Books

Examines a half-century epoch when planners, public officials, and civic leaders engaged in a dialogue about the meaning of planning and its application for improving life in Pittsburgh. Defines Pittsburgh’s key role in the national urban planning movement.

Pittsburgh in Stages offers the first comprehensive history of theater in Pittsburgh, placing it within the context of cultural development in the city and the history of theater nationally.Lynne Conner details the defining movements of each era and analyzes how public tastes evolved over time. She offers a fascinating study of regional theatrical development and underscores the substantial contribution of regional theater to American theatrical arts.

From the 1905 opening of the wildly popular, eponymous Nickelodeon in the city’s downtown to the outgrowth of nickel theaters in nearly all of its neighborhoods, Pittsburgh proved to be perfect for the movies. Nickelodeon City profiles the major promoters in Pittsburgh, as well as ordinary theater owners, suppliers, and patrons. Aronson examines early film promotion, distribution, and exhibition, and reveals the beginnings of state censorship and the lobbying and manipulation attempted by members of the movie trade.

Toker examines Pittsburgh in its historical context, in its regional setting, and from the street level (leading the reader on a personal tour through every neighborhood). Based on his 1986 classic, Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait, but with a completely revised text and lavishly illustrated with all new photos and maps, Pittsburgh: A New Portrait reveals the true colors of a great American city.

Choice 1990 Outstanding Academic Book, Shadow of the Mills focuses on the private side of industrialization, on how the mills structured the everyday existence of the women, men, and children who lived in their shadows. Through imaginative use of census data, the records of municipal, charitable, and fraternal organizations, and the voices of workers themselves in local newspapers, S.J. Kleinberg builds a detailed picture of the working-class life cycle: marital relationships, the interaction between parents and children, the education and employment prospects of the young, and the lives if the elderly.

A Comprehensive History of Pittsburgh’s Black Population from Colonial Times to the 1930s

Winner of the 1996 Phi Alpha Theta Best First Book Award Killing Time examines the cultural history of southwestern Pennsylvania through the lens of leisure activities. Scott Martin details how leisure activities were integral in the formation of class, gender, ethnic, and community identities.

The first history of The Carnegie Museums and Library of Pittsburgh, a cultural conglomeration that has served millions of people since its inception in 1895. Gangewere details the political turmoil, budgetary constraints, and cultural tides that have influenced the caretakers and the collections along the way. He provides individual histories of the library, music hall, museums, and science center, and describes the importance of each as an educational and research facility.

Robert D. Lifset offers an original case history of a major event in environmental history—when a small group of local residents initiated a landmark case of ecology versus energy production and challenged the construction of the Storm King pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant on the Hudson River in the 1960s.

New in Paper

Allegheny City, known today as Pittsburgh’s North Side, was the third-largest city in Pennsylvania when it was controversially annexed by the City of Pittsburgh in 1907. Dan Rooney, a longtime North Side resident, joins local historian Carol Peterson in creating this highly engaging history of the cultural, industrial, and architectural achievements of Allegheny City from its humble beginnings until the present day. The authors cover the history of the city from its origins as a colonial outpost to its emergence alongside Pittsburgh as one of the most important industrial cities in the world. Supplemented by historic and contemporary photos, the authors take the reader on a fascinating and often surprising street-level tour of this colorful, vibrant, and proud place.

The first comprehensive study of Scheibler, it includes 125 historic and contemporary photographs and drawings, all of Scheibler’s known projects—including many not recorded in any other published source—and a selected bibliography.

Formerly titled An Uncommon Passage: Traveling through History on the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, this is a revised and updated version. This book reveals the historic importance of the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, now a scenic biking tand hiking trail that stretches from Pittsburgh, PA to Washington, D.C. Through beautiful contemporary photos, historic illustrations and a compelling narrative, the rich history of the trail comes to life for visitors (and everyone) to enjoy.

Pennsylvania Farming presents the first history of Pennsylvania agriculture in more than sixty years. Sally McMurry goes beyond a strictly economic approach and considers the diverse forces that helped shape the farming landscape, from physical factors to cultural repertoires to labor systems. Above all, the people who created and worked on Pennsylvania’s farms are placed at the center of attention. More than 150 photographs inform the interpretation, which offers a sweeping look at the evolution of Pennsylvania’s agricultural landscapes right up to the present day.

Drawing on economic, technological, labor, and environmental history, Kenneth Warren explains the birth, phenomenal growth, decline and death of the Connellsville coke industry—the region that made Pittsburgh steel world famous.

Philadelphia was one of America’s first major cities and an international seaport. Nature’s Entrepot views the planning, expansion, and sustainability of the urban environment of Philadelphia from its inception to the present.