Pennsylvania Historical Association facts for kids
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| Formation | 1932 |
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| Headquarters | 216 Pinecrest, Mansfield University, Mansfield, Pennsylvania 16933 |
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President
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Rachel A. Batch, PhD |
| Website | http://www.pa-history.org/ |
The Pennsylvania Historical Association (PHA), started in 1932, is a group that doesn't make money for itself. It's run by volunteers who want to help people learn about the history of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic region. The PHA publishes a special magazine called Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. They also create short books that explain different parts of Pennsylvania's past.
With support from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the PHA holds a yearly meeting. This meeting happens in a different Pennsylvania city each fall. The PHA also works with other groups to support history events. These events include Pennsylvania History Day and ExplorePAHistory.com, which help students and others learn about history.
Contents
How the PHA Started
The idea for the PHA began in 1928. Two historians, Roy F. Nichols and Lawrence Henry Gipson, were talking at a big meeting for historians. Nichols thought it would be a good idea to focus on local history. He believed historians outside big cities needed more help to do their research.
So, Nichols, Gipson, and others started thinking about a new organization. Unlike other history groups at the time, this new group would help all historians in Pennsylvania. It would also be independent, meaning it wouldn't be tied to just one place or institution.
Building the Association
In the years that followed, many people across the country became interested in regional history. This was partly because of new government programs that encouraged cultural projects. This interest helped Nichols' idea gain support in Pennsylvania. Several meetings took place in and around State College, Pennsylvania, during 1932. These meetings helped create the rules for the PHA. They also planned the PHA's first yearly meeting, which happened in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at Lehigh University in 1933.
Since it began, the PHA has been very important. It has helped create new studies about Pennsylvania history. It has also helped shape collections of historical documents across the state.
PHA Today
When the PHA celebrated its 75th anniversary, it had 800 members. These members included historians, teachers, and anyone interested in Pennsylvania history. Many different organizations were also members. These included college and university libraries, high schools, public libraries, research libraries, historic sites, and museums.
The PHA still holds its yearly conferences. These conferences last three days and happen in different places across the state. They feature new research on Pennsylvania history topics. Attendees also get to visit interesting historic sites.
What the PHA Aims to Do
The main goal of the Pennsylvania Historical Association is to encourage interest in, reading of, and study of Pennsylvania history. This is especially true for how Pennsylvania's history connects to American and world history. To reach this goal, the association does many important activities. These include publishing materials and holding scholarly meetings. "Scholarly" means they are serious and academic, focusing on deep research and learning.
Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies
Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies is a magazine published four times a year. It shares the best new research on the history of Pennsylvania and the surrounding region. Besides regular articles, the journal also includes:
- Notes on historical documents.
- Reviews of new history books.
- Reviews of museum exhibits, films, and historical collections.
Pennsylvania History has been published since 1934. It is the official magazine of the PHA. All past issues of the journal, from 1934 up to 2005, are available for free online. You can find them at journals.psu.edu/phj.
