We Love PA History!
Exploring Pennsylvania's Past, One Story at a Time
We Love PA History!
Andrea Lowery, Why Pennsylvanians Love Our History
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Andrea Lowery is the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) and PHMC is the official history agency of the Commonwealth. Andrea shares how PHMC stewards the history and heritage of Pennsylvania through its bureaus (State Museum, State Archives, State Historic Preservation Office, and Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums) and programs such as the blue and gold historic markers ("history on a stick") and grants to encourage organizations to preserve and conserve historic buildings and sites. She discusses how a family member, her great-great-great grandmother, changed the lives of thousands of young boys in coal country and inspired her own love of history. Andrea also outlines the upcoming major renovation that will transform the State Museum complex to serve a 21st century audience.
Welcome to We Love PA History, the podcast where we explore the stories, people, and moments that shaped Pennsylvania and helped shaped America. I'm Connie Debley, and each episode we'll uncover a piece of our shared past, from famous events you thought you knew to hidden stories waiting to be rediscovered right here in the Keystone State. So let's jump into today's story. I'm delighted to open the We Love PA History podcast series by welcoming Andrea Lowry to our inaugural episode. Andrea is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the official state agency, which stewards the history and heritage of Pennsylvania. Andrea Lowry, how does the state of Pennsylvania save its history?
SPEAKER_01Oh gosh, there are so many different ways. So at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, we are the state's history agency. So we have several different bureaus that are engaged in preserving history from both state history in terms of the government record and broadly across Pennsylvania. We have our state archives in which we hold permanently valuable documents of the Commonwealth. And we have about 250 million paper records there, everything ranging from William Penn's original charter from King Charles II in 1681 to notes from 9-11 when Flight 93 went down in Shanksville. And the police commissioners' notes there absolutely haunting. We keep uh important government records, uh deeds of the Commonwealth, things that uh can illustrate that the Commonwealth uh owns the property that it does, um, important records from agencies and governors. When we experienced the pandemic, we actually were asked to go back through our records to find uh any relevant documents about how the Spanish flu was handled by the government. So we have a very strong written record of the Commonwealth. We also have uh a number of museums and historical sites across the Commonwealth, and they may range from museums that tell, like the State Museum, the broad history of Pennsylvania, or important themes like anthracite coal or railroading, um, and then true historic sites like uh Ephra Cloister or Old Economy Village or um you could say Pennsbury Manor, although although Pennsbury is a recreation. Um, we also have the State Historic Preservation Office, which is a federally mandated office. It the National Historic Preservation Act was passed in 1966. Every state is required to have a state historic preservation office. And the real function of it is to help identify uh properties of significance at the national, state, or local level, and then to ensure that those are considered when uh public construction projects are undertaken. We also operate a number of uh Park Service programs through uh the State Historic Preservation Office, tax credits, um, national register is part of uh that program. But we also have our history on a stick, our blue and gold uh historical markers that you see around the landscape of Pennsylvania. So we are directly engaged in a number of ways in preserving Pennsylvania history. And of course, we don't do this alone, right? We always work in partnership across Pennsylvania because we couldn't possibly steward all of uh all of the history of Pennsylvania.
SPEAKER_00How much of what you all just talked about, that broad spectrum, how much of that is open to the public?
SPEAKER_01All of it. I mean, our mandate is to make Pennsylvania history accessible and to ensure that it's uh held for Pennsylvanians in the future. And we're we're really all about the public uh and preserving their history for them.
SPEAKER_00So how do you decide whether something is saved or not? Whether something becomes of a historical nature, that it is time to save it uh for the state, for the Commonwealth.
SPEAKER_01I think history is about change over time. Um and usually we really need enough perspective to judge whether something is significant. So, for example, the National Register of Historic Places properties need to be uh 50 years old, typically to be considered. Now, there are exceptions, right, uh to that. So falling water, right? Frank Ludwright's masterpiece, clearly on the register prior to that 50-year birthday. As I mentioned, the notes from 9-11, those came into our collection probably around 2015, 2014. Um, but such a significant event that, you know, clearly we were going to those were going to be a part of the record. That's, you know, of national, international significance. But telling the story of everyday Pennsylvanians, I think understanding we generally collect things that illustrate statewide trends or statewide significance within PHMC. A lot of the more local work is carried out by local partners, but making sure that we're reflecting broad trends in our collecting and uh the breadth of the experience of Pennsylvanians. So we like to have enough time to be able to understand where things fit into those trends and uh the past.
