Thursday, January 31, 2019
Camden County History Alliance NEWS
As the Camden County History Alliance begins plans for 2019, we have many events to look forward to: we have begun work on the Spring 2019 Camden County Heritage magazine to be distributed in May, the First Annual South Jersey History Fair will be held on June 8th at the Gabreil Daveis Tavern, and in October we will celebrate Camden County History Month! Of course, in the meantime, there are plenty of history events in February to enjoy in Camden County, listed below in more detail. Be sure to also visit the museums and historic sites that are open regularly for visitors; contact information for all the sites is available at www.camdencountyhistoryalliance.com.
Friday, January 25, 2019
A Link for You - Visit South Jersey
I don't post a copy of this e-mail any more because the html blanked out my previous posts, but they do often list many interesting looking events so you may want to subscribe!
A great many of their events are evening, and connected to concerts and wine events. I don't drive at night any longer and I don't drink so I haven't posted those events, also, I have not been much of a theater attendee of recent years though I still do like to go to the Oaklyn Ritz at times in the summer when it is light longer, so I haven't posted those events either, all reasons you might want to subscribe to the link and get it in your own e-mail:
www.visitsouthjersey.com
I hope the link works for you and that you find fun things to do by subscribing to it.
Speaking of e-mail, you can also contact me via my e-mail which is wrightj45@yahoo.com
I have no events to share with you this weekend, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I am reading the biography of American Journalist Marie Colvin who died after an internationally acclaimed career. Her life has been memorialized in a biopic called A PRIVATE WAR, but I missed its short run. I am also reading her collected essays. In this weeks THE NEW YORKER there is a fascinating article on the history and diminishing existence of our print newspapers. I have always been a BIG fan of local newspapers such as the Gloucester City New and the Retrospect. I am grateful we still have them as well as the bigger papers The Courier and the Inquirer. I am a subscriber to the Sunday New York Times. If you enjoy print news, you will probably enjoy that essay on page 8 of January 28 issue entitled HARD NEWS.
Happy trails whether dusty piney woods ones or inky paper ones!
or electronic links!
Jo Ann
A great many of their events are evening, and connected to concerts and wine events. I don't drive at night any longer and I don't drink so I haven't posted those events, also, I have not been much of a theater attendee of recent years though I still do like to go to the Oaklyn Ritz at times in the summer when it is light longer, so I haven't posted those events either, all reasons you might want to subscribe to the link and get it in your own e-mail:
www.visitsouthjersey.com
I hope the link works for you and that you find fun things to do by subscribing to it.
Speaking of e-mail, you can also contact me via my e-mail which is wrightj45@yahoo.com
I have no events to share with you this weekend, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I am reading the biography of American Journalist Marie Colvin who died after an internationally acclaimed career. Her life has been memorialized in a biopic called A PRIVATE WAR, but I missed its short run. I am also reading her collected essays. In this weeks THE NEW YORKER there is a fascinating article on the history and diminishing existence of our print newspapers. I have always been a BIG fan of local newspapers such as the Gloucester City New and the Retrospect. I am grateful we still have them as well as the bigger papers The Courier and the Inquirer. I am a subscriber to the Sunday New York Times. If you enjoy print news, you will probably enjoy that essay on page 8 of January 28 issue entitled HARD NEWS.
Happy trails whether dusty piney woods ones or inky paper ones!
or electronic links!
Jo Ann
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Just in from Camden County Historical Society COMMUNICATOR
EVENTS: FEBRUARY - Jersey Joe Walcott fundraiser Feb. 2nd from 2-6 at CCHS, 1900 Park Blvd., Camden (right behind Lady of Lourdes Hospital and next to Haleigh Cemetery.)
Genealogy Tool Kit March 3r, 10th and 24th 1 to 2:30
LINES ON THE PINES - SUNDAY MARCH 10th from 11 to 4! I go to this every year. I don't go for the dinner and lecture anymore, just the all day festival which i marvelous in so many ways - books, crafts, nature exhibits, history displays, MUSIC live!
It is being held at Stockton State College Campus Center, 101 Vera King Farris Drive, Galloway, NJ
I would have posted this anyway but it was in the communicator because CCHS is having an exhibit there. Hope you can go!
For more info on the other items in the COMMUNICATOR CALL -856-964-3333
You should join up and get on their mailing list and also get their fabulous history magazine - part of the membership.
