I am very excited about this weekend’s re-opening of the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg! Back in April 2020, I joined Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, for the bookstore’s first pandemic […]
Harrisburg
“What historians lose when the census questionnaire is short”
As Rachel Basinger notes at Perspectives Daily, historians use the federal census to make sense of the past. I don’t use the census in my own research, but I have asked students to write neighborhood histories of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania based on […]
Harrisburg’s history of racial injustice
Two of my colleagues in the Messiah University history department, Bernardo Michael and David Pettegrew, have an op-ed at PennLive today on their work on the African American communities of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Pettegrew is the director of the university’s Digital […]
Yesterday Trump gave a speech about the suburbs. It sounded very familiar.
Our history students at Messiah University are doing some great work as part of the Digital Harrisburg Initiative. An exhibit on the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation‘s redlining of Harrisburg in 1935-1936, with primary reports of the commission, a list of resources, […]
Even Trump is Criticizing Georgia Governor Brian Kemp
Here is Rick Rojas at The New York Times: President Trump on Wednesday criticized the decision of a political ally, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, to allow many businesses to reopen this week, saying the move was premature given the number […]
What Happened in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Today?
This is what occurred today about six miles from my house: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUWXEUqJ9j8&w=560&h=315] Comments/Observations: There is no social distancing happening. There are very few masks. I imagine that many of these folks will return to my community at some point […]
Do You Know About the Digital Harrisburg Project?
The Digital Harrisburg Initiative continues to roll on at Messiah College. My colleagues are happy to announce the recent publication of an entire issue of Pennsylvania History journal devoted to the project. It contains essays by Messiah College faculty, students, and others […]
Pennsylvania History: The Final Exam!
For the past decade I have been teaching a course on Pennsylvania History at Messiah College. The class meets several requirements. Some history majors take it for a 300-level American history elective. Other history majors take it as part of […]
A Saturday Morning in the Old 8th Ward
I am really enjoying my Pennsylvania History course this semester. As part of the last unit of the course we have been studying Harrisburg’s Old 8th Ward. The ward is referred to as “old” because it no longer exists. The […]
Digital Harrisburg Has a New Website
Check it our here. Drew Dyrli Hermeling, the producer of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast, is behind this impressive new site. Also check out Digital Harrisburg’s “Commonwealth Monument Project.” The team is places monuments at different locations in […]
Don’t Forget the *Believe Me* Book Launch on June 30!
Thanks for the photo Pete Powers. See you in Harrisburg in just over two weeks! Learn more about the book here.
How are People Using the Digital Harrisburg Initiative?
Digital Harrisburg is a digital public humanities project created by students and faculty of Messiah College and Harrisburg University of Science and Technology that explores the history and culture of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area. Read more about it here. Over […]
Fair Housing Acts?
Some of my colleagues at work on the Digital Harrisburg Initiative having been exploring 20th-century segregation in the Pennsylvania state capital. I was reminded of their work as I watched this video from National Public Radio: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5FBJyqfoLM&w=560&h=315]
Digital Harrisburg at the 2018 AHA
I just finished chairing a session at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association titled “Placing the American Community: Lessons from the Digital Harrisburg Project.” Here is the session abstract: In spring 2014, students and faculty from Messiah College […]
“March on Harrisburg” Calls for a New Era in Pennsylvania Politics
I am happy to publish this piece by John Craig Hammond, If you care about the fate of democracy in Pennsylvania please give it a read. –JF Google “corrupt” and “state legislature,” and guess what name pops up over and […]
What is Going On With Digital Harrisburg?
A lot.I have been on sabbatical this semester so I am not privy to a lot of the day-to-day activity in the Messiah College History Department‘s Digital Harrisburg Initiative. That is why I am thankful for the regular blog updates from the […]
More Good News About the Digital Harrisburg Initiative
As I have written here before, Messiah College hosts the Digital Harrisburg Initiative, a digital project that is trying to understand early 20th-century Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Read our coverage here).M. Diane McCormick has written a very thorough piece about the project […]
Pennsylvania History Wrap-Up
Yesterday was the last day of classes for the Spring 2015 semester at Messiah College. It was also the last day of my Pennsylvania History course. Teaching this course at Messiah has been an interesting challenge. Pennsylvania History is taken […]
Virtual Office Hours: Spring 2015 – Episode 7
Messiah College : A New Kind of History DepartmentFeaturing Dr. David Pettegrew [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL9yz-eDWy8]
Pennsylvania History 2.0
The Cathedral of St. Patrick, Harrisburg, PA Some of you who read this blog carefully and have a good memory will recall that in Spring 2014 I developed a course on Pennsylvania history. The course serves several student constituencies at […]