Making History Blog
Fascinating Facts for Fort Pitt’s 50th
The Fort Pitt Museum will celebrate its 50th year in 2019. Planning for the museum and Point State Park began as early as the 1830s when Pittsburgh Mayor James…
Top 10 Rockshelter Features
The Meadowcroft Rockshelter is a National Historic Landmark and a remarkable archaeological site which documents the presence of prehistoric people in Western Pennsylvania for at least the last 19,000…
Celebrating National German American Day
The Crew of Apollo 11, 1969. Both Neil Armstrong (left) and Buzz Aldrin (right) were of partially German ancestry. Courtesy of NASA. What do flight pioneers Amelia Earhart, Buzz…
The Delaware Treaty of 1778
In the summer of 1778, a crisis loomed over the hills and valleys surrounding Fort Pitt. Years of broken promises and willful transgressions had weakened the bonds between American…
Making Meadowcroft: The Reclamation
This is part four in a series about the making of Meadowcroft. Read part one, part two, and part three. “Looking back, it looks like an act of Divine…
The Lega Toscana in the 21st Century: A Digital Humanities Case Study
Pages from the Lega Toscana Meeting Minutes, 1919-1925 The History Center’s Italian American Program maintains working relationships with a number of partner organizations from Pittsburgh’s vibrant Italian American community.…
Becoming American: A Selznick is (Almost) Created in Pittsburgh
New American citizens are sworn in at a naturalization ceremony at the Senator John Heinz History Center, May 2016. Today is National Citizenship Day. It’s a commemoration that started…
Luna’s Legacy: Remembering a Different Trip to the Moon
Newspaper headline on the morning of September 14, 1959. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 14, 1959. On Sept. 14, 1959, Pittsburghers woke up to a dramatic headline splashed across the front…
Q&A with Re-enactor Jeremy Turner
On Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018, the Fort Pitt Museum will commemorate the 240th anniversary of the Delaware Treaty. Negotiations for the treaty took place at Fort Pitt in 1778,…
Immortalizing Forbes Field: MGM Drafts Pittsburgh for Big Film
Ever wish you could see one last baseball game at Pittsburgh’s historic Forbes Field? Well, the 1951 feature film “Angels in the Outfield” offers the next best option. The…