Pennsylvania Historic Preservation

Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

A Glimpse into the PASS: The 2025 Annual PASS Report

The Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey (PASS) is the Commonwealth’s inventory of recorded archaeological sites. The program officially started in the late 1970s—when site files held by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History were combined with those kept by the State Museum of Pennsylvania—but it was built on a foundation of nearly 100 years of site recording by numerous institutions and individuals across the state. Since that time, the PASS files have been kept in a centralized repository at the SHPO, where they are now submitted, archived digitally, and made available to qualified archaeologists and researchers through PA-SHARE.

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PA SHPO is Hiring an Environmental Review Streamlining Coordinator!

Are you passionate about conserving resources in Pennsylvania for the benefit of future generations? The Historical & Museum Commission is searching for an Environmental Review, Streamlining Coordinator to assist the PA State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) deliver an effective and efficient Environmental Review program. You will have the opportunity to proactively assist federal and state agencies in the identification of archaeological resources in advance of anticipated projects. Do not miss out on this unique and critical career opportunity!

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PA SHPO is Hiring an Environmental Review Above Ground Supervisor!

Are you a cultural resources professional with collaboration, outreach, and education skills?  Do you want to join a team of dedicated preservationists, historians, archaeologists, and planners working with people and organizations across the Commonwealth?  If you have the experience and training to be an Above Ground Supervisor to coordinate the office’s above ground environmental review program, we have the job for you!

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Experimental Archaeology at the Historical and Museum Commission: Building a Dugout Canoe

In painstakingly precise recreations, archaeologists of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) created three vessels during the innovative outreach program, the Pennsylvania Dugout Canoe Project, which educated thousands of visitors about this fascinating aspect of travel by Native Americans. This project, which concluded in 2005, was done through public programs using replicated historic and/or prehistoric tools and techniques.

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