ALSO REMINDER
MT. EPHRAIM SENIOR CITIZENS MEETINGS BEGIN MARCH 4th from 1 to 2 at the Charles P. Dougherty Senior Center (the old firehall on the railroad) Each month we will talk about a different subject of interest begining with Family History in March and Local History in April! neighboring community residents are WELCOME so come on over and sit and talk with us! I will be the facilitator. It is all on a very casual level, mostly to introduce the subjects and get people interested and talking. So don't feel that you need to know anything about any subject in advance. We are going to share! It is all for fun.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
ps. I did family history for a number of years and worked as a volunteer for many local history organizations. I will be facilitating and bringing some free resources to every meeting!
Genealogy Tool Kit March 3r, 10th and 24th 1 to 2:30
LINES ON THE PINES - SUNDAY MARCH 10th from 11 to 4! I go to this every year. I don't go for the dinner and lecture anymore, just the all day festival which i marvelous in so many ways - books, crafts, nature exhibits, history displays, MUSIC live!
It is being held at Stockton State College Campus Center, 101 Vera King Farris Drive, Galloway, NJ
I would have posted this anyway but it was in the communicator because CCHS is having an exhibit there. Hope you can go!
For more info on the other items in the COMMUNICATOR CALL -856-964-3333
You should join up and get on their mailing list and also get their fabulous history magazine - part of the membership.
ALSO REMINDER
MT. EPHRAIM SENIOR CITIZENS MEETINGS BEGIN MARCH 4th from 1 to 2 at the Charles P. Dougherty Senior Center (the old firehall on the railroad) Each month we will talk about a different subject of interest begining with Family History in March and Local History in April! neighboring community residents are WELCOME so come on over and sit and talk with us! I will be the facilitator. It is all on a very casual level, mostly to introduce the subjects and get people interested and talking. So don't feel that you need to know anything about any subject in advance. We are going to share! It is all for fun.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
ps. I did family history for a number of years and worked as a volunteer for many local history organizations. I will be facilitating and bringing some free resources to every meeting!
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
BRING BACK THE MAPS!!
Today, Tuesday, January 23rd, I was enjoying my Rest and Reading period after my first of the day dog walk. I am reading - IN EXTREMIS; THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE WAR CORRESPONDENT MARIE COLVIN, by Lindsey Hilsum.
The was recently a movie released on her life entitled A PRIVATE WAR the trailers for which seemed to ask "Why" Why would a woman put herself in danger over and over to get the news stories for the papers? Funny how they don't ask that about male reporters! They are simply brave and heroic, but for a woman journalist, she must by psychologically damaged.
Anyhow, her biography is entirely engaging and her story so fascinating that I also bought a book of the compiled essays she wrote for the Sunday Times before her death on the frontline in Syria. Both the biography and the essays also give a view of the art of journalism, how Marie Colvin's Yale education opened her eyes to how personalizing history gives it more engagement with the readers than 'just the facts.' Since I am a writer as well as a reader, I am always interested in the art of the story.
To my chagrin, however, I found myself floundering in trying to picture in my mind the location of the countries in the Middle East. There are, of course, some of which I have a clear picture of the shape and location such as Morocco (having been there) and Egypt (all the years of learning about Egyptian Art plus Lawrence of Arabia, the movie, and Israel, since I have followed the history of the founding and survival of Israel which has roughly followed the years of my own life story. Also, I was pretty clear on Iraq and the Mesopotamian region from my Art education, but I had more trouble with Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Kuwait. So I got out my trusty hardbound Encyclopedia volume M and made a printer copy of the map of the Middle East.
At the time, I was remembering all the beloved maps of my life - the gorgeous roll out maps hanging over the blackboard in the classrooms of both my youth and my years as a teacher. I retired just as they were all put into storage and replaced by 'smart screens' but I rescued one from my soon to be demolished old art room and put it in my den - a map of the continents of the world.
Also, as a child, my brother and I had wooden map puzzles of the world and the states of the United States which we loved to put together.
The maps of the continents and of the United States were once constants on the walls of classrooms and we children grew up with their image beside us. I loved the colors, those muted rose and sky blue, soft golden yellows and gentle greens. You can buy those maps on e-bay. They run about $50 and recently they were featured in some home decorating magazines as vintage wall decor. I wish more homes had them and more citizens and children were aware of the layout of the countries we see in the news every evening. Even though, admittedly, the names of the countries are always changing as well as some of the borders, it is enlightening to have a mind picture of the places and their relationship to one another.
