The State Museum of Pennsylvania

This year an unprecedented number of Pennsylvanians will be casting ballots by mail. For those voting in person at any of the state’s physical polling stations, though, votes will be recorded by machine. This particular voting device was used at a precinct in Lebanon County in the 1950s and 1960s. Gear and lever machines were regarded as an improvement over paper ballots, which they replaced, because they ensured voter privacy and recorded voters automatically rather than by hand. Over the past quarter century, mechanical voting machines have been phased out and replaced by punch cards, optical scanning systems, and electronic voting machines. #CuratorsChoice #vote Take a deeper look at this machine and a second version in our online database here http://ow.ly/kiN050C6kFV

The custom of poll watching dates back to the 19th century, but the rules governing it have changed over time and vary from state to state, and even county to county. Teddy Roosevelt’s campaign issued this colorful badge to identify its Pennsylvania poll watchers during his successful 1904 Presidential run. Note the keystone in the lower left corner and the depiction of an aproned workingman, likely intended to resonate with voters across the then heavily industrialized Keystone State. #CuratorsChoice #Vote #campaign Explore this item and our collection in our online database http://ow.ly/YdUH50C6jKf

State Museum Director Beth Hager provides a programming update and talks with curators Amy Hammond and Carol Buck about the 2020 Art of the State exhibition. #PAPerspectives #seepaart https://youtu.be/Ii1rpCmeiHk Explore all of the 2020 "Art of the State" exhibit materials and sign up for our November 20th Artist Conversations -> statemuseumpa.org/aos2020

"For me, steam railroading encompasses three major themes: the landscape, the hardware, and (most importantly) the people who do the hard work to keep an obsolete technology alive."- Oren Helbok #SeePAArt through our online virtual tour statemuseumpa.org/aos2020/

Beginning sometime in the 1980s, yard signs overtook pin back buttons as the most popular and ubiquitous form of campaign advertising. Like buttons, yard signs could be mass produced quickly and inexpensively. Their appearance seemed to coincide with the growth of suburbia, a trend that began during the 1950s and 1960s but intensified during the last quarter of the 20th century. These signs were distributed during the 1996 campaign season. Ross Perot, running on the newly formed Reform Party ticket, won 8% of the popular vote. It was strong showing for a third party candidate, but not nearly as impressive as his 1992 campaign, when the wealthy businessman won nearly 19% of the popular vote. #CuratorsChoice Explore a group of #Campaign yard signs in our online collections database -> http://ow.ly/d2Gr50C6j9w

When did Halloween become synonymous with going door-to-door for candy? Some argue the end of sugar rationing following World War II opened the doors for a surge in candy company marketing. Regardless, the tradition seems here to stay: in 2016, Americans spent nearly $3 BILLION dollars on Halloween candy. And Pennsylvania candy makers are well represented among the loot that trick or treaters bring home every year. Pennsylvania’s candy-making tradition has deep roots. Confect...ioners advertised in Pennsylvania’s printed newspapers as early as the 1760s. Some of the nation's most well-known candy brands got their start in the commonwealth: Philadelphia’s Whitman (1842; the sampler box debuted in 1912), Pittsburgh’s Clark Candy Company (1886), Hershey’s (1894), York’s Wolfgang Confectioners (1921), Reese’s (1928; bought by Hershey in 1963) and Scranton’s Gertrude Hawk Chocolates (1936). #CuratorsChoice #halloween Explore these collection pieces in our online database -> http://ow.ly/BlaZ50C7ddJ See more

So why are spiders scary? Is it the way the way they move, slowly alternating those eight legs, keeping two pair in the air, then suddenly scurrying out of sight? Or is it their fangs that inject venom? Or are you scared by the sticky webs that you walk into without seeing them? Or because hundreds and hundreds of spider babies emerge from just one egg sac? Or maybe it’s the fact that they might be living in your house! Humans have feared spiders for thousands of years. In the past, spiders were viewed as dangerous and disgusting. Today, while spiders still might make us anxious, we understand that spiders can be helpful, removing those unwanted insects that also live in our house and yard. #InYourYard #InYourHouse #Halloween #GreatPumpkinWeek #Spider

Have you ever noticed that the leaves of some trees change color in fall? As the temperatures get cooler and the days grow shorter, the chemicals in the green leaves start to break down, as well as the green pigment, exposing the non-green, yellow, orange and red pigments that are also present in the leaves. Try this experiment to separate the pigments and see the many colors in a green leaf. #Halloween #greatpumpkinweek #fall

Arachnophobia refers to an intense fear of spiders and if you have this fear, beware, Southern black widow spiders are found in Pennsylvania and may be in your yard. These shiny, black spiders can be found under stones, in woodpiles, or in any undisturbed cavity. The red hourglass marking on the underside of its abdomen identifies the female of the species. A female black widow spider may produce up to nine egg sacs per year, each containing 200 to 800 eggs. Protective females guard the egg sacs during the summer months until the young disperse. Fangs of female black widow spiders can pierce human skin, injecting a protein venom that can affect the nervous system. Bites from black widow spiders are extremely painful, but usually do not result in death. #GreatPumpkinWeek #Halloween #spider

Usually we see one full moon per month, but once a year the calendar and #Moon phases align causing a #BlueMoon. Oct. 1 featured the Harvest/Hunter's Moon. However, Oct. 31 will also be a full moon. Since this is the second full moon in the same month, it is referred to as a Blue Moon. These only occur every few months, giving rise to the phrase "once in a blue moon". #PlanetariumPA #Halloween #GreatPumpkinWeek https://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Sometimes people think that bones are gross or scary, especially when they are in the form of a dangly skeleton on Halloween. But bones are more than a scary decoration, they are living, growing tissue, that provide structure for our bodies. Let’s experiment with some bones and find out what makes them hard and strong. #Explore #GreatPumpkinWeek #Halloween #weirdscience #ExplorePA statemuseumpa.org/explorepa/