Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Walking In The Steps Of The Emperors: Exploring Beijing's Forbidden City And Surrounding Hutong Neighborhoods, Beth Transue

Library Staff Presentations & Publications

A photographic exploration of Beijing's Forbidden City as told by a Messiah University librarian. Beth Transue has visited China three times, two of which were university cross-cultural courses for undergraduate students.

Shadow Of Culloden: The Political Legacy Of The 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, Autumn Miller

History, Politics & International Relations Student Scholarship

Legacies change over time, and the Battle of Culloden is no different, especially depending on who is seeking out election in Westminster. Often, the Jacobite failure is used to garner political gain during nationalistic movements; while others included when Westminster needed to push back against the Scottish people to keep them subdued. The catastrophic failure of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion led to changing political legacies over the next two hundred years, which has permeated modern-day United Kingdom politics with the result of a Scottish referendum in 2014. With a close analysis of stateless nations theory, as well as Wales as …

Masculinity, Male Friendship, And Same-Sex Interactions In 18th Century America: The Relationship Of Alexander Hamilton And John Laurens, Chloe Kauffman

Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate

Amidst the great political change of eighteenth-century America, the concepts of gender and sexuality were brought into new conversation surrounding the Revolution and the new nation. The shifting understandings of gender and sexuality, especially masculinity and male sexuality, were integral to society in both the public and private sphere. One of the unique facets within these sociocultural changes was the "heroic friendship," an intimate friendship between two young men built upon the values of the early American public sphere--civic virtue, intellect, and status, to name a few. The debate lies in if the "heroic friendship" should be included as a …

Program Notes (Muap 621 – Recital), Ryan Pilius

Conducting Student Scholarship

Program notes include:

• Juggernaut (2015) - Gary D. Ziek
• First Suite in Eb (1909) - Gustav Holst
• As Summer was Just Beginning (1994) - Larry Daehn
• Foundry (2011) - John Mackey
• Overture for Winds (1959) - Charles Carter
• Yorkshire Ballad (1984) - James Barnes
• Armenian Dances: Part 1 (1972) - Alfred Reed

Access Your Ancestors: Introduction To Free Online Genealogy Resources, Sarah Myers

Library Staff Presentations & Publications

Wednesday, March 10, 202110:00 am - 11:00 am

Virtual on Zoom

Are you interested in finding out about your family history and climbing your family tree? This course will be an introduction to online genealogy resources that are free to use and easily accessible to anyone with internet access. Find census, birth, marriage, military, and death records with ease and without spending a dime. This class will energize you to make discoveries on what makes your family unique, special, and downright interesting.

All participants will receive a resource packet to organize and keep track of their findings. In addition to …

2021 Virtual Humanities Symposium: A Conversation On Freedom, Messiah University

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Lecture: Troubling the Narratives of a Democratic Nation: "Whose Stories Are These?" Jacqueline Jones Royster

Date: Thursday, March 4th, 2021

In 2020, the Center for Public Humanities had the remarkable opportunity to join “The Commonwealth Monument project,” a coalition of citizens, organizations, educators, and legislators dedicated to establishing a new bronze monument on the Pennsylvania State Capitol that honors Harrisburg’s rich African American history and pays tribute to the U.S. Constitution’s 15th and 19th amendments, which secured the vote for African Americans and for women. The dedication of this new monument, “A Gathering at the Crossroads” (pictured above) took …

Abolitionist Aunty: Jane Chester, Christopher Mundis, Katie Heiser

Women of the Eighth Ward

Presented on Friday, February 21 as part of Messiah College’s 2020 Humanities Symposium. This exhibit, “Vulnerabilities & Securities in Historic Harrisburg: From Abolition to Suffrage,” was produced by the Center for Public Humanities Student Fellows and Dr. Sarah Myers’s Public History Class.

Jane Morris Chester was born enslaved in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 5, 1801. Around 1828, she escaped enslavement and made a treacherous journey north to Harrisburg, where she married George Chester. After George’s death in 1859, Jane, fondly called “Aunty” by Harrisburg citizens, continued to operate the restaurant and opened a premier catering business for Harrisburg elites, including …

Conductor Of The Old Eighth: Harriet M. Marshall, Ian Mcilrath, David Ford, Josh Acevedo

Women of the Eighth Ward

Presented on Friday, February 21 as part of Messiah College’s 2020 Humanities Symposium. This exhibit, “Vulnerabilities & Securities in Historic Harrisburg: From Abolition to Suffrage,” was produced by the Center for Public Humanities Student Fellows and Dr. Sarah Myers’s Public History Class.

