Pennsylvania Historical Association

Pennsylvania Historical Association
Name	Pennsylvania Historical Association
Formation	1932
Headquarters	Pennsylvania
Type	Historical society
Region served	Pennsylvania
Leader title	President

Pennsylvania Historical Association The Pennsylvania Historical Association is a scholarly organization devoted to the study and promotion of Pennsylvania history, with roots in the early 20th century and connections to numerous regional and national institutions. It fosters research on figures, places, and events that shaped Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Gettysburg and other locales, while collaborating with universities, museums, and archival repositories across the state.

History

Founded during the interwar period, the Association emerged as scholars and collectors linked to University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, Swarthmore College, Dickinson College, Lehigh University, Temple University, Villanova University and Bryn Mawr College sought organized venues for study. Early leaders included curators and historians associated with Independence National Historical Park, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, American Philosophical Society, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Fort Pitt Museum, and Mercer Museum. The Association developed amid debates over preservation tied to sites like Independence Hall, Valley Forge, Fort Necessity National Battlefield, and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, and it intersected with scholarship on figures such as Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, Horace Furness, Meriwether Lewis, Francis Scott Key, Thaddeus Stevens, James Buchanan, and John Harris, Sr..

Throughout mid-century, the Association published research that engaged topics from colonial settlement patterns in Chester County and York County to industrialization in Scranton, Allentown, Erie and the Lehigh Valley. It has partnered with institutions like Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, Princeton University, Library of Congress, American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, and state agencies involved in historic preservation.

Mission and Activities

The Association promotes research, teaching, and public engagement concerning persons and places central to Pennsylvania history, including studies of colonial governance under William Penn, Revolutionary-era actions around Valley Forge, Civil War events near Gettysburg National Military Park and Reconstruction-era politics exemplified by Thaddeus Stevens. It advances scholarship on industrial leaders tied to Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, J.P. Morgan, and regional labor movements in locales such as Bethlehem and Hershey. The Association encourages work on cultural figures like James A. Michener, H. L. Mencken, Keystone Press, and historic movements including temperance and abolition linked to Lucretia Mott, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Frederick Douglass.

Activities include sponsoring lectures at sites such as Independence Hall, curating panels with university partners including University of Pittsburgh, Haverford College, Allegheny College, and offering awards in the spirit of scholarly organizations like the American Antiquarian Society and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Publications and Journals

The Association issues scholarly publications that appear alongside journals from Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, and proceedings akin to those of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Articles frequently address archival collections held at repositories including the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State Archives, Heinz History Center, Special Collections Research Center (Penn State), Swarthmore College Peace Collection, and university presses such as University of Pennsylvania Press, Penn State University Press, Rutgers University Press, Princeton University Press, and Cambridge University Press. Contributors have published studies on topics ranging from Quaker networks tied to William Penn and George Fox to industrial labor histories involving Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading Railroad, Penn Central Transportation Company, and the emergence of unions like United Mine Workers of America.

Conferences, Programs, and Awards

Annual conferences draw historians, archivists, curators, and educators from institutions including Smithsonian Institution, National Archives and Records Administration, Library Company of Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society and state historical commissions. Panels have focused on the Revolutionary era, the Civil War, immigration histories tied to Ellis Island and local ports, industrial heritage in Pittsburgh and Bethlehem Steel, preservation themes related to National Historic Landmark sites, and public history practices shared with National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Association administers prizes and fellowships modeled after awards such as the Bancroft Prize and the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, recognizing work on subjects including the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and notable Pennsylvanians like Benjamin Franklin, James Buchanan, Robert Fulton, Stephen Girard, and Rachel Carson.

Membership and Governance

Membership has historically included academics from University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, independent scholars, librarians from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, curators from Heinz History Center, and municipal historians from cities such as Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre, Reading and Chambersburg. The Association’s governance mirrors nonprofit structures found at organizations like the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, with elected officers, an executive committee, and editorial boards that collaborate with editorial offices at university presses and scholarly societies like the Organization of American Historians.

Collections and Archives

The Association works with archival stewards that house primary-source collections: the Pennsylvania State Archives, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Heinz History Center, university special collections at Penn State University Libraries, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and local repositories such as the LancasterHistory (Historical Society of Lancaster County), Mercer Museum, and county historical societies across Berks County, Lancaster County, Chester County and Westmoreland County. Its collaborative projects have highlighted manuscript collections on the lives of Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, Thaddeus Stevens, James Buchanan, industrial records from Carnegie Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and personal papers tied to regionally significant figures including Rachel Carson, Meriwether Lewis, John Forbes (British general), and abolitionists such as Lucretia Mott.

Category:Historical societies in Pennsylvania