Home | Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Library

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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      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.

      Helen Kollas
      
Interview of Helen Kollas by Michael Collins on March 18, 2015. The interview focuses on the Hamilton Restaurant in Carlisle, Pennsylavania, Kollas' early life growing up, and the Greek Community in Carlisle.

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      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.

      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.

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      Letter: John Armstrong Jr., 1829
      
Dear Sir, I sincerely regret that I am so little able to give you information with regard to that part of your father’s life, which from being least known to yourself, becomes most the object of your enquiries.
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      Letter: Margaret Currey to her brother William Currey, 1840
      
Margaret Currey1 writes to her brother William and describes her work days at Carlisle’s Mansion House Hotel. She receives several letters from people in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania asking her to work for them, and she is contemplating the merits and drawbacks of each request.
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      Letter: Mary Parker Moore Describes Carlisle after the Rebel Invasion of 1863 
      
Mary Parker Moore had a privileged life. She was the daughter of Carlisle Attorney Isaac Brown Parker and his wife Maria Ross Veazey.  When Mary was 24 years old, she married Johnston Moore from an old and prominent Cumberland County family.
Read more about Letter: Mary Parker Moore Describes Carlisle after the Rebel Invasion of 1863 

    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...