Author: Diane Gramley

How history is told impacts future generations of any country. Since at least 2021, the PA Historical and Museum Commission has been engaged in a comprehensive review of its 2500 historical markers. Here are a couple examples of what they’ve done: made changes to a marker at the suburban Philadelphia birthplace of Continental Army Maj. Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne because it referred to him as an “Indian fighter.” It also is developing a replacement to a marker that has been removed from the grounds of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, on the site of a 19th-century prison, that noted Confederate cavalry were held there after their capture in Ohio during the Civil War. Across the nation there is an effort to rewrite our nation’s history, but what prompted this interview was the effort to remove a statue of William Penn from Welcome Park in Philadelphia.