Harriet McClintock Marshall was born in 1840. Her mother, Catherine, was one of the founding members of Wesley Union African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and Harriet worked with her mother to continue establishing the church's reputation. Wesley Union, located on Tanner's Alley, was a haven for those seeking freedom through the Underground Railroad. Harriet's and her mother's work …

Renaissance Woman: Gwendolyn Bennett, Eva Cunningham-Firkey, Kennesha Kelly-Davis, Janelle Soash, Faith Swarner

Women of the Eighth Ward

Presented on Friday, February 21 as part of Messiah College’s 2020 Humanities Symposium. This exhibit, “Vulnerabilities & Securities in Historic Harrisburg: From Abolition to Suffrage,” was produced by the Center for Public Humanities Student Fellows and Dr. Sarah Myers’s Public History Class.

While she was still an undergraduate, Bennett established her reputation as a poet when her poem “Nocturne” was published in The Crisis (the journal of the NAACP), and her poem “Heritage” was published in Opportunity (a magazine published by National Urban League). Just a year later, Bennett read “To Usward, ” her tribute to novelist Jesse Fauset, at …

The Political Pen: Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Kate Kuc, Melissa Boyer, Chloe Dickson

Women of the Eighth Ward

Presented on Friday, February 21 as part of Messiah College’s 2020 Humanities Symposium. This exhibit, “Vulnerabilities & Securities in Historic Harrisburg: From Abolition to Suffrage,” was produced by the Center for Public Humanities Student Fellows and Dr. Sarah Myers’s Public History Class.

In 1895, Alice Dunbar-Nelson published her first collection of short stories and poems, Violets and Other Tales. She also published a few plays, such as Mine Eyes Have Seen (1918) in The Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. Dunbar-Nelson often used her creative works to address racism and …

Ardent Activist: Anne E. Amos, Anna Strange, Michaela Magners

Women of the Eighth Ward

Presented on Friday, February 21 as part of Messiah College’s 2020 Humanities Symposium. This exhibit, “Vulnerabilities & Securities in Historic Harrisburg: From Abolition to Suffrage,” was produced by the Center for Public Humanities Student Fellows and Dr. Sarah Myers’s Public History Class.

Amos was involved in the temperance movement in Harrisburg. As a founding member of the Independent Order of Daughters of Temperance, she served as the Grand Recording Scribe and District Grand Deputy of the Good Samaritan Council, no. 1. The Council listed under her address on South Avenue functioned as a political hub in the Eighth Ward. Serving …

Review: Corinth In Late Antiquity: A Greek, Roman, And Christian City, By Amelia R. Brown, David Pettegrew

History Educator Scholarship

There are few urban centers so rich in late antique archaeology as Corinth, the city near the Isthmus of Greece. Excavations there since  by staff and students of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens have generated an enormous corpus of information related to the Roman forum and its surroundings. Other major projects in the region carried out by Greeks and Americans especially have shed light on Corinth’s harbors, Isthmian sanctuary, fortifications, Christian basilicas, and rural sites and villas. Collectively, archaeology has produced such rich evidence for Late Antiquity in this region that a barrage of specialized studies …

Mary Sachs: Two Types Of Beauty In Harrisburg, Robin Schwarzmann

Student Scholarship

Harrisburg’s City Beautiful Movement presented by historian, William H. Wilson, and journalist, Paul Beers, among others, often focuses too narrowly on the term beauty, leaving other types of beauty out of the narrative. The narrative frequently focuses on men instead of women, policies instead of people, and external beauty rather than internal beauty. However, both types of beauty were crucial in Harrisburg’s City Beautiful Movement.

Mary Sachs was a Russian born immigrant, who came to America with her family at four years old. Sachs began her life in Baltimore, where she worked in a factory as a teenager. However, when …

Friends Of Reform: The Correspondence Of J. Horace Mcfarland And Mira Lloyd Dock, Molly Elspas, Anna Strange

Student Scholarship

The City Beautiful movement in Harrisburg benefited from the part- nership of two key reformers, J. Horace McFarland and Mira Lloyd Dock. A close reading of their correspondence offers insight into the nature of their relationship, their personal views, and reflections on the long-term effects of City Beautiful.

