Gale Dinner at the Heinz History Center

Gale threw a wonderful dinner at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center in the Strip District of Pittsburgh during the ACRL Conference. There was a cocktail hour where I sat with my friend Caroline and chatted about the city and the area. We ran into colleagues who it turned out, were seated at our table.

The dinner was delicious, and the presentation was interesting—well, what I could hear of it. The acoustics weren’t the best, and sitting at a table way in the back with people talking over the presenters made it hard to understand what was said. Afterwards, the place was open for us to wander around and take pictures.

The Center incorporates the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, where I volunteered years ago. I worked on Pittsburgh History, which was the monthly magazine of the society. Apparently, it is still being published under the name Western Pennsylvania History. There’s a library and archive in the building, but unfortunately it was closed. I would have loved to have had a tour of it. I once did research at the center years ago on a local dairy that produced a glass milk bottle that was found between the floors in my family’s house. I was going to write an article about the Harmony Dairy. Unfortunately, I didn’t do it, and I don’t even know where my notes are now. I still have the milk bottle, though.

Caroline and I wandered around the Center, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. There’s a lot to see in the center. Perhaps the most striking were the mannequins that seemed so hauntingly lifelike. There are several scattered throughout the exhibit areas. Caroline was fooled by the one of Mary Lou Williams at the piano. She thought that someone was really sitting at the piano.

I was surprised at the mannequin of Andrew Carnegie. He was shorter than I imagined him to be. Locals in Pittsburgh, according to the Homewood Cemetery flyer I got through the mail, mistakenly think that he’s buried there, in Pittsburgh. Carnegie is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York. I have several pictures of his grave. Samuel Gompers, a major labor leader, is buried across from him, keeping an eternal eye on the industrialist.

Before we knew it, the night was over. We walked back to our hotel, having spent a delightful evening at the Heinz History Center.