Philadelphia has had skilled clock and watchmakers since colonial times. 

• Henry Voigt helped David Rittenhouse build his legendary orrery and supplied surveying instruments to the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

I did not have time to talk about David Rittenhouse, Bailey, Banks & Biddle, Hugh Craig's pocket watch, the bell tower at Laurel Hill West, and the clock tower at City Hall.  They will have to wait for Part 2.  

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #012

Cynthia DeLores Tucker was a Philadelphia born and raised champion of Civil Rights in the 1960s and 1970s and worked closely with such icons as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Shirley Chisholm, and Cecil B. Moore.  She chose to spend the last years of her life fighting what she saw as the pornography of gangsta rap.  She was vilified by the music community, which spared no words in trying to show how sad and out-of-date her thinking was.  She now lies in an unmarked grave at Laurel Hill West in Bala Cynwyd. 

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All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #042: Robert Patterson, James Snowden & Augustus Goodyear Heaton – Mint Condition: Laurel Hill’s Coinage Connections, part 4

Augustus Goodyear Heaton was a coin collector who wrote doggerel poetry about his collection.  He was also an accomplished painter, as one of his works hangs in the U.S. Senate

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #042: Robert Patterson, James Snowden & Augustus Goodyear Heaton – Mint Condition: Laurel Hill’s Coinage Connections, part 3

James Ross Snowden oversaw the minting of commemorative coins which were sold to help support the expenses of running the mint.  His nephew Archibald took over where he left off.  

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #042: Robert Patterson, James Snowden & Augustus Goodyear Heaton – Mint Condition: Laurel Hill’s Coinage Connections, part 2

Robert Patterson and his son Robert Maskell Patterson were two of the innovative early mint directors that kept it from failing. 

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #042: Robert Patterson, James Snowden & Augustus Goodyear Heaton – Mint Condition: Laurel Hill’s Coinage Connections, part 1

If you live in Philadelphia, you know about the Philadelphia mint at 5th and Arch.  This is our 4th mint in Philadelphia.  The first opened in 1792 just a few hundred feet away from the current one.  Literally billions of coins have been pressed in its highly efficient, highly secure building.  Thousands of Philadelphians have worked at the mint, and many of them served as either Director or Superintendent.

The United States Mint has been in Philadelphia since 1792.  It has produced billions of coins, from half-pennies to 20-dollar gold double eagles.  Many of the early officers were Philadelphians.  In this podcast, you will hear about doubloons and trimes, Peter the eagle, the California gold rush and Colorado's Comstock lode, greenbacks, Gresham's law, and more.  And you will hear some bad poetry.  

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Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #011

This is a story about mutual love and respect among four women at the turn of the 20th century.  All students of art know of the Red Rose Girls - illustrators Jessie Willcox Smith and Elizabeth Shippen Green and muralist Violet Oakley.  They became masters of their craft because of a fourth woman, Henrietta Cozens, who served as their mother, wife, nurse, gardener, cook, and muse.  She is interred at Laurel Hill West.  Without her, it is unlikely the Red Rose Girls would have existed.

PLEASE NOTE: I accidentally uploaded the wrong file earlier.  This is the correct file.  Please delete the earlier one if you downloaded it.  It is not mine to distribute.  

This is a story about mutual love and respect among four women at the turn of the 20th century.  All students of art know of the Red Rose Girls - illustrators Jessie Willcox Smith and Elizabeth Shippen Green and muralist Violet Oakley.  They became masters of their craft because of a fourth woman, Henrietta Cozens, who served as their mother, wife, nurse, gardener, cook, and muse.  She is interred at Laurel Hill West.  Without her, it is likely the Red Rose Girls would not have been. 

This is a story of mutual love and trust of four Philadelphia women at the start of the 20th century.  Muralist Violet Oakley and illustrators Jessie Willcox Smith and Elizabeth Shippen Green are known to all students of art as some of the finest artists during the Golden Age of Illustration.  These three women were freed from other activities to spend time on their artwork because of the fourth member of their group, Henrietta Cozens, who served as mother, wife, gardener, nurse, cook, and muse to the other three.  Together, they were known as the Red Rose Girls.  Without Henrietta, they possibly would not have existed; she is interred in the Merion Section at Laurel Hill West.