That Reminds Me...

The July program page has everything you need to know (well, maybe not everything) about events on the Trails of History this weekend and in the month to come. We also have a list of sites that will be open on July 4.

This week marks the centennial of the arrival of American troops in Europe following U.S. entry into World War I two months before (read more about it on the Library of Congress website). In honor of the Army's birthday, the U.S. Army Center of Military History shared a rousing rendition of George M. Cohan's 1917 hit, "Over There," by the U.S. Army Chorus. Seems appropriate here.

Which reminds me - In the summer of 2015, Rachel Yerger, PHMC Collections Advancement Project (CAP) curator in the Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums, provided a guest post for Trailheads, "Stories from the Great War." In the post, she describes a collection of WWI letters at the PA Military Museum written by and about Harry Campbell and Reuben "Shorty" Rakestraw, two young men from Somerset County who served in Company C, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Division. It provides a bit of reality to balance the patriotic optimism of "Over There."

The Anthracite Heritage Museum posted about their summer intern Amber Kelly, who is a student at Misericordia University in Scranton. The university hosts a blog where students can share their internship experiences, and Amber has already written several times about her experience at Anthracite, learning to give tours and working with curator John Fielding.

Which reminds me - We frequently have guest posts by PHMC interns here on Trailheads (that's a big and not-at-all-subtle hint to this summer's interns). Two years ago, State Archives intern Ryan Zsifkov guest blogged about "The Pennsylvania Main Line Canal" and Corine Lehigh (who is now on staff) wrote "A Walk Through the Past" about a walking tour for the interns led by historic preservation staffer Pamela Reilly.

Summer 2015 PHMC Keystone Interns take a walking tour of Harrisburg (photo by Amy Jukus)

Tuesday morning, NPR ran a story by contributor Susan Stamberg, who went behind the scenes with painting conservators at the National Gallery of Art (read text of the piece (with photos) and/or listen to the audio below).

Which reminds me (you knew that was coming) - We've had a number of posts sharing info on how we take care of PHMC's many and varied collections. Here are several you may want to revisit: "Freezing History," by Lauren Jaeger, who at the time was a CAP curator and is now overseeing PHMC's transition to a new collections management database; "Textile Adventures Part Deux," by Rachel Yerger; and "Brushing Up on Industrial History," by Linda Bolla, Erie Maritime Museum.