Videos

Videos

Worst President Ever 5/17/17 For those who think the current presidential election is a strange one, join HSP as we take a look back at the 1856 contest, perhaps the most consequential election in our nation’s history. There were two new parties: the Republicans and the Know-Nothings. The Republicans nominated a celebrity involved in land development with no elective experience, while the Know-Nothings had as their major party plank stopping immigration and even sending some immigrants back to their home country. The third party, the Democrats, nominated an old face with vast governmental experience. 19th century, Civil War, Pennsylvania, Politics	Counting Trees: The Search for Fairmount Park 4/24/17 Philadelphia boasts one of the oldest, largest and most diverse park systems in the United States. Yet our parks receive scant attention in histories of lanpdscape design and city planning. In “Counting Trees: The Search for Fairmount Park,” Elizabeth Milroy, author of The Grid and the River: Philadelphia’s Green Places, 1682-1876, will describe the development of Philadelhia’s urban parks in the two centuries after William Penn and Thomas Holme drew public squares on the seminal city plan. 20th century, Arts and Culture, Philadelphia Counting Trees: The Search for Fairmount Park
An Evening with Cokie Roberts 4/24/17 Author Cokie Roberts discusses her new book, Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868, as she explores the wives, sisters, and female friends of the men leading America into, and through, the Civil War. As a result of the conflict, these “belles” of Washington society blossomed into suffragists, journalists, social activists, and philanthropists, engaging with the issues of the day on their own terms and transforming a sleepy Southern city into a place of power and action. 19th century, Civil War, Politics, Women An Evening with Cokie Roberts	Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia's Chinatown 4/24/17 Philadelphia’s Chinatown, like many urban chinatowns, began in the late nineteenth century as a refuge for immigrant laborers and merchants in which to form a community to raise families and conduct business. But this enclave for expression, identity, and community is also the embodiment of historical legacies and personal and collective memories. 20th century, Arts and Culture, Civil Rights, Ethnic history, Immigration, Philadelphia, Politics Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia's Chinatown
The Awful Harvest at Gettysburg 4/24/17 From their disparate backgrounds, Philadelphia physicians S. Weir Mitchell, William W. Keen, and George R. Morehouse assembled one of the most unusual and important temporary hospital wards during the last year of the Civil War at Turner’s Lane in Philadelphia. The rehabilitative care afforded to 160 soldiers at Turner’s Lane, many of whom had been wounded at Gettysburg, provided an unparalleled opportunity to study diseases and wounds of the nerves, particularly peripheral nerve injuries. 19th century, Civil War, Science and Medicine The Awful Harvest of Gettysburg and the Remarkable Year at Turner's Lane	Becoming U.S. - Age and Assimilation 4/24/17 This second installment in the series explores the many ways age and generational status affect immigration and assimilation experiences. Is the experience decidedly different if an individual arrives in the U.S. as a child, or if one is a student or a working adult? Do first-generation immigrants – i.e., the parents – think about assimilation differently than second-generation immigrants – i.e., children? Does one generation wish to celebrate the “home” culture more than the other? 19th century, 20th century, 21st century, Civil Rights, Government and civics, Immigration

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