SPEAKER_00The title of our new podcast is We Love PA History. And that's a great title. Thank you for being the inaugural guest, by the way. Uh in the podcast series. But I guess my question is, what have you found over the years that you've been involved? What seven years is ahead and 15 years or something like that at the agency? What have you found about the look of Pennsylvania history? The idea that Pennsylvania loves its history. Well, any state can say that, but what what do you feel here?
SPEAKER_01Pennsylvania is really unusual, actually, in how rooted people are in place here and how rich Pennsylvania history and culture is. It is so regional. It sometimes I think gets reduced by outsiders to Philly and Pittsburgh. But, you know, we have 2,560 municipalities across the state. And I think its sense of place is grounded both in the landscape and the people who came to those places. Pennsylvania actually used to have the highest persistence rate of any state in the nation, which is the number of people who live in the state that are born in the state. We were fairly recently overtaken by Michigan. But I think that rootedness really lends itself to why people are so engaged in their history. It doesn't feel very far away. We see that in the engagement people, I mentioned our marker program, that is probably our most public program. We've got more than 2,600 markers across the Commonwealth. And people nominate all kinds of subjects, things that are near and dear to their heart. One of the nominations that stands out in recent history for me is Chinatown in Pittsburgh. You know, Chinatown was a robust center for not only Southwest Pennsylvania, but for that sort of tri-state area for West Virginia and Ohio. You know, Chinese people first came to West Southwest Pennsylvania. Uh, there was a cutlery factory in Beaver Falls uh in the 1870s. And the the Chinese community there flourished and really wound up being displaced when Boulevard of the Allies came through in the 1920s in Pittsburgh. Um and the Chinese community uh in Southwest PA was really so excited about this marker that told the story that is really incredibly important. So much of their built environment had been lost and the visible traces of that story gone. There was a giant celebration when that marker was unveiled, and it was just really meaningful to the community and such an important part of Pittsburgh's history.
SPEAKER_00You have worked in both private history and public history, which is easiest?
SPEAKER_01Oh gosh. Um or which is hardest. I think I they're both they're both really wonderful and and complimentary.
SPEAKER_00Um I guess I should explain by that, by my question, is you know, how it's funded. Sure, sure. Um, I mean, I think uh they both have their strengths.
SPEAKER_01When you're engaged in private institutions, uh funders who are passionate about things really, you know, will step up and local communities can really become galvanized around cultural institutions because they are such an integral part of their fabric and what people value about their places they live and the stories they want to tell about their history. I will say there is a luxury of uh working in state government where Pennsylvania history is really appreciated by the state legislature, uh the governor's office. And so the willingness to put funding behind that certainly makes uh our work possible. You know, the level at which we're funded really reflects uh the belief that people who work in government Pennsylvania have in the importance of history.
SPEAKER_00So speaking of that, you have a new project coming that's you're that you're embarking on, uh, which has a lot of zeros behind it. What is it and how much does it cost?
SPEAKER_01I'm excited about this. So when I became executive director um in 2017, the State Museum, we get capital money to do important work at our historic sites and museums across the Commonwealth. You know, we have 23 historic sites and museums and the State Museum and State Archives. We've got 356 buildings and 1,982 acres of property that we're responsible for. And the capital funding that we get, which is funded through bond money, really was going largely to a lot of times building envelope ADA issues, code issues, things that you have to do, not so much the the work that you uh, you know, not so much more discretionary work, uh, exhibit improvements, things like that. And the State Museum and State Archives, such a large complex that was opened in 1964, not a lot of work had been done to really update those buildings uh since they opened. And I saw the opportunity because I came out of the architecture side of the agency to really move the needle on those two buildings and also the state museum exhibits and exhibits across our sites and museums. And through a lot of conversation with our partners at the Department of General Services and the Governor's Office and uh legislators, really gained support for updating our exhibits. Um and so one of the things I wanted to do was create sort of that backbone project for updating the state museum's exhibits. And so we came up with a, we did two feasibility studies, one looking at the state museum and whether it really served the modern visitors' uh you know, needs and desires. And also knowing that we had built a state archives up the street, what were we going to do with the existing state archives? Because the complex together is on the National Register of Historic Places for uh its significance in its architectural significance as an expression of modern architecture. And so we came up with a project to uh really begin to deliver on those visitor expectations at the State Museum. If you've been to the State Museum, we have one small elevator to serve the entire building that is not even ADA compliant. So knowing we needed to improve vertical circulation there, um, knowing that the visitor amenities that we have are not really delivering on the modern expectation. We wanted to provide a level of entry right now, the state museum. It's affordable, but there is an entrance fee associated with it. Being able to provide a free experience that engaged people who either didn't have