Norman Gasbarro | June 16, 2011
A recently received donation to the Schwalm Research Library of the Gratz Historical Society of the complete ten-volume first edition of The Photographic History of the Civil War generated heightened excitement and interest in the Civil War Research Project during one of the regular Wednesday research sessions. The books arrived in Gratz on 2 June […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 9, 2011
Joseph Ritner Shuler (1837-1910) was born in Liverpool, Perry County, Pennsylvania, the son of well-known gunsmith Joseph Shuler (1810-1879) and Elizabeth Yocum (1808-1867) and the grandson and great-grandson of even better-known gunsmiths John Shuler Jr. and John Shuler Sr. of Bucks County and later Perry County, Pennsylvania. The father, Joseph Shuler (1810-1879) for a time […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 8, 2011
Returning Civil War veterans, undoubtedly impressed with the pomp and music provided by regimental or brigade bands during their wartime experience, brought the experience home with them. There was a rapid growth of town and village bands in the post-war period. There is an account of an early band in Gratz in 1856, the Umholtz […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 7, 2011
The Repasz Band of Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, which claims to have been founded in 1831, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, continuously operating community bands in the United States. In 1844, the band accompanied the Pennsylvania delegation to the Whig Party Convention in Baltimore and played for the nomination of […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 6, 2011
Recently discovered at the Gratz Historical Society Library among a collection of scrapbooks and other original source materials from the World Wars, were eight minutes books from the Heilner Post Woman’s Relief Corps No. 101 of Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The minutes books might shed some light on the activities of this organization. Already, in […]
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