American Revolution

Marie B. Merry Ludlow, 93, formerly of Bryn Mawr, a hospital volunteer for more than 50 years, died of Parkinson's disease, Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Waverly Heights, a retirement community in Gladwyne. Mrs. Ludlow was a longtime member of the Women's Board of Thomas Jefferson Hospital and in the early 1950s helped establish the Penny Wise Thrift Shop in Ardmore. Proceeds from the Ardmore shop benefit the hospital. Until she was well into her 80s, she was a volunteer at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Third time's the charm. After years of debate, two rejected sites and immeasurable frustration, plans for the Museum of the American Revolution are finally under way, with the announcement Tuesday that the architect chosen to design the museum is - again - Robert A.M. Stern. "The institution is incredibly important," Stern said. "It's a thrill to be part of the process. " And, no doubt, a test of patience. The New York architect, longtime dean of the Yale School of Architecture, has been selected twice before to design the museum - first in 2004, when it was to be built in Valley Forge National Historical Park, and a year later, when the site was moved to an adjacent property.

Third time's the charm. After years of debate, two rejected sites and immeasurable frustration, plans for the Museum of the American Revolution are finally under way, with the announcement Tuesday that the architect chosen to design the museum is - again - Robert A.M. Stern. "The institution is incredibly important," Stern said. "It's a thrill to be part of the process. " And, no doubt, a test of patience. The New York architect, longtime dean of the Yale School of Architecture, has been selected twice before to design the museum - first in 2004, when it was to be built in Valley Forge National Historical Park, and a year later, when the site was moved to an adjacent property.

LITITZ, Pa. - In a fledgling nation hungry for men to fight in the American Revolution, conscientious objectors were frequently greeted with scorn and their loyalty was questioned. As war approached, leaders in Lancaster County sought to ease tensions by urging the growing number of German immigrants with religious objections to war to demonstrate their patriotism by giving as much money as they could afford to the revolutionary cause. The proposition is spelled out in a July 11, 1775, public notice, known as a broadside, that is on display at the Moravian Archives and Museum here.

Bruce Cole, the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities who has been president and chief executive of the American Revolution Center for the last 21/2 years, has resigned. Cole, who is returning to writing and scholarship, will continue to serve as an adviser to the center's board. Last fall, the center completed a land-exchange deal with the National Park Service, and it has now taken over the site of the former Independence National Historical Park archaeology laboratory at Third and Chestnut Streets.

Jane Hampton Cook is author of six books, including Stories of Faith and Courage From the Revolutionary War and her recent children's book, What Does the President Look Like? When John Adams left Philadelphia after the first Continental Congress in 1774, he didn't expect to return. "Took our departure . . . from the happy, peaceful, elegant, hospitable, and polite city of Philadelphia. It is not very likely that I shall ever see this part of the world again, but I shall ever retain a most grateful, pleasing sense of the many civilities I have received in it. " He did return, living loudly for the cause of liberty and helping start a nation here.

In an age when the fires of revolution are spread through cyberspace, it's hard to imagine that the leather-bound volumes resting in display cases at Old Christ Church once had the same incendiary effect. But the Authorized King James Edition of the Bible, translated into English 400 years ago from Latin and Greek with the aid of earlier versions, was nothing short of a radical text whose populist ethos sowed the seeds of the American Revolution. "It was the colonists' belief - which they discovered in Scripture, in English - that humankind is free because freedom is an inalienable right endowed by their divine maker," the Rev. Timothy Safford said Tuesday.

One Sunday early in 2009, H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest and Gov. Rendell perambulated around Philadelphia, looking at buildings. Lenfest, the philanthropist who is chairman of the board of the American Revolution Center, felt he needed one. Rendell, driver of many city building projects, thought he could find one. They went to one unsuitable building after another, until Rendell remembered "the old visitor center" at Independence National Historical...

Among a thousand questions raised by the American Revolution Center's move from Valley Forge to Philadelphia is this: What happens to the bell? No, not the Liberty Bell. It's staying put. The Bicentennial Bell. The bell that hangs outside the Independence Living History Center, designated as the future home of the Revolution Center, known as ARC. The Bicentennial Bell is a replica of the Liberty Bell, cast at the same London foundry, transported to the United States, presented by Queen Elizabeth II in 1976 - and promptly forgotten.