1 v. (various pagings) : ill., folded map ; 29 cm.
Notes
Includes detailed inventory of sites and structures.
This report presents the case for the preservation of the architectural and environmental aspects of this heritage in a balanced, planned relationship with continued contemporary development. Information is offered concerning the County's resources, the dangers to historic areas, and the possibilities for action. While individual County landmarks do deserve additional attention, the primary emphasis within this report is on the overall character of Lancaster's environmental heritage and the need for its preservation. The natural beauty of our rural areas and the pervasive historic character of many of our older communities are among Lancaster County's basic assets.
This study was updated in 1985 by the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County. The update's title is "Our present past: An update of Lancaster's Heritage" and can be found in our collection. The author of the update is "Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County".
This record provides a link to this resource on the publisher's official online repository.
Summary
HISTORIANS HAVE TRAPPED William Henry of Lancaster (1729–86) in the identity of gunsmith. Though meant as a compliment— most accounts portray Henry as the most important gunsmith in the "rifle-making hub of colonial America," Lancaster County— - this confinement is ironic, since Henry escaped this occupation as soon as he was able. The term gunsmith, then as now, could describe men who repaired guns, who produced specialized gun parts (such as barrels or locks), who created an entire gun from scratch (lock, stock, and barrel), or who ran a factory that employed other men. Henry seems not to have engaged in any of these activities after 1760. By the last decade of his life, Henry had achieved a level of financial security (and apparently embodied the virtuous independence thought to derive from it) that led his peers to entrust him with positions of responsibility and that left Henry free to accept them. He served first in local and state governments and was later appointed an administrator and financier for the Continental army and elected twice to the Continental Congress. We have failed to register the shape of his career, the magnitude of his transformation; instead, historians have imagined that during all these varied activities, Henry continued to work as a gunsmith. Indeed, the belief that Henry "was engaged in the manufacture of firearms for over thirty years," that he produced the rifles or muskets carried by soldiers from the French and Indian War through the Revolution, has been central to stories about him. [abstract]
Principal faculty advisor: Benno M. Forman, Dept. of Art History.
Bibliography: leaves 50-55.
Contents
Chapters: Introduction - History of Lancaster Borough - The building and furniture trades in Lancaster - Economic Status of the Furniture and Building Trades in Lancaster - Success and Kinship - Products , perception , and use of material culture - Conclusion.
Summary
"Lancaster, Pennsylvania, flourished during the last half ofthe eighteenth century. The borough had been founded in 1729 as an inland supply center for the lucrative fur trade and as a gateway to western expansion. The financial opportunities Lancaster offered attracted merchants, professional men, tradesmen, and artisans. This thesis focuses on one group of craftsmen, woodworkers involved in thebuilding and furniture trades between 1750 and 1800. German immigration to southeastern Pennsylvania was high during the eighteenth century, and many of them settled in Lancaster. The ethnic ratio of the woodworkers reflected the town's five-to-one, German-to-British (that is, English, Irish, and Scotch-Irish ) ratio. These artisans shared a common technological skill and, in most cases, a common cultural heritage. This study will examine the growth of thewoodworking trade and will isolate factors that contributed to thewoodworkers' success or failure in the borough. The craftsmen's products will be discussed to determine the extent the Germans adaptedto the British culture and simultaneously retained their ethnic identity. [from the introduction]
Historical sketch of St. Anthony's Church, Lancaster, Penna., 1870-1895 : together with a history of Sacred Heart Academy and St. Anthony's Parochial School, in commemoration of the silver jubilee year, 1895