Tag: humanities

Who’s your Window Keeper? Nominate them today!

a collage of portraits of the first 25 people selected as Window Keepers

Real-life Window Keepers are everyday people who illuminate what’s possible in their communities, helping others to connect and participate more fully in civic life. Over the coming months, PA Humanities will recognize Window Keepers from all across Pennsylvania, but we can’t do it without YOU! Read to learn more about how to help tell the story of Pennsylvania at 250 and honor the ones working to make life better in the places we call home.

How three Wingspan grantees are moving beyond traditional community engagement

PA Humanities launched the two-year Wingspan grant program in 2024. Learn how Friends of the Tanner House, the Chester Cultural Arts and Technology Center and the Crawford County Historical Society used the funding and peer support to strengthen their work as living, collaborative experiences rooted in local history and expanded community partnerships. 

Wingspan grantees illuminate Pennsylvania’s past through storytelling

The cover image is a collage featuring screenshots from the various video projects, including historic homes, an old mill, a family with young children engaged in an archaeology dig, and an old photo of horses in a field with an old barn.

PA Humanities’ Wingspan grants are helping organizations across Pennsylvania bring community stories to life and spotlight voices too often left out of the historical record. From documentaries exploring the Underground Railroad to award-winning films uncovering Jefferson County’s industrial and agricultural past, Wingspan funding has given historians and storytellers the flexibility to research, film, teach, and share their work in meaningful ways. The result is history that feels personal, connected, and alive.

When teens take the lead: Inside PA Humanities’ youth-led approach

Julia Katz stands, smiling, wearing a mustard-colored top, at the front of the room in the background while a group of women who are attendees at the Youth-Led Humanities Community Culture Changers convening are seated around round tables, smiling and laughing.

What does it look like to create humanities-based programming that teens don’t just attend, but actually help shape and keep coming back to? That question is at the heart of Youth-Led Humanities, one of PA Humanities’ core programs. Hear from Julia Katz, PA Humanities’ Education Program Manager, about what it means to be youth-led, why this approach works, and how Youth-Led Humanities—and new training opportunities for libraries and youth-serving organizations—are helping adults think about how they partner with young people.

Voices of History Scranton: Identity and community

a collage shows the three people whose stories are featured in the post: from left, Glynis M. Johns, Mmachi O. Dimoriaku and Nyriq Johnson.

Welcome to Voices of History Scranton, a PA Humanities project inspired by the works of renowned playwright August Wilson and designed to showcase the voices of everyday Black Pennsylvanians. In these three videos, you’ll hear the stories of young adults who discovered identity, purpose, and community through the challenges and opportunities that shaped their journeys in Scranton. Whether arriving from elsewhere or returning home, each of them reflects on what it means to navigate unfamiliar spaces, build connections, and turn personal experience into inspiration for creativity, leadership, and belonging.

Voices of History Scranton: Stories of family

PA Humanities is excited to present Voices of History Scranton. In these first two videos, we meet women whose lives were shaped by family, faith, loss, and identity. Both stories illuminate the strength found in belonging, both newly discovered and long-cherished, and the ways in which the women carry memories, build connections and find meaning in where they come from.

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