Announcements

Villanova University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, announces the establishment of the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest. The Center is founded on the belief that historical scholarship and historical perspective, when brought to bear on contemporary global issues, can help us make better decisions and create a better society.

The Lepage Center was established in 2016 and began operations in 2017. It is made possible by the generosity and vision of Mr. Albert Lepage, a history major at Villanova, graduate of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences '69, and retired co-chairman of Lepage Bakeries, Inc. The Center is led by a full-time director and a part-time faculty director appointed to a three-year term. The Center also employs student fellows to assist with communications and programs. An advisory council lends credibility, visibility, and sustainability to the Center.

Programs include: History Communication Fellowships, giving graduate and undergraduate history students the chance to develop skills to communicate history in today's complex media environment; briefings for business leaders, policymakers, and elected officials on societal issues through the lens of historical scholarship; institutes for teachers, students, historians and journalists; and events free and open to the public. For more information visit their website at http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/lepage.html or email lepage@villanova.edu.

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The Library of Congress announced the migration of its American Memory content on the LoC website. You will find a linked notice about this on the American Memory homepage at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html. This migration is part of an ongoing modernization process that is necessary because the formatting of many of the collections was old and not sustainable. The current list of collections that have migrated to new presentations can be found here: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/updatedList.html.

One additional change to note is that presentations composed of outside collections no longer appear on the LoC website, but on the site of the institution holding the original materials. Those are marked with a little blue box with an arrow to the right of the collection title. Whether LoC collection or not, clicking on a title takes you to the new presentation. As stated above the list, you can browse all digitized collections at https://www.loc.gov/collections. You can also search by entering words in the search box at the top of the Digitized Collections page or, more broadly, at https://www.loc.gov/search.

New publication on the industrial archeology of Pennsylvania. Industrial Archeology: The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology has announced the publication of a special-theme issue on "The Archeology of Industry in Pennsylvania" (41:1 and 2). Edited by F. L. Quivik and G. F. Coppock, the issue includes:

A Laser Ablation Study of Some Eighteenth-Century Germanic-American Glass: Amelung, Stiegel and Wistarburgh, John D. Greenough and J. Victor Owen

The Archaeology of Failure: An Example from the Juniata Iron District of Pennsylvania Scott D. Heberling

Abraham S. Valentine's Log Washer and the Resuscitation of the Nineteenth-Century Iron Industry of Central Pennsylvania Gary F. Coppock

Machinery to Match the Materials: Iron Ore Washing in Pennsylvania Steven A. Walton

Jones and Laughlin Steel Works: 130 Years of Industry/25 Years of Archaeology Christine Davis

Bark, Liquor, and Skins: Late Nineteenth-Century Tanning on Pittsburgh's Northside Benjamin Resnick

Sand Manufacturing in Western Pennsylvania: The Spring Creek Glass Sand Works Brian L. Fritz and Jason Espino

Disappearing Icon: The Pennsylvania Turnpike's Rigid-Frame Bridges Gerald M. Kuncio

Individual copies are available through the SIA website: http://www.siaweb.org/ Retail price: $20.00 each + shipping. Businesses (e.g., booksellers, historical societies, and other nonprofits) will be able to purchase multiple copies at the wholesale price or $12.00 each plus shipping.

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The Papers of James Buchanan (1791–1868), representative and senator of Pennsylvania, secretary of state, and fifteenth president of the United States, and those of his niece and White House hostess Harriet Lane Johnston (1830–1903) contain approximately 1,600 items dating from 1825 to 1887. These are now available online...