Network Of City Beautiful Reformers: Humanizing Harrisburg’S Influencers, Anna Strange

Student Scholarship

How do we find out information about strangers in our society today? We ask their friends about them, observe their interactions with others, or possibly check their social media. When researching people in the early 20th century, we can uncover clues to people’s character by using archival research. We can study them in their space and place using geospatial and census data. Mira Lloyd Dock, J. Horace McFarland, and Warren H. Manning were three key reformers who rose to prominence during the City Beautiful Movement in Harrisburg, defined broadly as the period of urban development from 1900-1930 . They formed …

Joining White America: How The Irish Achieved Racial Assimilation, Benjamin Baddorf

Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate

One of the hallmarks of British colonial oppression was the establishment of social control over the native Irish population. In the case of Ireland, the tool that was utilized the most effectively to establish this social control was racialized oppression. According to Theorodore Allen, in his monograph The Invention of the White Race , the hallmarks of racial oppression include an “assault on tribal affinities, customs, laws, and institutions,” all of which describe the systematic disempowerment campaign against the Irish people carried out throughout the majority of the period from the 16th century to 19th century. However, racialized control was …

Musician And Church Leader: Hannah Braxton Jones, Isis Ortiz-Scarlett, Max Weaver, Jarod Fry

Women of the Eighth Ward

Presented on Friday, February 21 as part of Messiah College’s 2020 Humanities Symposium. This exhibit, “Vulnerabilities & Securities in Historic Harrisburg: From Abolition to Suffrage,” was produced by the Center for Public Humanities Student Fellows and Dr. Sarah Myers’s Public History Class.

Hannah's leadership and administrative skills extended beyond the church to civic organizations such as the House of Ruth, Good Samaritans, and Daughters of Samaritans. In addition, she was a dedicated music teacher. She did all of this while providing for her family by working as a domestic, one of the few jobs available to African-American women at that …

Rhythms Of Resilience In The Eighth: From Abolition To Suffrage, Jean Corey, Katie Wingert

Women of the Eighth Ward

Presented on Friday, February 21 as part of Messiah College’s 2020 Humanities Symposium. This exhibit, “Vulnerabilities & Securities in Historic Harrisburg: From Abolition to Suffrage,” was produced by the Center for Public Humanities Student Fellows and Dr. Sarah Myers’s Public History Class.

This exhibit seeks to honor the spirit of perseverance and resilience demonstrated by many individuals who fought for their rights and contributed positively to the community of the Old Eighth, Dauphin County, and beyond. In this year, we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment and the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. 2020 is also the …

History And Memory Of The Old Eighth Ward, Rachel Williams

Student Scholarship

The City Beautiful movement in Harrisburg brought many improve- ments to the capital city, but it also brought destruction to the diverse neighborhood directly east of the capitol building, known today as the “Old Eighth Ward.” Even though this community no longer exists, newspaper accounts of its razing and digital mapping of the families of the Old Eighth Ward preserve this story of displacement within public memory.

Review: M.B.B. Biskupski, The United States And The Rebirth Of Poland, 1914-1918, Robin Lauermann

Educator Scholarship

By the turn of the 20th century, a significant wave of immigrants from Poland had fled their homeland as it marked over one hundred years under partition rule by the Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian empires. As they resettled in diaspora, including a significant number in the United States, they formed a significant base of political activity to influence other nations’ foreign policies In this scrupulously detailed work, M.B.B. Biskupski characterizes the activities by various civic associations of Polonia and their leaders to raise American consciousness, first for relief and military support of the war-ravaged lands of Poland and then for …

Seeking Shalom In The Old Eighth Ward - With Biography Of Dr. Rabbi Nachman Heller, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

The Old Eighth Ward was the center of Harrisburg’s Litvak–or Lithuanian Jewish–community prior to the Capitol expansion. While an older German Jewish population was already thriving in the city, the newly arriving Litvak found it difficult to integrate with the pre-existing community. Two synagogues were therefore founded in the ward, Kesher Israel and Chisuk Emuna. The presence of both of these congregations serves not only as a testament to the vibrancy of the Jewish community, but also the diversity among these co-religionists.

