Norman Gasbarro | December 17, 2014
In October 2014, Philadelphia residents and visitors were treated to the opening of a new section of the Schuylkill River Trail – a “boardwalk” in the river running from Walnut Street to South Street and extending the ambitious trail further south and bringing it closer to completion. The “boardwalk” is actually a bridge with a […]
Norman Gasbarro | January 16, 2014
Lies Across America -What Our Historical Sites Get Wrong, by James W. Loewen, published in 1999, is the sequel to Lies My Teacher Told Me. In it, Loewen takes up from the historical distortions he revealed in the first book and shows how these distortions have manifested themselves in the “landscape” in the form of […]
Norman Gasbarro | December 25, 2013
The Christmas Day 1863 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer was dominated by a new Christmas story by Charles Dickens, Mrs Lirriper’s Lodgings, which consisted of four pages of text (“quadruple sheet”). However, the news of the day was still included in the daily newspaper as were editorials. A portion of the Inquirer‘s Christmas wish, as it […]
Norman Gasbarro | November 28, 2013
“Over the River and Through the Wood” was originally written as a 6-verse poem in 1844 by abolitionist and Indian-rights advocate Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880). The poem is about Thanksgiving, not about Christmas, which it has generally come to be known today through popular song. For a brief story about the activism of Lydia Maria […]
Norman Gasbarro | October 16, 2013
A quick walking trip around center city Philadelphia at noon on Columbus Day exposed the economic effects of the on-going government shutdown. In Philadelphia, the Mid-Atlantic Branch of the National Archives was closed – as were all branches of the Archives and its main operational centers in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition to the […]
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