Discover a scathing 1864 Harrisburg, PA editor’s plea against Thanksgiving gluttony plus a funny Harper’s Weekly cartoon highlighting a Thanksgiving feast at the front lines. Read the full story.
On November 30, 1871, Lykens quietly marked Thanksgiving: businesses closed; Lutheran and Episcopal services thinly attended while railroads and collieries worked. Read the full story of a 19th century Thanksgiving in a mining town.
Dive into a rarely told piece of Civil War history, where doctors, nurses, and volunteers fought to keep the Thanksgiving spirit alive for wounded soldiers. Discover how these hospital celebrations offered hope and normalcy amid the chaos of conflict. Read the full story.
Winslow Homer’s 1860 Harper’s Weekly illustration reveals a stark Thanksgiving class divide - opulent elites relaxing contrasted with coal miners and their families toiling through the holiday. Discover this powerful social critique and how it relates to Pennsylvania’s anthracite fields on the eve of the Civil War. Read the full story.
Discover Christmas history with Jake Wynn – Public Historian. From Civil War-era celebrations to Prohibition and World War II, explore how communities and people across Pennsylvania celebrated Christmas over the last 200 years. Enjoy these top Christmas stories from the archives. Read the stories.
On Thanksgiving Day 1943, as World War II raged on, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania marked the holiday with a quieter tone. Many residents continued to work in essential industries, while others gathered for church services and family reunions. Discover how the Wyoming Valley adapted to the war-time holiday and embraced the hope of victory on the horizon. Read the full story.
On Thanksgiving night in 1868, a bar-room altercation in the mining village of West Delaware Mines, Pennsylvania, turned deadly. After an argument over a drink, Edward Pursel fatally shot Civil War veteran John Duffy. This tragic event led to Pursel’s trial and conviction for murder. Read the full story.
Discover Thanksgiving history with Jake Wynn – Public Historian. From Civil War-era celebrations to the 1902 Coal Strike and World War I, explore how communities across Pennsylvania celebrated Thanksgiving during times of struggle and hope. Enjoy these top Thanksgiving stories from the archives. Read the stories.
In November 1943, as World War II intensified, coal mines in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania were asked to remain open on Thanksgiving to meet the critical coal demands of the war effort. Despite the holiday, miners worked as a patriotic duty to keep the country powered and the effort to defeat fascism abroad moving forward. Read the full story.
An editorial from a newspaper in Pottsville during the 1918 pandemic reminds us to be thankful for life amid a time of death.