the time or hadn't planned ahead enough to take advantage of one of sort of the lower cost means of entry to the museum, um, the opportunity to engage with Pennsylvania history. So being able to provide a free welcome exhibit as part of this renovation, being able to reimagine the fifth floor, which was previously devoted only to staff offices. We now are creating an event and conference space up there so that, you know, it provides sweeping views of the Susquehanna from the Capitol to the mountains. Um people can have lectures and events, weddings, various programs up there, and a roof terrace outside, um, being able to really open up that experience to a broader swath of the public because it really is spectacular. We'll be reusing the state archives for collection storage, being able to provide really state-of-the-art collections facility for some of our more uh sensitive collections, textiles, things that can benefit from decompression and being able to provide better uh temperature and humidity control than we can from their current uh environment. And I will say one of the really marquee experiences I think that's going to come out of this is we're going to create an observation level at the top of the archives tower. We're going to be removing a floor slab between the 16th and 17th floors to create a double height space and adding windows on all elevations so that being able to provide an educational experience for students and for the general public to be able to look around Harrisburg from a very high-level bird's eye view of Harrisburg to understand how the landscape and the geography and the waterways of Pennsylvania really shaped the development of Pennsylvania, being able to look back and talk at the Capitol about the framing of government and uh across Harrisburg and how urban uh places are shaped. Um, just so many rich stories that we can tell uh in a new way with that. So I would say that project, which was estimated at 55 million, I think it's probably going to be a little bit more, uh, you know, is rooted in stewardship and education and uh being able to share that broad Pennsylvania history with as many Pennsylvanians as possible.
SPEAKER_00Can you uh give me an idea about how new technology will influence this expansion? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So we are, of course, we've got 14 million artifacts, many of which are archaeological, so because of the work that the State Historic Preservation Office does in terms of curating those archaeology collections. But we have so many wonderful collections. We will always have artifacts, you know, pieces of the true cross to tell history. But we recognize that we are in a very different age, you know, and technology is absolutely vital to the delivery of really engaging experiences and opens up new windows for talking even about artifacts. So we will be providing a blend of sort of more traditional museum exhibition techniques and uh interactives. Uh and large-scale media, our welcome exhibit. So this project will ultimately be the gateway for renovating about half of the exhibits in the state museum, about 50,000 square feet of gallery space, about half of the standing galleries will be updated. The welcome exhibit itself will have a couple of large-scale media pieces, some featuring, you know, drone footage and historic film, others, you know, sort of more interactive approaches to understanding Pennsylvania history and where people find themselves in their history in today's Pennsylvania. We are going to have on the third floor, as part of one of the future renovations, we're going to be creating right now. We have a zero to six age area for Curiosity Connection for really exploring with our youngest uh visitors. We're going to be creating a 7 to 18 area on the third floor to engage with our sort of elementary school, middle school, high school learners. And that certainly will be uh leaning into technology in terms of how we offer more interactive experiences and more engaging different ways of learning with some of those kids. How do you get them in the door? So uh I think starting early, uh I think early museum goers have the uh best track record of staying engaged with museums. I think our partnerships with schools are really important. History is such a great way to develop critical thinking skills and to understand how to think and looking at primary documents, primary pieces of history, understanding it's almost detective work, right? You can do that with kids and and really engage them their own discovery, which I think is really important, not telling them what to think, but teaching them how to think. Um, I think engaging exhibits, I think offering unique experiences, I think um like that that observation level, I think getting a chance to get up high and see things from a different perspective. I think that's what that's really what museums do in general, right? Help you see things from a different perspective. I think that they have to be fun. I think, you know, when I when we put our solicitation out for developing our welcome exhibit, I said in the solicitation, I want this to feel fresh and to feel cool, right? I mean, because I think history kind of gets a bad rap sometimes for being dusty and old, but really it's relevant. It's most interesting when it's complicated. Um and I think making sure that we talk to the breadth of Pennsylvania history. People want to come here. It's the state museum, right? People want to find their history here. I think that that's also key. Uh, you know, whether you're coming from Allentown or the northern tier, people come and they want to say, well, where's my town in this? You know, I think I think all of those are important. I think making sure that the doors are wide open, you know. Yes, there is a, we we offer uh inexpensive ways to come to the museum, but we also have periodic free days and pay as you wish days so that entire families can come. Uh, I I do think, as I said, I think early engagement is is the key to that. And I think providing relevant, interesting, fun experiences, you know, being able to have people learn and discover things that are important to them.
