Pennsylvania State Archives Collections Online

Visit digitized Pennsylvania State Archives Collections through Power Library’s PA Photos and Documents to discover a wealth of records from the State Archives, including a Constitutional Convention of 1776 (PA) Minute Book.

In addition to Pennsylvania State Archives Collections, you can also explore thousands of other digitized documents and photographs from many unique collections in libraries across Pennsylvania through Power Library‘s PA Photos and Documents.

You’ll be amazed by what you find!

Kids’ Update: James and the Giant Peach

Do you love Roald Dahl? Do you like supporting good causes? Do you adore watching celebrities goof around? Then James and the Giant Peach read by Taika and friends is just for you!

The collaboration between Roald Dahl Story Company, Taika Waititi and the star-studded line-up of guests will serve children and families currently in lockdown all over the world and will raise money for Partners In Health, a global health non-profit who are on the front line of the fight against COVID-19 in the most vulnerable parts of the world, with the Roald Dahl Story Company committed to donation matching of $1 million.

Watch new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! James and the Giant Peach.

Happy National Paper Airplane Day

Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

Learn more about the origin of paper airplanes and watch a how-to video here.

Got the flying bug? Here are some fiction and nonfiction stories about aviation, ready for take-off on your device:

The Aviators – Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight by Winston Groom – eBook available now

The Aviator’s Wife – A Novel by Melanie Benjamin – eBook available now

A Higher Call – An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II by Adam Makos – audiobook available now

Hornet Flight by Ken Follett – eBook available now

Sully – My Search for What Really Matters by Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger, III – eBook available now

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough – Willing to hop on a short waitlist? This audiobook available soon!

Looking for more? Try these keyword searches:

aviation
flying
paper airplanes

 

 

Virtual Program: Author Event

Join us for an event with Janny Scott, author of The Beneficiary, Thursday, June 4, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

The Beneficiary is the tale of beloved local Montgomery and Scott families, who inspired the movie “The Philadelphia Story.” Main Line resident Janny Scott traverses a century and a half of local American history to illuminate her family story, and excavates the weight of inheritance, the tenacity of addiction, and the power of buried secrets.

Sponsored by the Chester County Library Trust.

Please register for the program: Thursday, June 4, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

A Zoom link will be emailed to registrants 2 hours before the program starts. Make sure to check the email address you registered with to receive the link. You do not need a Zoom account to attend the virtual program.

‘Restore Chester County’ Webinar: Preparing County Businesses to Re-Open

The Chester County COVID-19 Business Task Force is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, May, 26, 2020 at 3:30 p.m. for county businesses and organizations looking to reopen, revise, or expand operations due to the impact of the Coronavirus. 

The first webinar, led by Lucia Mullen, MPH, an analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, will focus on preparing businesses and organizations of all sizes and types to determine their risk of transmission of COVID-19. The webinar will also provide a toolkit that enables businesses to identify their areas of risk and suggestions to reduce it. 

To access the webinar, click here.

Kids’ Update: Happy Memorial Day

Though summer doesn’t start till June 21st, many people celebrate Memorial Day as the unofficial first day of summer. But Memorial Day is about a lot more than hot dogs and hamburgers.

Union General, John A. Logan, declared May 30, 1868 an occasion to decorate the graves of Civil War soldiers. He called it Decoration Day (later changed to Memorial Day). In 1950, President Harry S. Truman issued a proclamation calling on Americans to observe the holiday as a day of prayer for peace. President Richard M. Nixon declared Memorial Day a federal holiday in 1971. Now, we observe Memorial Day on the last Monday of May and honor the men and women of the U.S. military who died in American wars. 

This video from PBS Learning Media will teach you more about Memorial Day.

Journaling Intro: Get the juices flowing!

Journaling methods for mental health.  

Welcome to the beginning of our new series on journaling!  Journaling is a practice we stereotypically associate with kids and preteens who complain about their parents and gush about their crushes and chat about school in a diary with “DO NOT READ” scribbled in all caps over the front cover – which is a perfectly valid and fun form of journaling, don’t get me wrong!  But in fact, many people from the young to the old have picked up journaling as a form of creative and personal expression, and there are studies that show the benefits of journaling for our health.  Not only that, but journaling can come in many more shapes and sizes than you might think.  Throughout this series on journaling, we will present to you some of these journaling methods in hopes that you might find one that strikes your fancy.

For this first installment, we will discuss the most basic form of journaling:  regular, old-fashioned diary journaling.  I think you probably all understand what this entails, and many of you might have even had this type of journal when you were young, but some of you might not know just how beneficial it can be for your mental and physical health.  Below, we have a couple links to resources talking about this, but to keep it short and simple:  a journal is a place where you can write down your thoughts and feelings in a safe, judgment-free space so that you can examine them and better understand them, which can help you manage stress, anxiety, and depression.  And as a consequence, lowering your stress, anxiety, and depression has been proven to have wide-ranging physical health benefits.

If this sounds appealing to you, we have a challenge for you this week…

**Take 5 minutes or less (or more!) every day for a week to just write.  You can write in a physical notebook or in a digital Word or Google doc – whatever’s easiest for you.  But don’t worry if you miss a day!  The point of this exercise is to reduce stress, not add to it.  You can write about anything, even just one sentence or one phrase will do.  What did you do today?  What did you accomplish?  What do you want to accomplish tomorrow?  If you didn’t do anything that day, that’s okay.  You are allowed to have those days.  We all have them.  Instead, write about what television shows or movies you watched, or what music you’re really into right now, or how you felt that day.  If you really, truly can’t come up with anything, go for my mother’s default in conversation:  How was the weather?**

Normally, if you can start with one sentence, it’s easier to move on to two, then three, then more.  And by the end of the week, you’ll have a record of how the week went for you.  Did you have a bad week?  Were you tired or bored or down a lot?  Looking back at this record might help you see why you had such a bad week and come up with strategies for making the next week better.  Or maybe you had a wonderful week, picking up a new hobby that you’re finding you really love, spending a lot of happy, quality time with your family, and so on.  You’ll be able to look back at those times a year from now and remember the happiness that you felt.  If you continued with the new hobby, maybe you’ll be a year into it and be able to look back and see the exact date that you started.  It’s like a mini time capsule just for you and your life.

If this method of diary journaling seems too vague or too boring to be of any use or interest to you, or maybe you find part-way through the week that it just isn’t working for you, keep an eye out for our next installments where we will be giving you some ideas for more different types of journaling.  We’ll be talking about Bullet Journaling, Mindfulness Journaling, Dream Journaling, Art Journaling, Micro Journaling, and more.  The most important thing to keep in mind throughout this whole series is:  Does this work for you?


Resources & Inspiration:  

Journaling for Mental Health” from the University of Rochester Medical Center

Journaling isn’t just good for mental health.  It might also help your physical health.” from NBC News

how i finally started journaling *and actually enjoying it*” video from ‘bestmess’ on YouTube

New Dates for US Census

The 2020 Census is underway – more than half the households across America have responded – and more are responding every day. Online, phone and mailed self-responses will continue throughout the data collection process.  

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Census Bureau has adjusted 2020 Census operations in order to:

  • Protect the health and safety of the American public and Census Bureau employees.
  • Implement guidance from Federal, State, and local authorities regarding COVID-19.
  • Ensure a complete and accurate count of all communities.

Now the Census will continue to collect responses through October 31, 2020.

If you haven’t yet responded to the Census, find out how you can here.