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Andy McPhee
  • No Strikes for Mr. Donner — The Battle of Virden

    No Strikes for Mr. Donner — The Battle of Virden

    By

    Andy McPhee

    Pertinent History, William Donner
    December 17, 2020

    This is the second of a three-part series covering devastating strikes of the 1890s, strikes that surely helped cement anti-unionism in Donora’s founder, William Donner.

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  • No Strikes for Mr. Donner — The Pullman Strike

    No Strikes for Mr. Donner — The Pullman Strike

    By

    Andy McPhee

    Pertinent History, William Donner
    December 10, 2020

    This is the second of a three-part series covering devastating strikes of the 1890s, strikes that surely helped…

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  • No Strikes for Mr. Donner — The Homestead Strike

    No Strikes for Mr. Donner — The Homestead Strike

    By

    Andy McPhee

    Pertinent History, William Donner
    December 3, 2020

    William Donner, the founder of Donora, never liked unions. He was a businessman seeking ever-increasing profits, and unions tended to cut into them. Donner had grown into his wealth during a time of…

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  • Air Pollution Hotspots Around the World

    Air Pollution Hotspots Around the World

    By

    Andy McPhee

    Air Pollution, Pertinent History
    June 13, 2019

    Air pollution continues to kill people around the world.

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  • Secrets of Donora’s Forgotten Cemetery

    Secrets of Donora’s Forgotten Cemetery

    By

    Andy McPhee

    Donora History, Pertinent History
    April 15, 2019

    We tred carefully through the brambles, weeds, and bushes devouring a hillside cemetery in the north end of Donora, Pa. We step from one small monument to another, making our way as close as we can, without a machete, to the largest monument, the one marking the grave of Capt. John Gilmore. Gilmore was a…

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  • The Acceptable Boundaries of Racism in 1940s Donora

    The Acceptable Boundaries of Racism in 1940s Donora

    By

    Andy McPhee

    Donora History, Pertinent History
    October 26, 2018

    Stacey is right, race relations in the town were indeed strange, but it didn’t seem to bother anyone much, apparently not even black residents.

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  • Donorans, Dressings, and the Fight Against Cancer

    Donorans, Dressings, and the Fight Against Cancer

    By

    Andy McPhee

    Donora History, Pertinent History
    January 18, 2018

    Cancer was once a word uttered soto voce, a word so dangerous it would conjure demons and visions of the Spectre of Death. A barely-known radiologist named Marjorie B. Illig helped to change that, and the women of Donora readily jumped aboard her world-changing vision.

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  • What’s In a Word? The Etymology of Smog

    What’s In a Word? The Etymology of Smog

    By

    Andy McPhee

    Pertinent History
    January 11, 2018

    “The word thus coined is a contraction of smoke and fog — ‘smog’ — and its introduction was received with applause as being eminently expressive and appropriate. It is not exactly a pretty word, but it fits very well the thing it represents, and it has only to become known to be popular.”

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