Introduction

Launched in 2000 and hosted by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book (PACFTB), the Literary and Cultural Heritage Maps of Pennsylvania are a continual work in progress. After careful consideration, biographies and feature articles that no longer support PACFTB’s goals are archived. We continue to be grateful to our authors and other contributors, thus we have developed this page to acknowledge and provide access to their work. Below is a list of biographies and feature articles that are no longer being maintained, which we have archived through the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine. Following the list is information about reasons and procedures for archiving. Those with questions or concerns are welcome to contact the project's Administrator, Bernadette A. Lear.

Archived Biographies

Archived Feature Articles

[No listings at this time]

Reasons and Procedures for Archiving

Please see our About page to learn more about the current mission of the Literary and Cultural Heritage Maps of Pennsylvania. As more Pennsylvania history is unearthed and as the information and educational landscapes change, our editorial focus continues to evolve. 

In 2000, when our project was launched, there was no Wikipedia and other regional projects like the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, Digital Harrisburg, and Historic Pittsburgh were just beginning or were non-existent. During the first decade of our project, under the direction of Dr. Steven L. Herb and Dr. Alan Jalowitz, the top priorities were to document as much about Pennsylvania literature, culture, and history as possible, and to engage college students in exploring Pennsylvania topics of their choice. Upon passing the 1,000 biography mark, we began enhancing various processes for updating, categorizing, and displaying this large number of biographies and feature articles and we found duplicate content in other digital humanities projects that had emerged in the 20 years since introducing this project. Thus, in 2022, we revised our Inclusion Guidelines for Biographies and our Inclusion Guidelines for Feature Articles to emphasize Alignment with PACFTB’s Mission, Relevance to Pennsylvania, Lack of Similar Coverage, and other previously under-emphasized factors. Starting in 2022 and continuing through 2025, our Editorial Board is reviewing all existing biographies and feature articles to determine which ones will continue to be maintained and which will be archived. The Archived Biographies and Feature Articles page will grow as additional items reviewed and removed from our site.  

As part of the review process, at least 2 Editorial Board members, plus the project’s Administrator and PACFTB staff, apply the guidelines to each biography and feature article and recommend whether to keep it or remove it from the project. The Administrator (Bernadette A. Lear), reconciles everyone’s suggestions and makes the final decision. All archived items remain publicly accessible through the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine. Back-end copies of textual information also exist on PACFTB’s cloud archive and an external hard drive. 

While these decisions are difficult, decommissioning some of our earlier content enables us to allocate our limited resources toward persons and topics that are more strongly connected to Pennsylvania and that better represent the diverse contributions Pennsylvanians have made to the nation and the world. Removal from our site is not meant to indicate that a given subject or author is devalued, unimportant, or unworthy of recognition elsewhere. Anyone with questions or concerns about archived biographies or feature articles is welcomed to contact the project's Administrator, Bernadette A. Lear. Thank you to the authors and contributors who gave time and effort to these biographies and feature articles.