Civil War & Emancipation - With Biography Of T. Morris Chester, Digital Harrisburg, Drew Hermeling

Look Up, Look Out

Harrisburg was an integral city for the Union during the Civil War. Harrisburg’s canal, roads, and railroads provided an extensive transportation network that connected the state capital of Pennsylvania with the rest of the northern states. Camp Curtin, named after Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, was founded at the fairgrounds just outside of the city’s northern boundaries at the beginning of the war. As a staging ground for the Union Army, thousands of soldiers passed through the camp between 1861 and 1865 and in turn shaped the small urban center. The influx of soldiers sometimes exceeded the accommodations at Camp Curtin …

Political Life In The Old Eighth Ward - With Biography Of Anne Amos, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

The Old Eighth Ward was a very politically active community. Many citizens were actively involved in a variety of civic organizations to bring about political change in the community. Voting was prominent topic of discussion, especially among black men in the community. Prior to 1838, men of color enjoyed voting privileges in Harrisburg and throughout the state of Pennsylvania, but in 1838, the Pennsylvanian Constitutional Convention disallowed the African American men in Harrisburg the ability to vote. The vote was reinstated for African American men across the country with the passing of the fifteenth amendment in February of 1870. Although …

Church Communities Of The Old Eighth Ward - With Biography Of Jacob Compton, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

The churches of the Old Eighth Ward were more than just houses of worship. They served as sites of community cohesion, provided primary schooling for many of the ward’s children, and hosted organizers, politicians, and abolitionists.

Wesley Union AME Zion Church was in many ways the heart of the African-American community in the Old Eighth Ward. Originally established in a log cabin at Third and Mulberry streets, the larger brick church at the corner of Tanner Alley and South Street was built in 1839. The Rev. David Stevens grew the early congregation, overseeing an expansion of their property. The Rev. …

Serving The People Of The Old Eighth Ward - With Biography Of Sister Mary Clare Grace, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

While many of Harrisburg’s City Beautiful advocates sought to “save” the people of the Old Eighth Ward from the outside, many individuals and organizations within the ward dedicated their lives to serving the community as well as the wider city.

City Beautiful & Capitol Extension - With Biography Of Dr. William H. Jones, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

At the turn of the century, Harrisburg was at a crossroads. The city was physically deteriorating and had lost its prestige as a thriving steel and railroad center. The rest of America moved on from its industrial boom, and Harrisburg was left behind. Faced with losing its status as a capital city, a change had to be made. Many civic reformers began to speak up about the drastic need for better health conditions in the city. After delivering a rallying speech to the Harrisburg Board of Trade in December 1900, a pivotal local leader, Mira Lloyd Dock ignited an …

Making A Home In The Old Eighth Ward - With Biography Of Hannah Braxton Jones, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

According to the 1900 census, just over 50,000 people called Harrisburg their home. Of these 50,000 people, 4,435 lived in the Old Eighth Ward. The eighth ward was disproportionately occupied by African-American residents. A total of 1,507 African Americans lived in the Old Eighth Ward, which comprised about 34% of the population of this ward. This percentage is quite large in comparison to other wards in the city. Second to the eighth ward, the ward with the largest African American population was the second ward; African Americans comprising about 11% of the population. In contrast, the tenth ward was …

The Old Eighth: Gateway To The Capitol - With Biography Of Gwendolyn Bennett, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Harrisburg began to develop as an industrial center. Railroad steel, cigars, flour, shoes, and many other businesses thrived, especially in the Eighth Ward. A large thoroughfare was required in order to accommodate the movement of raw materials throughout the city for processing. Like most industrial societies, Harrisburg utilized water as a means of transportation, with the Susquehanna River flowing alongside the southern border of the city. The Harrisburg canal system was started in a similar manner as the City Beautiful movement– through internal efforts. In 1822, the Harrisburg Canal, Fire Insurance and Water …

Business And Social Life In The Old Eighth Ward - With Biography Of Colonel W. Strothers, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

Despite its reputation as a lower-income and vice-ridden region, the Old Eighth Ward was a thriving place for businesses, both large and small. In fact, much of the neighborhood’s reputation for unhealthiness was a result of the prominent industries that called the ward home. One such factory was W. O. Hickok Manufacturing Company, also referred to as the “Eagle Works,” the oldest and most prominent industrial plant in the Old Eighth Ward and one of the first manufacturing plants to use electricity for light and power. Additionally, Eagle Works’ founder, Orvil Hickok, served as a councilman for the borough …

Educational Reform In The Old Eighth Ward - With Biography Of William Howard Day, Drew Hermeling, Digital Harrisburg

Look Up, Look Out

In the early days of the Old Eighth Ward, education was segregated and the responsibility of church communities. Thomas Dorsey founded a school for “colored children, both free and bound,” in 1817 in the Wesley Union AME Zion church building. Eventually, a three story building, located between the Jennings Foundry and the Wesley Union church, known as “Franklin Hall” became the primary educational home of the Ward’s pupils. However, Franklin Hall was poorly suited for educating children. J. Howard Wert, writing in the Patriot, described the conditions there, stating that they

“were of the poorest; the rooms were destitute of …

---

Go to article