Fondly, Pennsylvania

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Fondly, Pennsylvania

Fondly, Pennsylvania is HSP's main blog.  Here you will find posts on our latest projects and newest discoveries, as well articles on interesting bits of local history reflected in our collection.  Whether you are doing research or just curious to know more about the behind-the-scenes work that goes on at HSP, please read, explore, and join the conversation!

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12/20/13
Author Lori Daggar

We historians know the power of a name. Names are assertions, claims to participation in a world which cherishes the deep meanings imbedded within them. Historians, like you and like me, must often speak, however, of those whose names are lost to our own imperfect historical record. We do our best to articulate the ways in which these individuals possessed power and influenced the past but, too often, we fall short due to a simple lack of either written or verbal documentation about their lives. Rarely, we find a source that enables us to find names for the anonymous.

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12/19/13
Author Tara O'Brien

They had such nice hand writing back then!

If only I had a dollar every time I’ve heard that. Yes, many scribes of our manuscripts did have a nice script. But there are plenty of writers who didn’t. My personal favorite is William Penn:

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12/18/13
Author Cary Hutto

Season's greetings everyone! Welcome back to another edition of entries from the George F. Parry Civil War diaries (George F. Parry family volumes, Collection 3694). If you're just joining us, in 2012 HSP acquired the diaries of Bucks County resident and Civil War veterinary surgeon George F. Parry. In that collection are three diaries he kept during the Civil War dating from 1863 to 1865, when he served with the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry.

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12/4/13

It's an old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, but in the Internet age, how do you make those "words" meaningful and searchable in Google? This question is at the heart of a new two-year project HSP has undertaken to enhance description and discovery of its graphics materials and promote the linking and sharing of content among institutions and scholars.

Comments: 4

11/27/13

What bank ledgers contain, as anyone could imagine, is bank records. But in these old ledgers from the First Bank of North America collection, we have encountered several physical contents far beyond what one might expect.  We have found bits of quills, pieces of blotter paper, particles of iron from the ink, some mysterious metal fragments from the original binding materials, etc. (link)

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11/20/13
Author Cary Hutto

Hello readers and happy pre-holidays! This month, we're more than pleased to bring you another series of entries from the George F. Parry Civil War diaries (George F. Parry family volumes, Collection 3694). If you're just joining us, in 2012 HSP acquired the diaries of Bucks County resident and Civil War veterinary surgeon George F. Parry. In that collection are three diaries he kept during the Civil War dating from 1863 to 1865, when he served with the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry.

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11/6/13

Posted on behalf of Jacob Roberts, an intern who worked on the Preserving American Freedom Project

While working on the Preserving American Freedom Project, it is easy to take for granted how many one-of-a-kind documents have been preserved at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In many cases, these papers could have just as easily been lost or destroyed by those who did not see historical value in them. The fact that so many survived is nothing short of miraculous.

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10/29/13

As Halloween approaches, this seems like the right time to share a few of the skeletons in our closets here at HSP. Actual skeletons. Well, actual drawings and prints of skeletons. And they're from our vaults and stacks, not closets, but that was too good of a lead-in to waste.

skeleton anatomical engraving

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10/23/13
Author Cary Hutto

Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us again as we roll through another series of entries from the George F. Parry Civil War diaries (George F. Parry family volumes, Collection 3694). If you're just joining us, in 2012 HSP acquired the diaries of Bucks County resident and Civil War veterinary surgeon George F. Parry. In that collection are three diaries he kept during the Civil War dating from 1863 to 1865, when he served with the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry. In celebration of Parry's work and the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, I'm providing monthly posts on Fondly, PA of transcripts of entries from his diaries.

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10/16/13

The two documents featured in HSP's in-progress William Still Digital History Project are—for a brief time—on display in HSP's library, part of our Treasures from the Collection document display.

The document display will be open during library public hours from October 16 through October 25, 2013. There is no charge to view the display, and full details and hours are available here.

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