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  • Writing Pennsylvania History—A “Labor of True Enjoyment”: An Interview with Ken and Bob Wolensky
  • Kenneth C. Wolensky (bio) and Robert P. Wolensky (bio)

It is impossible to research the history of Pennsylvania— particularly its labor, industrial, and political history, and especially its Northeast history—without coming across seminal works by historians Ken and Bob Wolensky, two brothers for whom history has been a life-long labor of love. Here Ken and Bob offer their responses to questions posed by the editors of Pennsylvania History about their own interests, the uses of oral history, Northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA), and the future of the discipline.

editors:

When did you become interested in writing about Pennsylvania’s history and what sparked that interest?

ken:

My interest in Pennsylvania history goes back to childhood as well as high school and college experiences.

Among my early memories is a Cub Scout trip to Valley Forge. I must have been about eight or nine years old. For me it was fascinating to visit such a place and to realize what had happened there—right in our own backyard. The interest in history [End Page 287] was further stimulated by a few excellent high school history teachers. One taught an elective Pennsylvania history course that really captured my attention. I wrote a paper in that class on the Wyoming Massacre.

As an undergraduate, I majored in history and realized that one day I wanted to write and teach about people, places, and events in state history. For one course I wrote a paper and gave a talk about several topics in Pennsylvania’s history. I can’t remember all of the topics but I know one was about the significance of the anthracite mining industry. Most people in the class had no idea what anthracite was or why it was significant. It was a real teaching opportunity! I worked diligently in all of those history classes, enjoyed each one, and graduated with honors.

I came to the practice of history in a circuitous way. After completing a graduate degree in public administration and working in several state government positions for eleven years, I went on to complete a doctorate at Penn State and then came to PHMC in 1997. Working at PHMC and being professionally involved in the Pennsylvania Historical Association has afforded me the opportunity to engage with state history, write and speak extensively about it, and interact with other public and academic historians.

History has been a labor of true enjoyment, really—one that started as a child. To me, the enjoyment of history has come naturally.

bob:

History was always a favorite subject in grade school, high school, and college but it turned into a life’s work when [the] Tropical Storm Agnes disaster hit Pennsylvania and other states in June 1972. As a doctoral student at Penn State looking for a dissertation topic, I selected the Wyoming Valley/Wilkes-Barre area’s efforts to deal with the catastrophe. The subject required that I delve not only into earlier flood disasters, but—as I quickly learned—the political and economic history of the community and the state. The National Science Foundation funded a follow-up study in 1982 that furthered my interest in the area’s and the state’s history.

The Wyoming Valley Oral History Project (WVOHP) grew out of the Agnes research and soon expanded to include coal mining, garment working, ethnicity, politics, economics, sports, and other topics. Over the past ten years or so Ken and I, along with my daughter, Nicole, have drawn upon the WVOHP in writing a few books about the northeastern region’s mining and garment industries (listed below). I have coauthored other anthracite-region studies with colleagues and, in each case, we have called upon the oral histories. [End Page 288]

editors:

What changes have you observed over time in the way historians approach the history of the Commonwealth?

ken:

One of the major changes has been a growing body of scholarship on twentieth-century history. Several new books, as well as articles in Pennsylvania History, Pennsylvania Heritage, Legacies (Historical Society of Pennsylvania), and other publications, have dealt with twentieth century topics.

We’ve both thought...

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