"Untold Stories of Pennsylvania Parks and Forests" launched with a new website and presentations at the Pennsylvania Historical Association annual meeting.
Through a partnership led by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, “Untold Stories of Pennsylvania’s State Parks and Forests” is an effort to discover, interpret, and share the untold stories of underrepresented and marginalized groups associated with lands currently operating as state parks and forests in Western Pennsylvania.
Students and faculty in the IUP departments of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences and History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Religious Studies contributed to this project through substantial research on the racially integrated Laurel Hill Settlement outside of Johnstown, culminating in three storymaps. Storymaps are dynamic websites that combine text, images, and interactive maps to tell a story. In this case, the storymaps tell the story of how Laurel Hill residents made a living and a home on the mountainside, the role of women in the community, and the larger historical events that influenced the community. The storymaps are now available on the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy website.
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy website featuring the Untold Stories of Pennsylvania Parks and Forests
“This is one of the most exciting projects I have ever worked on,” said anthropology professor Ben Ford. “It was rewarding to collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students and to do work that will help Pennsylvania Parks better interpret their cultural resources. This is also a really important site that has a lot to tell us about how a unique community adapted to life on the Pennsylvania frontier, life in Appalachia, and life in America during a period of significant economic and social change.” Ford was joined by Erin Conlin, Chris Schaney, and Jeanine Mazak-Kahne in leading the IUP component of this project.
The IUP Untold Stories team also recently gave several presentations on the project at the 2024 Pennsylvania Historical Association annual meeting held in Johnstown. Ford, Conlin, and Schaney joined Kimberly Peck from DCNR and Elaine Adams, an independent researcher, in presenting a lunch plenary session. This was an opportunity to speak with the entire conference about the research, outcomes, and partnerships of this project.
“Through this research we have really benefited from the community,” Ford said. “It’s been wonderful to learn from local historians, descendants who shared family histories, and friends of the community who remember the last generations that lived in the settlement.”
Four IUP students—Kaylee Becker-George, Emma Lashley, Elizabeth McCreary, and Elena Frye—also led a panel discussion titled “Untold Stories Above Johnstown: Student Research on an Early African American Settlement.” This panel was well-attended and recorded for local television. The discussion centered on what the students learned through this research project—both what they learned about the settlement and its residents, as well as what they learned about doing research and collaborating on a transdisciplinary team. Becker-George, an undergraduate double majoring in anthropology and history, spoke about how this project helped her see future careers in archaeology outside of excavation. Mazak-Kahne moderated the session.
Kaylee Becker George, Elena Frye, Elizabeth McCreary, and Emma Lashley (l to r) at the 2024 Pennsylvania History Association annual meeting
Grant funding for this project was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Community Conservation and Partnership Program and the Richard King Mellon Foundation.
Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences Department
History, Political Science, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Department