SPEAKER_00Is it a is it a challenge to make William Penn cool? Is it a challenge to make William Penn cool?
SPEAKER_01Um You know, I I don't think so. And I, you know, I think about our State Museum statue of William Penn, he's so different from the typical version of William Penn, right? He's you know, when S.K. Stevens, who was the executive director when the museum opened, was talking to the sculptor, sculptress uh of our William Penn, she said, I don't know, I don't know how to relate to William Penn. I don't know anything about this guy. And uh he sent her a bunch of books. And when she realized that he was inspired uh by really idealistic principles and had a real spiritual understanding of what this holy experiment was, uh she felt a connection to him. I think that there are just so many ways to look at William Penn. And I do think his idea of Pennsylvania, a place that is welcoming, uh that you can practice any religion you want to, that all these different peoples could come together. I think it is such a shaping uh approach to the state. And I think really what Pennsylvanians are at heart, I think everybody, you know, can connect to that. So many people have roots back to Pennsylvania. I just think Pennsylvania really is a crossroads and a great place where people, different peoples, have have influenced each other. I think that that's pretty cool, you know, this idea of all the bringing all these different people together and finding a way for everybody to make their home here. I think that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00William William Penn aside, who's your favorite person in Pennsylvania history? Oh geez, that's a good question.
SPEAKER_01There are so many. To choose one. I love Rachel Carson. Um I think she's inspiring. I I'll go with an unknown one though. And this is this is this is a personal favorite because it's a family member. Um I grew up hearing about Ellen Webster Palmer, um, who was my great great great grandmother. And she lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Um and I always heard about her. There's a statue that was along the riverfront for her. And all I ever knew really was, oh, there's a statue along the riverfront of this woman. But I did some research when I got here, and she was an advocate for the breaker boys. And they were the boys who would sit at the top of the breaker and pick through slate and the coal and send it down the uh the breaker. Um it was a dangerous job. It was a job that was not well paid. You know, boys were almost expendable in a way, you know, they were a commodity. Um, and she really wanted them to have better lives. So she created the boys' industrial school in Scranton in the 1890s to get them off the streets in the evenings, to provide educational opportunities for them, to change their lives. And it she changed the lives of thousands of boys uh in the Scranton area and um was a real advocate for them, was an advocate for labor reform. Uh, you know, you read accounts of these boys who say, and I just can't imagine touching that many people's lives. And to me, I I just I think that's such a great story about how one person, not really known, right, but can change the lives of thousands of people. And I think um that's one of the great things about history and and to be able to be inspired by it, to be able to see how the actions of a single person really can have a massive impact.
SPEAKER_00When did your love of history start to bud?
SPEAKER_01Um early, I would say I'm one of those kids whose parents drag them to every historic site, you know, and and at some point uh that kind of takes root. I I was my parents told me when I went to college, do what you love. I didn't honestly love history when I was in high school. I, you know, I I saw it as uh, you know, there was a lot of rote memorization that happened. But going to college, I fell in love with art history. And that really was probably, you know, I I was always interested in it, but art history really kicked off uh my love of history. I thought that I I didn't know what I wanted to do as a professional or as a young, as a young adult, but sense of place had always been really important to me. Wherever I lived, there was something about the sense of place that, you know, which I didn't really connect, I think, with history when I was a kid, um, that was so meaningful to me. I grew up in New England, um, in Connecticut until sixth grade, and then we moved to Northern Virginia. And when we moved to Northern Virginia, we were living in this area, which was wonderful, but didn't have a sense of place. And I really missed that. DC to me had a sense of place. But, you know, if you think about Arlington, you're like, are you in North Arlington? Are you in South Arlington? What is McLean? You know, like that was where I was growing up. And um I took a hard hat tour. Uh, I was working as a Navy contractor, and I took a hard hat tour of the city post office renovation in DC, and the architectural historian was there, and it was they were reusing an existing building for a new purpose, but keeping the character of it. And I was like, this is what I want to do. I am in love with this idea. And based on that one tour, I went to grad school. I actually wound up working for the firm that had led the tour. And that that tour changed my life. Um, you know, and I would just say to anyone who is looking for some new spark, uh, throw yourself out there. Do things that, you know, sound like they might be interesting. You might meet some new people and you might find your direction in life.