Along with those maps, I also still carry in my car an atlas of New Jersey which I also still use, even though I have a gps. Three subjects I would bring back if I could would be CIVICS, GEOGRAPHY, and PUBLIC SPEAKING.
A really fun item I used to enjoy from the magazine Weird New Jersey was fun images of things in the shape of our state - oil spills on parking lot tarmac, patches of sky visible through tree canopies, puddles in the sand of the beach. A wonderful quirky and puzzling art concept work that I saw at the University of the Arts back in the 90's was a strange arrangement of those plastic cocktail party glasses, all half filled with water. Because I was doing an art project of my own at the time on the shapes of rivers, I was one of the few who realized what I was looking at - a map in plastic water glasses of the Delaware River!
I wish we had more maps in public places and that we were all a little more aware the shapes of the places on our planet!
Happy trails and trail maps!
Jo Ann
ps. Here is a challenge: See if you can draw a map of the US from memory? Then see if you can draw a map of Europe! If you can do all that, move on to Mexico, Central American, South America and try the continents! BRAVO if you can do those. If you can do the Middle East - my hat is off to you!
The was recently a movie released on her life entitled A PRIVATE WAR the trailers for which seemed to ask "Why" Why would a woman put herself in danger over and over to get the news stories for the papers? Funny how they don't ask that about male reporters! They are simply brave and heroic, but for a woman journalist, she must by psychologically damaged.
Anyhow, her biography is entirely engaging and her story so fascinating that I also bought a book of the compiled essays she wrote for the Sunday Times before her death on the frontline in Syria. Both the biography and the essays also give a view of the art of journalism, how Marie Colvin's Yale education opened her eyes to how personalizing history gives it more engagement with the readers than 'just the facts.' Since I am a writer as well as a reader, I am always interested in the art of the story.
To my chagrin, however, I found myself floundering in trying to picture in my mind the location of the countries in the Middle East. There are, of course, some of which I have a clear picture of the shape and location such as Morocco (having been there) and Egypt (all the years of learning about Egyptian Art plus Lawrence of Arabia, the movie, and Israel, since I have followed the history of the founding and survival of Israel which has roughly followed the years of my own life story. Also, I was pretty clear on Iraq and the Mesopotamian region from my Art education, but I had more trouble with Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Kuwait. So I got out my trusty hardbound Encyclopedia volume M and made a printer copy of the map of the Middle East.
At the time, I was remembering all the beloved maps of my life - the gorgeous roll out maps hanging over the blackboard in the classrooms of both my youth and my years as a teacher. I retired just as they were all put into storage and replaced by 'smart screens' but I rescued one from my soon to be demolished old art room and put it in my den - a map of the continents of the world.
Also, as a child, my brother and I had wooden map puzzles of the world and the states of the United States which we loved to put together.
The maps of the continents and of the United States were once constants on the walls of classrooms and we children grew up with their image beside us. I loved the colors, those muted rose and sky blue, soft golden yellows and gentle greens. You can buy those maps on e-bay. They run about $50 and recently they were featured in some home decorating magazines as vintage wall decor. I wish more homes had them and more citizens and children were aware of the layout of the countries we see in the news every evening. Even though, admittedly, the names of the countries are always changing as well as some of the borders, it is enlightening to have a mind picture of the places and their relationship to one another.
Along with those maps, I also still carry in my car an atlas of New Jersey which I also still use, even though I have a gps. Three subjects I would bring back if I could would be CIVICS, GEOGRAPHY, and PUBLIC SPEAKING.
A really fun item I used to enjoy from the magazine Weird New Jersey was fun images of things in the shape of our state - oil spills on parking lot tarmac, patches of sky visible through tree canopies, puddles in the sand of the beach. A wonderful quirky and puzzling art concept work that I saw at the University of the Arts back in the 90's was a strange arrangement of those plastic cocktail party glasses, all half filled with water. Because I was doing an art project of my own at the time on the shapes of rivers, I was one of the few who realized what I was looking at - a map in plastic water glasses of the Delaware River!
I wish we had more maps in public places and that we were all a little more aware the shapes of the places on our planet!
Happy trails and trail maps!
Jo Ann
ps. Here is a challenge: See if you can draw a map of the US from memory? Then see if you can draw a map of Europe! If you can do all that, move on to Mexico, Central American, South America and try the continents! BRAVO if you can do those. If you can do the Middle East - my hat is off to you!
