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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…
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…
Pennsylvania Women and the Vote
On the Centennial of the 19th Amendment Today marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which made it illegal to deny…
Negro League Centennial: Negro League Baseball in Pittsburgh
The Homestead Grays baseball uniform of second baseman Clarence Bruce is on display in the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. Bruce wore number 46 for the Grays for the 1947…
The Numbers Banker’s Safe
William “Bill” Snyder (c. 1897-1984) was a bootlegger and gambler whose brief career in the 1920s and 1930s forever changed Pittsburgh. Along with Gus Greenlee, Woogie Harris, and Richard…
Celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act: Paul Dick
Paul posing with his siblings in the summer of 1954 alongside a road. Left to right: Paul, Alan, Glen, Mary Ellen, and George Dick. Holly and Paul Dick Family…