Tag: first2know

By: Ann Marie Megoulas, Information Services Supervisor

This July 4th, the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Communities across the country will celebrate this historic milestone with a wide range of events, including parades, exhibits, concerts, block parties, and more.

You can learn about celebrations like these by visiting websites like https://america250.org/ and https://america250pa.org/. America250.org highlights many of the major events taking place in cities like Washington, D.C., Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. It also makes it easy to find events closer to home. Just select “Calendar” and search for your location. https://america250pa.org/ focuses specifically on events happening in Pennsylvania and includes concerts, lectures, and other special events created to celebrate Pennsylvania ‘s contributions to this nation throughout the past 250 years.

To find commemorative events and celebrations taking place in and around Dauphin County, explore sites like https://www.visithersheyharrisburg.org/  (Hint: Select “America250 PA Dauphin County” under “Events.”)  Below is a list of a few local events taking place this year:

• Independence Weekend Family Celebration – Dauphin County Heroes Grove, 7/4/2026, 10 am -1pm
• 250PA Star Spangled Spectacular – Dauphin County Heroes Grove, 7/5//2026, 4-8 PM.
• 2026 Free Summer Concert Series at Reservoir Park, 7/4/2026, 7:30-9:00 PM
• Revolutionary Things exhibit at The State Museum of Pennsylvania (June13, 2026- August 1, 2026)

Also, as part of your celebrations, be sure to explore all the wonderful resources that your local library offers for celebrating the semiquincentennial. This summer at the Dauphin County Library System, you can:

• Attend programs like Planting the Seeds of Revolution (July 3rd at 3:00 PM at the William H. & Marion C. Alexander Family Library) and Lively Minds: Meet Rosie the Riveter (July 18th at 12:00 PM at the Elizabethville Area Library). For more information about these and our other fun, educational events, view their descriptions in our program guide, Compass, or online on our Events & Program page.
• Plan a visit to one of our library branches, or to The Library’s website, to explore the many American History-themed books, e-books, audiobooks, databases, pamphlets, and more that we offer. Copies of historical documents like the Declaration of Independence, letters, and newspaper articles from the Revolutionary era, photographs, biographies, and more can be found here.
• View relevant content right from the comfort of your own home by visiting https://www.dcls.org/research/ to investigate the history-themed reference e-books available in the Gale eBooks and Salem Online databases. Each contains reference books that provide concise entries perfect for looking up facts and for creating fun America 250th anniversary trivia games. In Gale eBooks, look for books like Colonial America: Reference Library, The Statue of Liberty, and The US Flag. In Salem Online, the Great Events from History series and the Defining Documents series offer hundreds of essays on the people, events, and issues that shaped the United States.
• Review newspaper articles on this topic. This year, I deepened my own understanding of American history by using The Library’s resources to read newspaper articles written at the time such milestones as the signing of the Declaration of Independence were taking place. Exploring those first-hand accounts made those moments feel vivid and immediate to me, bringing history to life in a way that felt far more meaningful and real. If you are interested in doing the same, open the Newspapers.com database and search for “Declaration of Independence,” “American Revolution,” or “U.S. Constitution” and select appropriate dates. Since Newspapers.com’s articles go back to 1690, you can find plenty of articles from Pennsylvania’s newspapers covering America’s founding. To find Newspapers.com, visit https://www.dcls.org/research/ and select it. For access outside of The Library, enter your library card number and PIN as well.
• Lastly, to find digital resources suitable for sharing America’s history with young children, be sure to explore the POWER Library resources designed just for kids. Databases like Bookflix and Britannica School make learning about topics like the American Flag or the American Revolution interesting and fun. Your Dauphin County Library System library card will give you access to all of POWER Library’s resources.

When it comes to celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary, you can trust The Library to provide you with reliable, accessible information.

By: Charissa Diethrich, Information Services Assistant

Do you ever wish you could travel back in time? Experience important events in U.S. history as they really happened? Well, with The Library’s newspaper databases, you CAN! Browse our Newspapers.com collection to view articles from as early as 1719, and watch history unfold before your eyes.

1776

 Let’s turn back the clock to 1776 – the year our nation was born. 

“THIS DAY, at twelve o’clock,” reads a headline in Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, on July 8^th, 1776, “the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE, will be PROCLAIMED at the STATE-HOUSE.” You – a militia member in Revolutionary-era America – read on urgently to see what your orders will be. “Associated Militia of Pennsylvania…who can be furnished with arms and accoutrements, should be forthwith requested to march with the utmost expedition to Trenton…in New-Jersey.”

