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Credit: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State University Archives
Born into wealth and raised in New York City, Henry Shoemaker (1880-1958) spent his summers at the family estate in McElhattan, PA, and there fell in love with the state’s mountains and people. During a long and varied career, Shoemaker wrote hundreds of articles and books on the disappearing Pennsylvania wilderness and its people and culture. A founder of the Pennsylvania Folklore Society, he also served as the Commonwealth’s first state folklorist from 1946 to 1958. When this photo was taken, Shoemaker was a Pennsylvania National Guard lieutenant –colonel on the staff of Governor Martin Brumbaugh.