-
A catalogue for Ellie’s alma mater
Dear Ellie Stoneroad, packrat that she seems to have been, saved three catalogues from her alma mater, the short-lived Harrisburg Female Seminary. The seminary, which lasted from 1849 to 1867, was located at the junction of Locust Street and present-day Court Street in Harrisburg–coincidentally at the very spot of the parking garage serving the office building where I interned one summer in college. (I did not realize this at the time, however.) Despite its short life, the seminary seems to have attracted substantial backing during its time. Its catalogue lists recommendations from many, including William F. Johnson, the former governor of Pennsylvania. Names of its backers read like a who’s…
-
The Barnard statues
American sculptor George Grey Barnard was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Illinois before studying art in Paris. He received a commission in 1902 to produce sculptures for the new Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg and moved back to Paris to start work. Barnard’s sculptures–Love and Labor: The Unbroken Law and The Burden of Life: The Broken Law, flanking the front entryway–were unveiled in a public ceremony on October 4, 1911. The dedication ceremony was quite an affair, with an invocation by Barnard’s father, poem and song, a performance by the Commonwealth Band, an acceptance by Pennsylvania governor (and former Major Leaguer) John Tener, and an address by former Pennsylvania governor Samuel…