The time has come! After years of unrest, the colonies have officially separated from Great Britain. You don’t know how this war will end, but the future of your new country depends on it. To New Jersey!

1781

We leap forward in time, to 1781. Five long years of war have passed. But now, with the defeat of the British at Yorktown, the end is in sight.

“On Saturday last,” you read in the Nov. 10^th, 1781 issue of the Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, “the great and important event of the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and his whole army, to the combined forces commanded by his excellency general Washington, was celebrated here with every mark of joy and festivity. The day was ushered in with the beating of drums, and the American colours were displayed in various parts of town.”

You, like so many of your fellow citizens, feel the weight of years of conflict, now over and done. As celebrations sweep the country, you raise your glass and join in the toasts recorded in the paper: “[To] the memory of all who have fallen in this war in defense of America…[and to] a speedy peace, and the firm establishment of the independence of the United States of America.”

1787

Once more, we turn the dial of our time machine. It is now 1787, and the time has come to forge a new nation. You pick up a copy of the December 19^th issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette, and you see the news – Pennsylvania has become the second state to ratify the constitution of the United States!

Your spirits high, you read the descriptions of festive crowds and joyful celebrations, full of hope for the future. “[A] number of ship-carpenters and sailors conducted a boat, on a wagon drawn by five horses, through the city, to the great amusement of many thousand spectators….[T]he remainder of the day was spent in mutual congratulations upon the happy prospect of enjoying, once more, order, justice, and good government in the United States.”

Discover these historical moments and more in The Library’s Newspapers.com database, found on the “Research” page of our website (dcls.org). History is alive in the news of the past!

 

By: Dwana Pinchock, Marketing & Public Relations Manager

When the Dauphin County Library System recently hosted a screening of the award-winning documentary Unlikely Mermaid, audiences arrived expecting a charming story about mermaids.

They left talking about courage.

The film follows filmmaker Lorraine Portman and her friend Margaret “Peggy” Nicholson, a Harrisburg-area native, as they travel to Florida’s famous Weeki Wachee Springs to audition as mermaid performers.

The premise is whimsical: Two women, ages 60 and 79, decide to pursue a dream most people would dismiss as impossible.

What unfolds is funny, surprising, and deeply moving.

Prior to the screening, I had the opportunity to speak with both Portman and Nicholson about the film, the friendship at its center, and the message they hope audiences will carry with them.

Again and again, the conversation returned to one idea:

Don’t let age, expectations, or fear decide what is possible.

Portman explained that while the film begins with mermaids, it quickly becomes about something much larger.

“We shouldn’t let other people’s ideas about us, or our own negative ideas about ourselves, stop us from trying something new,” she said.

For Nicholson, who graduated from Central Dauphin High School in 1961, the adventure never felt out of reach.

“So what if I’m 79?” she recalled thinking when the opportunity arose.

That attitude may be one reason audiences connect so strongly with the film.

Many of us carry dreams we have quietly placed on a shelf. We tell ourselves we’re too busy, too old, too inexperienced, or simply too late.

Unlikely Mermaid challenges those assumptions.

“Why are your dreams at 80 different than your dreams at 20?” Nicholson asked during our conversation. “Your dreams are just as important when you’re older as when you’re young.”

The film also offers a beautiful portrait of inter-generational friendship.

Portman and Nicholson met through a writing group years ago and discovered that their shared adventure strengthened an already meaningful bond. Training together, traveling together, and encouraging one another became as important as the audition itself.

Their friendship serves as a reminder that community often begins with something simple: a shared interest, a conversation, or a local gathering.

In fact, Portman noted that she and Nicholson first met at a community event, much like the programs and activities that bring people together at The Library every day.

Perhaps that is why the film felt so at home in a library setting.

Libraries are places where people discover new interests, meet new friends, and explore possibilities they may never have considered before. Whether learning a skill, joining a discussion group, attending a program, or picking up a book that changes your perspective, libraries invite us to remain curious.

That spirit is at the heart of Unlikely Mermaid.

When asked what she hopes audiences take away from the film, Portman offered a simple answer:

“That it’s never too late. That trying new things is worth it.”

Or, as she put it in three memorable words:

“Dive right in!”

Those words may be the film’s most powerful message for us all.