Monday, January 21, 2019
Mount Ephraim Senior Citizens Get-Togetether - March 4, 2019 Monday
As I have mentioned before, the City Council and the Mayor approved a proposal I made to run a senior citizens program on the first Monday of each month. My goal is simply to provide a way for seniors to get-together and share their interests as every health advisory I have ever seen has emphasized how important it is for seniors to socialize.
Each month I have a suggested topic and the one for March is FAMILY HISTORY: in particular, I have some ideas on what to do with your family history to share it with your family. Some items I will bring to show and perhaps inspire others to try -
1. For my daughter's 30th birthday and my sister's 50th, I made scrapbooks from photos I had of them over the years. Needless to say, I had photos of my daughter from the day she was born. I bought scrapbooks when they were on sale at A. C. Moore, for about $5 each and pads of scrapbook paper and stickers and trims. Since I had never done done scrapbooking before, I had to buy some magazines to get ideas. After I did the first two, I decided no one was ever going to do one for me unless I did my own, so I did one for my 70th birthday! I used my computer to find and print out things such as pictures from my favorite tv shows from childhood, and headlines from the years and so on. It was fun and totally engaging.
2. Another idea I had was to make postcards from some of my oldest photographs, for example, I had a Halloween photo from my aunts from 1940. Five children in costumes sitting at my grandmother Lyons' dining room table. Belia copy center put a border on it. I scanned it and took it to them on a thumb drive but they are willing to scan for anyone who doesn't have a scanner or smart phone. I have an old black and white HP lazer printer/scanner that I have used for most of my projects. I made the Halloween postcard, 50 cards for $40, then I made a Veteran's Day one of my father in his navy uniform, and a 4th of July picnic one, and a Valentine one of my mother and father.
3.Finally, I had the idea of taking photographs of some family heirloons which, although they have no financial value, have family sentimental value. For example, my Great-grandmother Catherine Sandman Young was a seamstress and she supported herself and her family in her widowhood by sewing. She and my also widowed grandmother Mabel Wright both sewed uniforms for the Schuylkill Arsenal to support their families. I have her sewing machine from early 20th century. It isn't worth money, but the idea that it was the tool she used to support her family makes it a symbolic and sentimental treasure to me. So I took photos of that, a deck chair from my Grandfather's Merchant Marine days, and a dozen other artifacts that have somehow made it to this point in my life and I put a copy of a family tree on one page, on another a collage of a photo of the person to whom the item belonged, the item itself, and sometimes another image, for example where they lived. When the 25 or so pages were complete, I scanned them at Staples and had them spiral bound in 7 sets, one for each of my siblings and one for my daughter and a spare. So far I have only given one to my brother Joe, as I haven't seen the other siblings recently.
Early in my own family history research, I made photocopied and spiral bound books with the information I found on our relatives in the family tree, and one year, I made a family tree for each sibling and a photo collage featuring each family member for whom I had a photo dating back to 1868! I had the original 2 foot by 3 foot collage color copied at Belia (in Woodbury) for about $20 each, and found year sale frames to frame each one for a Christmas gift for the siblings.
Although no one took up genealogy as a result of my efforts, everyone I shared with did appreciate the work involved and did show interest in the information. Who knows, maybe somewhere down the line, some grandchild will see one of these items and become interested in following the trail, as I did from the photos passed on to me in a wooden box by my grandmother Mabel Wright.
I hope the attendees at the March Mt. Ephraim Senior Citizens meeting will find it of interest.
Each month I have a suggested topic and the one for March is FAMILY HISTORY: in particular, I have some ideas on what to do with your family history to share it with your family. Some items I will bring to show and perhaps inspire others to try -
1. For my daughter's 30th birthday and my sister's 50th, I made scrapbooks from photos I had of them over the years. Needless to say, I had photos of my daughter from the day she was born. I bought scrapbooks when they were on sale at A. C. Moore, for about $5 each and pads of scrapbook paper and stickers and trims. Since I had never done done scrapbooking before, I had to buy some magazines to get ideas. After I did the first two, I decided no one was ever going to do one for me unless I did my own, so I did one for my 70th birthday! I used my computer to find and print out things such as pictures from my favorite tv shows from childhood, and headlines from the years and so on. It was fun and totally engaging.
