PA Books: “Tanking to the Top” with Yaron Weitzman

When a group of private equity bigwigs purchased the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011, the team was both bad and boring. Attendance was down. So were ratings. The Sixers had an aging coach, an antiquated front office, and a group of players that could best be described as mediocre. Enter Sam Hinkie — a man with […]

PA Books: “The Founding Fortunes” with Tom Shachtman

In “The Founding Fortunes,” historian Tom Shachtman reveals the ways in which a dozen notable Revolutionaries deeply affected the finances and birth of the new country while making and losing their fortunes. While history teaches that successful revolutions depend on participation by the common man, the establishment of a stable and independent United States first […]

PA Books: “Becoming Philadelphia” with Inga Saffron

Over the past two decades, Inga Saffron has served as the premier chronicler of the city’s physical transformation as it emerged from a half century of decline. Through her Pulitzer Prize-winning columns on architecture and urbanism in the Philadelphia Inquirer, she has tracked the city’s revival on a weekly basis. “Becoming Philadelphia” collects the best […]

PA Books: “Playing Politics with Natural Disaster” with Timothy Kneeland

Hurricane Agnes struck the United States in June of 1972, just months before a pivotal election and at the dawn of the deindustrialization period across the Northeast. The response by local, state, and national officials had long-term consequences for all Americans. President Richard Nixon used the tragedy for political gain by delivering a generous relief […]

PA Books: “Ghost River”

During the Paxton massacres of 1763, a mob of white settlers, so-called “Paxton Boys” murdered 20 unarmed Conestoga People in a genocidal campaign that reshaped Pennsylvania settlement politics. Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga reimagines this difficult history through an educational graphic novel that introduces new interpreters and new bodies of evidence […]

PA Books: “Lost Mount Penn”

German immigrants of the nineteenth century brought their traditions of winemaking and mouthwatering cuisine to the slopes of Mount Penn high above Reading. With a Santa Claus beard and a long-stemmed pipe, the hermit of Mount Penn, Louis Kuechler, founded Kuechler’s Roost, where travelers flocked for feasts, literary soirees and free-flowing local wine. The opening […]

The African American Experience: Freedom Seekers of Waverly, PA

Before the Civil War, a community of African American freedom seekers grew in the town of Waverly in northeastern Pennsylvania. During the Civil War 13 African American men from the town served in the U.S. Colored Troops. In this episode of the African American Experience we talk with Yvonne Schrieks-Johnson and Jim Remsen about this […]

It’s History!: Nemacolin Castle

Join It’s History! for a tour of the historic Nemacolin Castle overlooking the Monongahela River in Brownsville, PA. The Castle was built in the 1850s by the Bowman family and is listed on National Register of Historic Places. It’s History! airs Sunday nights at 8. Watch It’s History! and more PA History and Culture on cable and the PCN Select Streaming Service.

It’s History!: The Library Company of Philadelphia

Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company’s collection includes rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, ephemera, prints, photographs, and works of art. Join It’s History! as we explore the Library Company and its collection of books on women’s history, an exhibit on the 18th century massacre of the Conestoga, and more. It’s History! airs Sunday […]

It’s History!: Winters Heritage House Museum

The Winters Heritage House Museum preserves two of Elizabethtown’s earliest structures. Built in 1760, when this area was the frontier of the British colonies, the homes exhibit the building styles of Scots-Irish and German settlers. Slated for demolition in the late 1980s, these historic structures were rescued and preserved by the Elizabethtown Preservation Associates. Description […]