2011

Click on any underlined title to see more detailed information on each program, including videos approved for recording by speaker.  If you have trouble playing any video, please let us know at email: sqhillhist@shhsoc.org

December
History of Jewish Residential Services
Speaker:   DEBORAH FRIEDMAN, Executive Director

from JRS website:
Jewish Residential Services provides residential and rehabilitative services to people who need support in their everyday lives because of psychiatric or developmental disabilities.

November
History of Homewood Cemetery
Speaker:   MARILYN EVERT, Homewood Cemetery Historian

 from their website:
The Homewood Cemetery is part of the American Cemetery Movement of the 1800s.   The cemetery was founded in 1878…a Lawn Park style.

October
The Thaws of Pittsburgh, Allegheny and the East End
Speaker:  DAVID GRINNEL, Chief Archivist at the Heinz History and JOHN CANNING, Vice-President of the Allegheny City Society

One of the most significant families of 19th century Pittsburgh was that of William Thaw.

September
August Wilson — A Personal Remembrance
Speaker:   SALA UDIN, Former Pittsburgh City Councilman

From Wikipedia “The August Wilson Center “engages regional and national audiences in its mission of preserving, presenting, interpreting, celebrating, and shaping the art, culture, and history of African Americans in Western Pennsylvania and people of African American descent throughout the world.”

July
The Story of Unitarian Universalism in Western Pennsylvania
Speaker: KATHLEEN PARKER, Adjunct lecturer in history at the University of Pittsburgh

June
The Jewish Community of Pittsburgh — Finding Your Family Roots
Speaker: ROBERT ZAVOS, Vice President of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh

June
WALKING TOUR: Frick Park
Tour of “FRICK PARK” held in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy

Information from Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy  “The largest of Pittsburgh’s regional parks at 561 acres, Frick Park is also the youngest. Although Henry Clay Frick bequeathed the original 151 acres to the city in 1919, the park did not open until 1927 after additional land had been acquired. Most recently, 106 acres were annexed to the park as part of the process that created the Summerset at Frick Park housing development and restored the Nine Mile Run stream valley. Now Frick Park stretches from its northern borders in Point Breeze down to the Monongahela River.”

May
Petroleum Pioneers in Pittsburgh’s East End
Speaker: AL MANN, Former Energy Engineer with Gulf Oil/USDOE and Current President, East End/East Liberty Historical Society.

In January 2008, the East End/East Liberty Historical Society published a book through Acadia Publishing. “Pittsburgh’s East Liberty Valley”

April
University of Pittsburgh — Past, Present and Future
Speaker:  G. REYNOLDS “RENNY” CLARK, Vice Chancellor for Community Initiatives and Chief of Staff, Office of the Chancellor, University of Pittsburgh

March
“The Paris of Appalachia” Pittsburgh: Past, Present and Future
Speaker: BRIAN O’NEILL, Post-Gazette Columnist

March
Carnegie Mellon – The Innovative University
Speaker: DANIEL P. RESNICK,  Professor Emeritus of History and Director, Center for the History of the University Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon has developed a global reputation as the quintessential American Research University.   Why and How?? Dr. Resnick’s talk and slides will deal with the history of Carnegie Mellon, the themes developed with his colleagues in “The Innovative University”.

See“The Innovative University” website and his current research on American Research Universities since the Second World War.

February
Rachel Carson and Her Legacy
Speaker:  PATRICIA DeMARCO, PhD Executive Director, Rachel Carson Homestead Association

January
“The Paris of Appalachia” Pittsburgh: Past, Present and Future
Speaker:  BRIAN O’NEILL, Post-Gazette Columnist

This meeting was scheduled for January but canceled due to weather. Rescheduled for March 29, 2011