2. Another idea I had was to make postcards from some of my oldest photographs, for example, I had a Halloween photo from my aunts from 1940. Five children in costumes sitting at my grandmother Lyons' dining room table. Belia copy center put a border on it. I scanned it and took it to them on a thumb drive but they are willing to scan for anyone who doesn't have a scanner or smart phone. I have an old black and white HP lazer printer/scanner that I have used for most of my projects. I made the Halloween postcard, 50 cards for $40, then I made a Veteran's Day one of my father in his navy uniform, and a 4th of July picnic one, and a Valentine one of my mother and father.
3.Finally, I had the idea of taking photographs of some family heirloons which, although they have no financial value, have family sentimental value. For example, my Great-grandmother Catherine Sandman Young was a seamstress and she supported herself and her family in her widowhood by sewing. She and my also widowed grandmother Mabel Wright both sewed uniforms for the Schuylkill Arsenal to support their families. I have her sewing machine from early 20th century. It isn't worth money, but the idea that it was the tool she used to support her family makes it a symbolic and sentimental treasure to me. So I took photos of that, a deck chair from my Grandfather's Merchant Marine days, and a dozen other artifacts that have somehow made it to this point in my life and I put a copy of a family tree on one page, on another a collage of a photo of the person to whom the item belonged, the item itself, and sometimes another image, for example where they lived. When the 25 or so pages were complete, I scanned them at Staples and had them spiral bound in 7 sets, one for each of my siblings and one for my daughter and a spare. So far I have only given one to my brother Joe, as I haven't seen the other siblings recently.
Early in my own family history research, I made photocopied and spiral bound books with the information I found on our relatives in the family tree, and one year, I made a family tree for each sibling and a photo collage featuring each family member for whom I had a photo dating back to 1868! I had the original 2 foot by 3 foot collage color copied at Belia (in Woodbury) for about $20 each, and found year sale frames to frame each one for a Christmas gift for the siblings.
Although no one took up genealogy as a result of my efforts, everyone I shared with did appreciate the work involved and did show interest in the information. Who knows, maybe somewhere down the line, some grandchild will see one of these items and become interested in following the trail, as I did from the photos passed on to me in a wooden box by my grandmother Mabel Wright.
I hope the attendees at the March Mt. Ephraim Senior Citizens meeting will find it of interest.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
AMERICAN REVOLUTION ROUND TABLE Of South Jersey
Robert F. Smith on:
“Manufacturing Independence: Industrial Innovation in the
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 7:15 pm
Burlington County Lyceum of History and Natural Sciences
1st Floor Community Room
307 High St., Mt. Holly, NJ
**Please Note: $5 admission for nonmembers** (Donations Also Appreciated! Look for the Jar!) All funds collected go to support our programs

Robert F. Smith on:
“Manufacturing Independence: Industrial Innovation in the
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 7:15 pm
Burlington County Lyceum of History and Natural Sciences
1st Floor Community Room
307 High St., Mt. Holly, NJ
**Please Note: $5 admission for nonmembers** (Donations Also Appreciated! Look for the Jar!) All funds collected go to support our programs

Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Griffith Morgan Open House
I know this is a bit far into the Spring but I wanted to get it posted so I don't forget to let you know, the beautiful Griffith Morgan House in Pennsauken is hosting an OPEN HOUSE.
If you have never been, I urge you to get on over there. Here is the content of their e-mail. I am sure you can find more on their Facebook page. No time was mentioned but I would guess it is an all day event:
If you have never been, I urge you to get on over there. Here is the content of their e-mail. I am sure you can find more on their Facebook page. No time was mentioned but I would guess it is an all day event:
"Our first open house for the season will be Sunday, March 5, 2019. We will celebrate Welsh Heritage with food, music, videos, hearth cooking and special displays. We will be looking for you to join us."
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Sears Catalogue
A friend was just talking to me about some things she had bought at the Sears store near her that was closing. We got to talking about what the Sears Catalogue meant to us when we were kids. She was a poor country girl on a farm in New Jersey, I was a poor city girl in a row house in Philadelphia, and we both dreamed over the Sears Catalogue, a cornucopia of desirable objects - a true picture of the Material Culture of our times.
The Sears Catalogue was first printed in 1883 and last printed in 1993 - one hundred years. My parents were devote Sears purchasers. We all researched in the catalogue and we shopped in Sears stores, I shopped in one as recently as about 5 years ago to buy my washer and dryer.
It is another icon of my childhood being erased by time. I miss the old catalogue and like many, I wish I had kept one. It is a constant struggle, however, to decide what to hold on to and what to let go of and if you hold on to too much, you drown in stuff and become a hoarder. I have had to think of stuff as a stream, constantly flowing by, nourishing with what it brings, but always on the move. And you don't want it overflowing its banks and flooding your home. It has to keep moving along.
