Making History Blog
The Story of a Box of Candles: “A Beautiful Gift of Memory”
In the Chanukah display of the A Very Merry Pittsburgh experience at the Heinz History Center is a box of candles with 120 years of history. The box itself is…
2020 Holiday Gift Guide
The History Center Museum Shop has Pittsburgh-proud gifts for everyone on your shopping list this holiday season! Shop online or stop by the Museum Shop daily from 10 a.m.…
Pittsburgh’s Nearly Lost Gothic Tale
J. Baillie, “Great Conflagration at Pittsburgh, Pa., April 10, 1845,” lithograph, 1845. Many artists published images of the disaster at Pittsburgh, focusing on the dramatic moment when the Smithfield…
Why Tell Your Story? A Reflection on October 27
The following was first published in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. While browsing the website of a local bookstore this summer, I found a horrifying and frustrating book published in…
Pittsburgh Women in Business: Celebrating National Women’s Small Business Month
A painting in the History Center’s exhibition, Smithsonian’s Portraits of Pittsburgh: Works from the National Portrait Gallery, features naturalist and artist John James Audubon (1785-1851), who came through this…
Jasmine Cho’s Portraits in Icing
Please note that these cookie portraits are no longer on display at the museum. Thank you. The Heinz History Center’s current exhibition, Smithsonian’s Portraits of Pittsburgh: Works from the…
A Season for Diplomacy
From its earliest days, Fort Pitt was not only a military and economic center, but also a diplomatic one in the Ohio Country. Given the many broken treaties that…
80th Anniversary of the Jeep
Rigorous testing at Camp Holabird in Maryland proved that the prototype Bantam Reconnaissance Car could perform like a horse and even tow field artillery over the roughest terrain. Courtesy…
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Columbus?
Newspapers published the “Story of Columbus” as a part of the nation’s celebration of Discoverer’s Day in October 1892. This page from The Scranton Republican is typical of what…
Behind the Portrait: Bill Hartack’s Derby Disappointment of 1958
William Hartack, by James Ormsbee Chapin, oil on canvas, 1958. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of TIME magazine, © James Cox Gallery at Woodstock for…