Making History Blog
Lois Weber, First American Woman Film Director
The Pittsburgh region has been home to many remarkable women over the years, including journalist Nellie Bly, abolitionist Jane Grey Swisshelm, and environmentalist Rachel Carson. But there’s another one you…
At the Shirtwaist Ball
This notice advertising the ball as “the Most Democratic Fete ever attempted in Pittsburgh” was quoted often in the event’s press coverage. Winifred Meek Morris Papers and Photographs, Detre…
Will You Sign the Pledge?: Francis Murphy and Pittsburgh’s Great Temperance Movement
It’s a January evening in Pittsburgh in 1877. Thirty churches across the city and surrounding suburbs are bursting with people. In some places, the crowds spill onto the streets…
The James A. Dorsey Story
For many people, time off from work or school is an opportunity to engage in physical activity, whether it’s hunting and fishing, enjoying swings on a playground, or a…
Rare Martin Delany Signed Document
At the height of the movement to rid the nation of slavery – the abolitionist movement – Martin R. Delany was one of the more charismatic and practical leaders of…
Pittsburgh Gets a Tommy Gun, 1929
Sometimes an object becomes so associated with a certain era that it eventually symbolizes larger issues that shaped part of American history. For the 1920s, one such object was…
The Olympics on Ice: Herb Drury
U.S. vs. Belgium on outdoor rink, Chamonix, France, Jan. 28, 1924. Courtesy of Frederick R. Favo. Every four years, the Winter Olympic Games recall the importance of Pittsburgher Herb Drury…
Curator Q&A: Leslie Przybylek and American Spirits
Meet Leslie Przybylek, lead curator for the new American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition exhibition, on display beginning Saturday, Feb. 10. Leslie has been hard at work bringing…
The Real Rosie the Riveter
The classic Rosie the Riveter poster created for Westinghouse by Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller. In late 1942, a Pittsburgh freelance artist named J. Howard Miller painted a poster…
Nellie Bly: A Race Against Time
This post is an edited excerpt of “Nellie Bly: Pioneer Journalist Extraordinaire,” which appeared in the summer 2017 issue of Western Pennsylvania History Magazine. Learn more about Western Pennsylvania native…