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Image: Dam on Mountain Creek by Jim Bradley
An initiative of the Cumberland County Historical Society the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library seeks to fulfill the Society's mission of collecting, engaging, and sharing the stories of Cumberland County.

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      Highlighted Stories    
    
      Shirley I. HeishmanInterview of Shirley Heishman for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. Heishman discusses her life growing up in Bloserville outside of Newville, Pennsylvania including her experiences working on her parents farm to meeting her husband Don Heishman and their many business ventures from hauling milk, water, and whey to building the Heishman Softball Complex.

      Nhan Ai Simms
      
Interview of Nhan Ai Simms by Amanda Gautier and Megan Osborn on November 1, 2015 for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. The interview focuses on the Simms family and experiences in Carlisle and Cumberland County after Vietnam.

      Highlighted Entries    
    
      Miss Margaret MacDonald (1760-1844)Margaret MacDonald was born on June 22, 1760, one of Duncan and Sarah MacDonald’s four children.1 Her father, described as “the old Scotch highland piper,”2 likely served in one of the British regiments sent to Carlisle during the French and Indian War.

      Isabella Oliver
      
Isabella Oliver, (July 16, 1771—June 7, 1843), once known as the “poetess of the Conodoguinet,” or more colorfully as that creek’s “muse,” was the second--and the first female--published Cumberland County poet in 1805 with Poems on Various Subjects, following the unknown writer of The Unequal Conflict in 1792.

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      Letter: Mr. James McManus, Merchant from H. W. Peterson, 1823A gentleman squires young ladies around the State Capitol.
Read more about Letter: Mr. James McManus, Merchant from H. W. Peterson, 1823

      Letter: To Charles Penrose from Mary Penrose, 1839Mary Penrose is writing from Point Celeste sugar plantation in Plaquemines Parish Louisiana to her brother Charles B. Penrose in Carlisle. She is urging him to help.
Read more about Letter: To Charles Penrose from Mary Penrose, 1839

      Letter: To Miss Margaret McCandlish in Newville, PA, 1839It was a cold Sunday night in Pittsburgh when James McCandlish sat down and wrote a letter to both his niece Margaret and her father. He is thrilled to get a coat for the winter, and he updates them on the goings on in Pittsburgh. He writes “I don’t want anybody to see this but them that should.”
Read more about Letter: To Miss Margaret McCandlish in Newville, PA, 1839

    Railroads
  
Jim E. Largent Sr.Largent discusses his experiences growing up and his time working for a railroad company. Watch Story...
Dillsburg and Mechanicsburg Railroad“The Dillsburg and Mechanicsburg Railroad was built with the backing of the Cumberland Valley Railroad primarily to haul iron ore from the vast reserves around Dillsburg to furnaces in the Harrisburg region. Read Article...
Hey Ollie, Let's Go RailroadingReproduced below are a number of the photographs which were displayed at the Cumberland County Historical Society as an exhibit "Hey Ollie, Let's Go Railroading." Over 250 photographs were put on display as a tribute to all the railroaders, both here and gone, who worked in the Cumberland Valley. Read Story...