Image: Dam on Mountain Creek by Jim Bradley

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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

Catharine MacCaffray (Women in World War II)

Catharine MacCaffray instructs Masland Employees on applying bandages

This is an oral history conducted by Steven Burg with Catharine MacCaffray at her home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on June 20, 2002 as part of the Cumberland County Women During World War Two Oral History Project. MacCaffray discusses her experience as a volunteer nurse's aid for the American Red Cross in various hostitals in Carlisle. MacCaffray further talks about other various experiences including working at C. H. Masland's, seeing German POWs, and rationing.

Shirley I. Heishman

Interview 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.

Highlighted Entries

Mrs. Sarah A. Faber: From Carlisle to Constantinople

Print shows a bird's-eye view of many pedestrians and a horse-drawn carriage on the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn at Eminönü, Istanbul, Turkey, with minarets and mosques visible in the background

When Sarah Filey was growing up in rural Cumberland County in the 1830s and 1840s, she could not have imagined that ten years of her life would be spent more than 5,000 miles away in Constantinople, Turkey.

Susana McMurray Higgs (1794-1877)

Photo of the stone house at corner of Bedford and Louther Streets, operated as the Sign of the Thirteen Stripes tavern.

Daughter of a Carlisle tavernkeeper, wife of an English iron worker, Aunt to a well-known actress, and benefactress to the poor, Susana McMurray Higgs was born, lived much of her life and died on the same property in Carlisle.

Recently Published

Dean Vaughn

Interview of Dean Vaughn for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library Memory Bank of the Cumberland County Historical Society. Vaughn discusses growing up in Boiling Springs in the post-WWII era before volunteering for the United States Army. He then discusses how he developed his memory techniques while working for RCA in Thule, Greenland and what led him to establish his own company.

Railroads

Jim E. Largent Sr.

Image of Jim E. Largent SrLargent 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 Railroading

Reproduced 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...