educate the public, and preserve his materials.
For more information on the Stephen Foster Library’s Stephen Foster Collection, click here.
March 13, 2007
Presenters Lance Leonard and Daniel Simkins, two modern day World War I re-enactors, delivered a photo filled PowerPoint presentation highlighting the life of the US Doughboy during the Great War. Topics included everything from their equipment to how they survived in the trenches. Both presenters were fully dressed in their doughboy uniforms.
Lance Leonard is finishing his Masters Degree in History and is looking to publish his masters thesis, which is of a never before fully explored topic of the black WWI soldier. Dan Simkins is the current President of the Lawrenceville Historical Society.
For more information on the Lawrenceville Historical Society, click here.
January 9, 2007
Scott Yoss, Conservation Framer at Photo Antiquities Museum, was the guest speaker for the January monthly meeting. His presentation reviewed the history of photography from 1839-1939. At his invitation, attendees brought old family photos which he evaluated to determine the process used in producing them, conversion techniques and preservation.
For more information on the Photo Antiquities Museum, visit their web site by clicking here.
November 14, 2006
The speaker for the November monthly meeting will be Bob Cass, Secretary for the Lions Club. Mr. Cass was born in the Pittsburgh area and part of a family-owned business. He joined the Lions Club in 1958 and his presentation will be a combination of information and questions to his audience titled “What Do You Know About Pittsburgh?”
Join Bob and your fellow members for a fun evening.
October 10, 2006
The
speaker for the October monthly meeting
will be Mark Johnson, President
of The
Daguerreian Society, an organization
of individuals and institutions sharing a
common interest in the art, history
and practice of the daguerreotype.
The daguerreotype, named after one of its inventors, French artist and chemist Louis J.M. Daguerre, is one of the earliest types of photograph in which the image is exposed directly onto a mirror-polished surface of silver bearing a coating of silver halide particles deposited by iodine vapor. In later developments bromine and chlorine vapors were also utilized, resulting in shorter exposure times. Unlike later photographic processes that supplanted it, the daguerreotype is a direct positive image making process with no “negative” original.
Join Mark for a presentation on his Society’s efforts in preserving this art form.
September 12, 2006
September Speaker Highlights Kennywood Coaster History
 |
A vintage photo of “The Racer”
from
David Hahner’s book
“Images of America: Kennywood.” |
For more than a century, Kennywood has been the Pittsburgh area’s playground. Founded in 1898 at the terminus of the Monongahela Street Railway trolley line, the park quickly grew into a favorite summertime destination. Kennywood is unique in that it is one of the country’s few successful trolley parks.
In 1987, Kennywood was designated a National Historic Landmark and is known today as America’s Finest Traditional Amusement Park. Many unique rides and attractions have distinguished Kennywood over the years. Some old favorites, such as the Rockets, Laff in the Dark, Ghost Ship, and Skooters, are long gone. Others, such as the Old Mill, Noah’s Ark, Auto Race, Turtle, Whip, and Grand Carousel, still entertain guests today. Kennywood is perhaps best known for its impressive collection of roller coasters, from earlier coasters such as the Figure Eight, Speed-O-Plane, and Pippin to the Racer, Jack Rabbit, Thunderbolt, and Phantom’s Revenge coasters that still thrill riders today.
David Hahner will be the speaker at the September 12 meeting for the Mifflin Township Historical Society and will be offering a look at the park’s coasters in his “Coasting Through Kennywood: A History of Kennywood’s Roller Coasters” presentation. It will be a comprehensive presentation that will start with the park’s first roller coaster called the Figure Eight Toboggan (later renamed to Gee Whiz Dip the Dips) which opened in 1902 up to the present with the park’s latest addition, The Phantom's Revenge, which opened in 2001. It will feature many lost coasters over the course of the park’s history such as the Steeplechase, Speed-O-Plane, original Racer, Pippin, Teddy Bear, Little Dipper, Laser Loop, and Steel Phantom. It will also include historical photos of the park’s current older coasters — Jack Rabbit, Racer, and Thunderbolt.
David, an avid amusement park and roller coaster enthusiast, has been a lifelong fan of Kennywood. He grew up within two miles of the park and worked summers there while studying at the University of Pittsburgh. He has been an active member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts since 1980 and is a member of the National Amusement Park Historical Association and the Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts, also had copies of his newest book, “Images of America: Kennywood,” available at the meeting.
July 11, 2006
Peter Zapadka will present “Forgotten Frontier - The Mason Dixon Line Between Pennsylvania and Virginia” at the Historical Society’s monthly meeting.
From the speaker’s
web site:
The
Mason-Dixon Line, surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon from 1763-1767, effectively is the southern border
of Pennsylvania (though Mason and Dixon also surveyed the
western border of Delaware).
I call The Line between West Virginia and Pennsylvania “the forgotten frontier.” While a great deal of information is available about the segment of The Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, little is written about the “forgotten frontier,” the Mason-Dixon Line between the Keystone State and West Virginia, which was born in 1863.
Did you know that travelers on Interstate 79 crossing the state line between Monongalia County, WV, and Greene County, Pa., see no indication they’ve crossed the Mason-Dixon Line? And in other locations, such as U.S. 19 north of Morgantown, there are few historic markers heralding what might be the most-famous border in the U.S. So how was this 18th-century work done? Those who attended now know.
June 11, 2006
Tim Neff,
Director of Education for the Soldiers
& Sailors National Military Museum & Memorial, will
be the speaker for the June 2006 meeting.
Mr. Neff will provide the members with a
Civil War
“Footlocker” presentation.
The footlocker series includes a display
of authentic artifacts including clothing,
food, and everyday items of use from soldiers
of different wars.
About
Soldiers & Sailors: The
Grand
Army of the Republic (GAR) conceived
Soldiers & Sailors during the
1890s. It was originally built to
recognize the sacrifice, valor and
patriotism of the Civil War Veterans
of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Today
it honors the men and women of Pennsylvania
who served the United States in its
military endeavors during our country’s
history.
Soldiers & Sailors is the largest memorial building in the United States dedicated solely to America’s fighting personnel, representing all branches of service while honoring both the career and citizen soldier. The organization’s mission is to preserve a lasting tribute to those men and women who unselfishly gave of themselves in serving their country during American wars. The museum, located in Oakland, is open Monday - Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
May 9 , 2006
The speaker scheduled for the May meeting of the Mifflin Township Historical Society is Ms. Lauren Uhl who will be presenting a history of Pittsburgh’s Strip District.
Ms. Uhl is the co-author of “Pittsburgh’s Strip District: Around the World in a Neighborhood.”
Book Description:
People from across the Northeast visit Pittsburgh’s Strip District to stock up on fresh fruits, coffee, cheeses, and a big dose of local culture. Unseen are two centuries worth of history in a neighborhood adjacent to the city’s downtown. The Strip evolved from an Indian village to steel mills and rowhouses, and then a marketplace of fruit and vegetable vendors. Now, sidewalk merchants sell jewelry and ethnic foods while late-night revelers visit dance clubs and microbreweries. The history is recounted using original documents, photos, and sidebars.
[Click on the image of the cover above to order this title from Amazon online.]
April 11 , 2006
The speaker scheduled for the April meeting of the Mifflin Township Historical Society is Ms. Kate Guerriero. Ms. Guerriero will be speaking about her documentary on Dixmont State Hospital in Killbuck.
For more information on her efforts in preserving the history of this former state hospital through the documentary she first created while a student at Carlow College in 1999, follow this link to the article at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review web site titled “If these walls could talk.”
Other links to sites with information on Dixmont State Hospital: