Point State Park [PA]

Description

Point State Park is located in central Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the intersection of the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela rivers. The Park is home to a partially restored Fort Pitt, which houses the Fort Pitt Museum and the Fort Pitt Blockhouse, the oldest authentic building in Western Pennsylvania.

The Fort Pitt museum offers guided tours, field trip programs, presentations and exhibits. The Fort Pitt Blockhouse is open to the public year round and offers self guided tours. The website offers visitor information and a basic history of the site while the Fort Pitt Museum website offers lesson plans and field trip guides.

Fort Pitt Museum [PA] Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:38
Description

Situated in the recreated Monongahela Bastion at Point State Park, the Fort Pitt Museum commemorates the strategic importance of the Forks of the Ohio during the Great War for Empire in which British, French, Colonial, and Native American forces struggled for control of North America. Through exhibits and programs, the museum also addresses the important role of Fort Pitt during the American Revolution and the early development of the city of Pittsburgh. The site presents tours, exhibits, educational programs, and publications to broaden understanding of the significance of the area known as "the Point." In meeting this goal, Fort Pitt Museum closely examines the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the various military fortifications established on the site, the many cultures that influenced the development of the region, and the importance of the fur trade and other early commerce.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Documenting Our Past: The Teenie Harris Archive Project

Image
Photo, Charles Teenie Harris, c. 1950-1970, Documenting Our Past
Annotation

This archive of 1,500 photographs taken by Teenie Harris, photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier, "one of the largest and most influential Black newspapers in the country," documents African American urban life in Pittsburgh from the 1930s to the 1960s. This is a sample of the 80,000 images that make up the full collection. Many of the images have not been identified and the site's authors ask assistance (a submission form accompanies each image).

Visitors can browse the collection through 15 galleries of 100 images each. They can also comment on images and view the comments of others. Following the link to the Teenie Harris image collection in the Historic Pittsburgh Images Collections at the University of Pittsburgh allows visitors to browse the 541 images that have been identified with full captions. The site also offers a chronology of Harris's life. This site is useful for researching the history of Pittsburgh and its African American community as well as urban history or African American history in general.

Senator John Heinz History Center [PA]

Description

The Senator John Heinz History Center is the largest history museum in the state of Pennsylvania, and covers 250 years of Pittsburgh's history. The center includes the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, which presents Pittsburgh's sports history. Seventy exhibits in the sports museum are interactive, and the site also makes extensive use of audio and visual presentations. The research center, which offers sources relevant to Western Pennsylvania history, holds more than 400,000 publications and 3,500 archival collections. A substantial amount of archival documents relate to Jewish life. The center also claims strong African American and Italian American holdings. The center is affiliated with the Meadowcroft Museum of Rural Life, which includes the oldest known site of human habitation within the entirety of North America. This museum is listed separately within the National History Education Clearinghouse database.

The center offers interactive and traditional exhibits, audiovisual presentations, a research center, research assistance, Scout programs, and a deli. Offerings specifically for schools include guided tours, self-guided tours, hands-on activities, classes, and educational programs. Students, teachers, and school staff members are admitted to the research center free of charge with a valid school ID. Wheelchairs are available for use on site. A sign language interpreter is available with advance notice. The website offers videos and audio files.

Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial [PA]

Description

The Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial presents the military history of Pennsylvanians from the Civil War to the War on Terrorism, and commemorates the veterans and fallen of past and present military action. Exhibits include a wide range of wartime artifacts and artwork, including a comprehensive range of prosthetic limbs and military headgear. All military branches are represented.

The museum offers exhibits, one-hour or 270-minute guided educational tours, 150-minute guided educational tours with hands-on activities, outreach presentations, camps, and Scout programs. Tour topics include both World Wars, the Homefront, the Civil War, women and war, African Americans and war, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The website offers veteran and fallen solider listings.

The Frick Art and Historical Center [PA]

Description

The Frick Art and Historical Center consists of the personal collections of Helen Clay Frick, daughter of Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919)—industrialist, steel tycoon, and major art connoisseur. The center includes the museum and Clayton, the Frick family's late Victorian home. The collection includes carriages, historic automobiles, and fine and decorative arts dating as far back as the Renaissance. Highlights include works by Jean-François Millet and an 1898 Panhard automobile.

The center offers themed tours of both the museum and Clayton, Act 48 educators' workshops, concerts, children's weekend workshops, summer camps, and more than 25 educational programs. The website offers lesson plans.

Corporate Consolidation in the Late 1800s Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/16/2008 - 18:15
Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how, in the 1870s and 1880s, most companies were organized under the principles of vertical or horizontal integration. Vertical integration meant the company controlled all phases of production. Horizontal integration often resulted in monopolies because of the cooperation between companies which produced the same product.

This feature no longer exists.

Whiskey Rebellion

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary describes a new tax on liquor which provoked many of the frontiersman in western Pennsylvania to form the Whiskey Rebellion. President George Washington responded by sending troops to quell the uprising.

This feature is no longer available.

Industrialization, Immigration, Ethnicity, Gender, and Race in 19th Century Urban America

Description

"This 2008 summer workshop was created for high school history teachers interested in developing a deeper understanding of the forces that shaped America in the Industrial Age. Using Pittsburgh as a model for the forces that shaped the Industrial Era, participants will hear guest lectures from some of the foremost scholars of the period. Participants will also visit a number of historical sites from Gilded Age mansions to steel mills to the location of the Homestead Strike to get a firsthand look at the region. Teachers will leave with a better sense of the time period and ways to bring the issues alive for students in any part of the country."

Contact name
Liebmann, David
Sponsoring Organization
Shady Side Academy
Phone number
1 412-968-3045
Target Audience
High School
Start Date
Cost
$595.00
Course Credit
"Act 48 Continuing Education Credit is available."
Duration
Four days
End Date

Senator John Heinz History Center [PA]

Description

The Heinz History Center consists of four separate historic institutions, the History Center, a library and archives, the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, and the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and associated Prehistoric Indian Village. The History Center chronicles 250 years of Pittsburgh History, the Sports Museum showcases Pennsylvania sporting heroes, and the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Prehistoric Indian Village give visitors a glimpse into the lives of humans in the first known site of human habitation in North America.

The center offers guided tours, exhibits on all facets of Pennsylvania history, and curriculum based field trip activities. The website offers visitor information, an events calendar, and field trip information.