SPEAKER_00This is a big year for history. It is a big year. Across the country, but so what is the role of your office in uh a Commonwealth that is so steeped in American history?
SPEAKER_01So uh, you know, I our role. So there is the the the commission for 250 for Pennsylvania, and we are certainly a part of that, but we have our own initiatives at PHMC. Our role is really to help people celebrate the Pennsylvania history and commemorate the things that they are passionate about. We have been developing exhibits across our many museums, and it looks different everywhere at Brandywine Battlefield. The park, their 250th is actually next year in 2027. We'll be unveiling a new exhibit there. Um we at the State Museum uh looked at our collections and thought it was a really great time to bring out some pieces of the true cross 250 artifacts. We've got the Thompson flag out, which was carried by the First Continental Regiment, Pennsylvania, the they're the ones that were with Washington when he crossed the Delaware. Um we've got uh Lafayette Cannon out, we've got a lot of pieces of um Revolutionary War history on display. But we also wanted to talk about I mean, we're in a really interesting time right now. People are divided right now. Um and history can create a place to talk about our shared past. Interestingly, and I think I think we have this idea that we're unique in this moment in terms of division. And it was interesting. So we we looked at how we've commemorated our anniversaries in the past, and we pulled out material from the centennial exhibit. Uh, you know, the centennial happened at on the heels of the Civil War. The country was broken, and the way that we commemorated at that point was really looking forward. Uh, you know, it was looking at our industry, and we were, you know, coming into the Industrial Revolution and what new things were on the horizon that were helping us grow as a nation. If you look at the bicentennial, you know, we're again coming out of the Vietnam War there and a lot of division there too, and sort of unifying against uh around this idea of almost the myth of America, you know, the the fifes and drums and the tri-corner hats and all that. Um and you know, I think that, and I'm I'm digressing here, but I think it's an interesting uh juxtaposition to say, yes, we feel really divided right now, but that is not unique to today. And to me, that's a hopeful message, right? You know, and I think having these three time periods expressed in that exhibit, we close out that question with one of those sticky boards saying, you know, what what will you want to remember about this moment? I just think it's a chance for reflection, it's a chance for conversation. And I think framing it that way, you know, that that this is there's always been American conversation about the past, about where we are, about are we united, takes some of the heat out of the moment and really provides an opportunity for us to talk meaningfully about how we want to be in the future. We we've been uh working across our sites and museums with various exhibits. We've developed trails of history with our markers that really explore Pennsylvania themes like uh or 250 themes like the sense of place or revolutionary ideas. And we've got an exhibit up here at the state archives looking across some of our historic documents up through uh the bicentennial, um, those national stories. So I think we've been uh holding programs and we'll be doing uh readings of the Declaration of Independence on July 8th. That's a national thing that a lot of sites and museums are participating at six o'clock and doing a unified reading of the Declaration, which I think is a nice way to wrap up the conversation about division and uh the ability for history to sort of help us find our common ground.
SPEAKER_00Andrea Lowry, we are out of time. Where can people go to see the work of the Historical and Museum Commission online? Sure.
SPEAKER_01We have a website, phmc.pa.gov, and all of our programs, you can find them there. Uh, I'll just mention that we have grants available uh for historical institutions, for publicly accessible buildings that are historic in nature. We've got information about all our programs, our markers, our various sites and museums, and we encourage people to come and uh take a look. And if we can be of help, don't hesitate to reach out.
SPEAKER_00Well, again, it's fabulous to meet you. Thank you very much for part of our new podcast. Thanks for having me. And that's today's story from We Love PA History. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and share it with someone who loves Pennsylvania as much as you do. You can help others discover these stories by leaving a quick rating or review. It really makes a difference. The We Love PA History podcast is produced by Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advances awareness, understanding, and appreciation of Pennsylvania's history and heritage. The Markovski Engineering Group, Incorporated, is a proud sponsor of the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation, which carries out its mission on behalf of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the citizens of Pennsylvania. Markovski is pleased to sponsor the We Love CA History Podcast. For more information about Markovski and its commitment to Pennsylvania history, visit Markovski.com.com. To learn more, take photos, and explore the places we've talked about today. Visit us at CAHeritage.org or follow us on Facebook at Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation. I'm Connie Devlee. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep exploring Pennsylvania's past. Because Pennsylvania history isn't just history, it's our story.
