Warm and cozy. For nearly my entire life, achieving that snuggly feeling during the long winter months has been a top priority for me.
Continue readingAuthor: Andrea L. MacDonald (Page 1 of 3)
Andrea L. MacDonald serves as the Director of the PA SHPO and is the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. Andrea is passionate about Pennsylvania’s food geography and is committed to discovering unique ways to connect Pennsylvanians with their unique history and communities. Andrea is has been with the PA SHPO since 2004.
Baseline Survey: An Essential Ingredient in Our Preservation Pantry
There are some time-honored recipes in the historic preservation cookbook. The most successful, and dare I say scrumptious, preservation medleys include an essential ingredient – survey. Survey in the historic preservation profession is like the flour in your favorite holiday desserts.
Without survey, many preservation projects are challenged to rise to a superior outcome, just like a cake. My mind just might be overflowing with visions of sugar plums and cookies this holiday season, so I’ll do my best to refrain from too many more baking similes while I share initial Year 1 outcomes from the PA SHPO’s Baseline Survey effort. I think you’ll be as excited about the results as we are!
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Uncovering the Susquehannock Village at Lemoyne
November is Native American Heritage Month. The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people.
One way we can learn about indigenous peoples is through archaeology. Archaeology can help expand the Native American voice beyond what’s written in history textbooks and grow our respect for the people who came before us.
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Preservation Backstory: Emporium’s Sylvania Corporation Marker
The Historical Marker Program is one of the PHMC’s most popular public history programs, and the recently approved nominations prove these aluminum markers dotting our roads and city sidewalks are more than just “history on a stick.” The words cast into markers and the marker topics have deep meaning to many Pennsylvanians.
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2021: The Year of PA-SHARE
Every new year is filled with excitement and anticipation of change. Once the page turns (or we click) to the new month, our minds begin a mental list of resolutions, personal goals, and reflections on what we would like to do better, or avoid, from the past year.
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Convenience. It’s part of the PA-SHARE plan.
Last month we officially kicked off the PA-SHARE countdown and gave you a sneak peak into what PA-SHARE is all about. In that post, I introduced four great reasons why you should make PA-SHARE part of your plans.
Today we’ll do a deep dive into reason #1 – convenience.
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Countdown to PA-SHARE
Anticipation of PA-SHARE has been building among the staff of the PA State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO). We first introduced PA-SHARE to our partners and the public in early 2018.
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#PreservAtionHappensHere @ Eckley Miners’ Village
An intra-agency effort is underway to plan for the future of PHMC’s Eckley Miners’ Village. In October 2018, the PHMC was awarded a federal grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to support the completion of a strategic plan for Eckley. The desired outcome will result in a sustainable future for Eckley that will enable the historic property to serve as a regional asset. The PHMC’s State Historic Preservation Office and Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums are partnering to engage stakeholders, gather ideas from the regional community, and lead the planning process. Continue reading
Vision for Preservation in Pennsylvania
In May 2018, as my daughter Josie was putting elementary school behind her, Pennsylvania’s new statewide historic preservation plan, #PreservAtionHappensHere, was released. The plan was developed with a series of guiding principles in mind, engaged thousands of Pennsylvanians, gathered and analyzed pages upon pages of data, was steered and tested by an external task force as well as dozens of planning partners, and was approved by the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Board, PHMC Commissioners, the Governor’s Office and the National Park Service. Where do we go from here? What does 2019 hold for historic preservation in Pennsylvania? Continue reading
2016 flew like a flash! I can’t believe its time for the 101st Pennsylvania Farm Show already. Although my head remains full of visions of dancing sugar-plums, staff at the State Historic Preservation Office have been busy getting ready for our booth at the PA Farm Show.
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