I wonder, though, what old Sears Catalogues are selling for and surely the antique shops I haunt must carry one or two.
The Sears Catalogue was first printed in 1883 and last printed in 1993 - one hundred years. My parents were devote Sears purchasers. We all researched in the catalogue and we shopped in Sears stores, I shopped in one as recently as about 5 years ago to buy my washer and dryer.
It is another icon of my childhood being erased by time. I miss the old catalogue and like many, I wish I had kept one. It is a constant struggle, however, to decide what to hold on to and what to let go of and if you hold on to too much, you drown in stuff and become a hoarder. I have had to think of stuff as a stream, constantly flowing by, nourishing with what it brings, but always on the move. And you don't want it overflowing its banks and flooding your home. It has to keep moving along.
I wonder, though, what old Sears Catalogues are selling for and surely the antique shops I haunt must carry one or two.
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Genealogical Society of Salem County Event
Genealogical Society Program on "Searching City Directories"
The Genealogical Society of Salem County will host a program on "Searching City Directories" on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 7:00 pm in the Friends Village Auditorium at One Friends Drive, Woodstown, NJ.
The presentation will describe the various types of directories available for genealogical research, including city directories, telephone books, farm directories, and other types of directories. It will cover resources available for Salem County, Cumberland County, Gloucester County, and Camden County, and where these directories can be accessed as books, microfilm, or online resources.
The presenter will be Bonny Beth Elwell, Vice President and Past President of the Genealogical Society of Salem County. She serves on the Board of the Salem County Historical Society, works as the Library Director at the Camden County Historical Society, and serves as the President of the Greater Elmer Area Historical Society, as well as holding various other history-related positions.
This program is free and open to the public. In case of inclement weather, the program will be rescheduled. For more information, visit www.gsscnj.org, call 609-670-0407 or email genealogicalsocietysalemcounty@gmail.com.
The Genealogical Society of Salem County will host a program on "Searching City Directories" on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 7:00 pm in the Friends Village Auditorium at One Friends Drive, Woodstown, NJ.
The presentation will describe the various types of directories available for genealogical research, including city directories, telephone books, farm directories, and other types of directories. It will cover resources available for Salem County, Cumberland County, Gloucester County, and Camden County, and where these directories can be accessed as books, microfilm, or online resources.
The presenter will be Bonny Beth Elwell, Vice President and Past President of the Genealogical Society of Salem County. She serves on the Board of the Salem County Historical Society, works as the Library Director at the Camden County Historical Society, and serves as the President of the Greater Elmer Area Historical Society, as well as holding various other history-related positions.
This program is free and open to the public. In case of inclement weather, the program will be rescheduled. For more information, visit www.gsscnj.org, call 609-670-0407 or email genealogicalsocietysalemcounty@gmail.com.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Edgar Allen Poe's Birthday, January 19th
Having been both an English major and an English teacher, not to mention a born Philadelphian, it goes without saying that I am acquainted with Edgar Allen Poe. In school, we all read his short stories, The Cask of the Amontillado, most well-known, and on my own, as a child I read The Pit and the Pendulum, made into a film. Also, I read many other books and short story collections of the work of Edgar Allen Poe, and over the years, have been to many presentations featuring his work, most recently the Knights/Collings House Halloween storytelling event where a talented group of thespians recited his stories in different rooms of the house - very well done.
It is my personal opinion, that Edgar Allen Poe is especially appealing to high school students because for some reason, they have a taste for horror and the macabre, although at present it seems populated more by zombies and vampires.
Anyway, I though I would give you a 'heads up' about his birthday in case you wanted to do something to celebrate. You could visit the raven at the Philadelphia Library, or you could go to his house:
It is my personal opinion, that Edgar Allen Poe is especially appealing to high school students because for some reason, they have a taste for horror and the macabre, although at present it seems populated more by zombies and vampires.
Anyway, I though I would give you a 'heads up' about his birthday in case you wanted to do something to celebrate. You could visit the raven at the Philadelphia Library, or you could go to his house:
Considering the state of our government at present (the closing of the parks for the budget stand-off, you might want to call before you go!
By the way, speaking of ravens, there was a handsome sculpture of one on the Viking Ship in Philadelphia that I visited this summer with friend, Barb Solem. Apparently, the Vikings used them as land spotters!
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