To Hear Your Banjo Play (1947)

Old Pittsburgh James Brown

 

Flem's Views of Old Pittsburgh  (1905)

 

Our Lincoln

The Lincoln program on "Nat Geo" last night covered the way Lincoln managed his public image.  

Here is our Lincoln:

The program also explored how he personally commanded troops in the field.  It brought to mind this from J.B. Corey's memoir:

J.B. Corey, 1860:

Remembering the newspaper editor's introduction to his memoirs:

 

More from the editors in Corey's own introduction:

 

Continued here:

St. Clair Lost and Found

This old Bethel kid has new respect for the St. Clair neighbors.   

Dennis Roddy's piece in the Post-Gazette on Arthur St. Clair was fascinating.  It's sad that St. Clair could be all but forgotten, but thanks to Roddy and the PG for telling the story.

This jumped out at me: 

"As important as he was, there is no biography of him today," said Martin West, director of the Fort Ligonier Museum.

I'm not sure if it qualifies as a full biography, but I found "a brief sketch" (1910) on the old Internet Archive.  It has only been downloaded 8 times (!)

From later in the sketch:

 

(Thank you to the Sloan Foundation for being the "digitizing sponsor" of the NOT_IN_ COPYRIGHT book.)

It's actually possible to read the entire 41 page book right here via this nifty embed feature on the archive:

History of Old Braddock Hospital

The Unwritten History of Braddock's Field (1917) contains the story of Braddock Hospital's founding.  Interesting that the idea for the hospital was first championed by a local newspaperman (his editor was not happy with it).

It took almost 12 years from the first donation until the opening.  They quickly realized it was way too small, so they set out to raise more funds for 2 more wings.

Here are some excerpts (click to enlarge if they appear too small):

- Snip -

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lest we forget...

 

Hotel Radio - Health Care Edition

More from Mayor Lawrence circa 1950:

A population of 1.5 million in the county supported:

There were 70 hospitals in the county back then, but just 1,800 physicians and 1,000 nurses.  That's amazing.


A quick check of the government's Hospital Compare site shows 17 hospitals in Allegheny County now (UPMC Braddock included) for our population of 1.2 million. How many physicians are there in the county now?  Nurses? 


The change since 1950 in terms of how our health care needs are met (or not) is pretty incredible.   So many tertiary care centers and ancillary services now, it's like comparing apples and oranges.
 

I love how radio stations were based in hotels back then.   Now we have retirement communities with their own TV stations.

Pittsburgh Veterans on Election Day

I am not a city resident, so I have no say in the Mayoral race.  

But I did like this video that Franco "Dok" Harris put up featuring his visit to a senior center in Brookline.  He talks about the potential to harness for good the experiences of "Pittsburgh Veterans" to develop "senior living technology."   Cool vision, but I hope for a low tech approach too -- promoting new ways to organize care and support for elders and persons with disabilities.

Here's a few from the personal vault of me wearing my Franco shirt (and football pants!) raking leaves in Bethel Park, circa 1979.

 

A Few General Facts