One of the fundamental concepts in archaeology is the Law of Superposition, which states that older material is located underneath more recent material. So generally, on an archaeological site, the deeper you dig, the older the materials will be. It’s a simple concept that at times can require a good amount of interpretation and investigation. But for archaeologists before the mid-20th century, the law of superposition provided the only means of estimating the age of objects at an archaeological site.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is pleased to announce the selected projects for the 2025-2026 Keystone Grant program. The grant program again saw an 8% increase in the number of applications over last year with requests over $7,561,262.52. This funding furthers our partner’s efforts to preserve and celebrate tangible history for the future.
On a bright, crisp day in Harrisburg last October, several SHPO staff members toured Lincoln Cemetery. Several years before, Rachael Keri Williams, a descendent of ancestors buried at Lincoln Cemetery, started Saving Our Ancestors Legacy (SOAL)—an organization of descendants working to restore Lincoln Cemetery’s grounds, and reconnect the community with the cemetery’s story and the lives of those laid to rest on its grounds. This February, Lincoln Cemetery was presented to the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Board who approved the nomination. It will hopefully be listed in the National Register later this year.
Looking up while shading our eyes, we stood in awe under the 180-foot-tall ornate spired bell tower designed in the nineteenth century by renowned architect, Edward T. Potter, and the rusticated brownstone exterior with Gothic ornamentation, pinnacles, and tracery executed by master mason, George Maltzberger.
On February 13, 2025, PA SHPO’s Historic Property Inspection Program (HPIP) staff ventured to Reading, Pennsylvania for a property inspection of the Christ Episcopal Church of Reading (PA-SHARE Resource # 2018RE00954), a contributing resource within Reading’s Callowhill Historic District (PA-SHARE Resource # 1979RE00447).
This week’s 2025 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on Lincoln Cemetery and Saving Our Ancestors Legacy (SOAL), the group preserving the cemetery, in the Borough of Penbrook, Dauphin County.
This week’s 2025 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on the First Cambria African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church congregation in the City of Johnstown, Cambria County.
This week’s 2025 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on the rehabilitation of the Lansdowne Theater in the Borough of Lansdowne, Delaware County.
May is Historic Preservation Month! Since 2018, PA SHPO has celebrated by announcing the newest Community Initiative Award winners.
Odds are if you ask a historian of industry to tell you about The Industrial Revolution, they will respond with, “Which one? There have been four.” If they are from Pennsylvania, they may even add that Pennsylvania has many places associated with all four of them. So, what are these four industrial revolutions and what Pennsylvania places are associated with them, you ask?
NAGPRA—or the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act—was signed into law on November 16, 1990. At its core, NAGPRA was created to address the historical mistreatment of Native American human remains and cultural items. NAGPRA requires federal agencies and cultural institutions (e.g. museums, universities, state agencies, and local governments) that receive federal funds to repatriate (or return) ancestors, sacred objects, funerary objects, and objects of cultural patrimony to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated federally recognized tribes and nations.
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