The Joseph Horne Company, popularly known as Horne’s, was a beloved and integral part of Pittsburghers’ lives for generations. It was the first department store in the Steel City, staking its ground at the landmark flagship store on Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street. Starting as a small dry goods store, the company expanded into a […]

Pittsburgh’s explosive industrial and population growth between the mid-nineteenth century and the Great Depression required constant attention to city-building. Private, profit-oriented firms, often with government involvement, provided necessary transportation, energy resources, and suitable industrial and residential sites. Meeting these requirements in the region’s challenging hilly topographical and riverine environment resulted in the dramatic reshaping of […]

Paul Polgar recovers the racially inclusive vision of America’s first abolition movement. In showcasing the activities of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the New York Manumission Society, and their African American allies during the post-Revolutionary and early national eras, he unearths this coalition’s comprehensive agenda for black freedom and equality. By guarding and expanding the rights […]

“The Life and Loves of Thaddeus Stevens” is an insightful look at one of the most misunderstood figures of the 19th Century. Stevens, the driving force behind landmark civil rights laws, education policy, and economic development initiatives, is presented in this book as both an uncompromising politician and a vulnerable human shaped by his own […]

The eastern hemlock and North American beech once thrived from Maine to Georgia, casting shade on trout streams, nourishing wildlife large and small, and gracing uncounted valleys, mountainsides, parks, and backyards. These trees now face tragic decimation by exotic insects and pathogens. Tim Palmer’s photos record the splendor of the cherished hemlock and beech in […]

In 1919, the steel industry of Pittsburgh was on the brink of war. Years of labor strife broke out into open conflict as steel workers launched the biggest strike to date in the United States, paralyzing mills from Youngstown to Johnstown and beyond. Radical unionists, anarchists and Bolshevik sympathizers set bombs, planned for revolution and […]

At the age of 27, Sarah Valentine discovered that she was not, in fact, the white girl she had always believed herself to be. She learned the truth of her paternity: that her father was a black man. And she learned the truth about her own identity: mixed race. And so Sarah began the difficult […]

Attended by tens of thousands of people each August, the Philadelphia Folk Festival is the longest continually running folk festival in America. These pages capture 55 years of its beloved, creatively charged atmosphere. Over 800 photos from 1962 to today feature the more than 825 performers and bands who have taken the stage, including Jackson […]

In the summer of 1776, fifty-six men put their quills to a dangerous document they called the Declaration of Independence. Among them was a thirty-year-old doctor named Benjamin Rush. One of the youngest signatories, he was also, among stiff competition, one of the most visionary. From improbable beginnings as the son of a Philadelphia blacksmith, […]

Andrew Wyeth was one of the best known American artists in the world in the 20th century with his works being sought after by serious art collectors worldwide. A gang of thieves decided to steal an original Wyeth painting for their “retirement” and engaged a professional cat burglar (who was responsible for more than 1,500 […]