• Home
  • Event Calendar

If you have an event to add to the calendar, contact dsheinin@urbanhistory.org with event information.

Upcoming events

    • 25 Oct 2023
    • 8:45 AM - 7:00 PM
    • 24
    Register

    What If…? : Frank Lloyd Wright’s Vision for Pittsburgh

    This day-long, pre-conference event includes a morning symposium, facilitated by Dr. Joe Trotter, Professor of History and Social Justice at Carnegie Mellon University, and Justin Gunther, Vice President and Director of Fallingwater, followed by lunch, a curators’ tour of the new exhibition Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania, and a special reception at Fallingwater. The symposium proceedings along with the complementing exhibition tour will explore Frank Lloyd Wright’s aspirational vision for modern life at the middle of the 20th century and the architect’s lasting influence on southwestern Pennsylvania. Symposium speakers include Dr. Rob Ruck and Dr. Edward Muller of University of Pittsburgh with a keynote by Dr. Nick Webb, Lecturer in Architecture, University of Liverpool.

    The exhibition tour will be led by curators Scott Perkins, Senior Director of Preservation and Collections at Fallingwater, and Jeremiah William McCarthy, Curator of American Art at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. This innovative exhibition provides, for the first time, a virtual exploration through realistic animations of unrealized civic, commercial, and residential projects designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for this region.

    The day ends with the unique opportunity to experience Fallingwater with a private wine and hors d’oeuvres reception and self-guided tours of the house.

    This event is generously sponsored by Fallingwater. 

    Itinerary: 

    8:45 – 10:00 AM: Bus departs for the Westmoreland Museum of American Art

    10:00 – 10:15 AM: Introductory Remarks

    10:15 – 12:00 AM: Morning Symposium

    12:00 – 1:00 PM: Lunch and Keynote Lecture

    1:00 – 2:30 PM: Exhibition Tour

    2:30 – 3:30 PM: Travel to Fallingwater

    3:30 – 5:30 PM: Fallingwater Reception

    5:30 – 7:00 PM: Return to Conference Hotel

    • 26 Oct 2023
    • 1:00 PM
    • 29 Oct 2023
    • 2:00 PM
    • Pittsburgh, PA
    Register

    Welcome to the UHA conference registration page! Register before prices increase after August 25! 

    In addition to conference registration, please indicate which social functions you plan to attend. The UHA will host three receptions for no additional charge.

    October 26, 2023: Welcome Reception at the Westin Pittsburgh 

    October 27, 2023: Evening Reception at the Westin Pittsburgh 

    October 28, 2023 The UHA President-Elect's Reception at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Sponsored by the Penn State College of the Liberal Arts) 



    • 26 Oct 2023
    • 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
    • 19
    Register

    Pittsburgh's Jewish History

    Thursday, October 26, 2023

    1:00pm - 4:00pm


    The tour will begin at the Heinz History Center, where participants can view archival materials related to Pittsburgh's Jewish history, as well as documentation from the cross-cultural community response to the October 27, 2018 synagogue shooting. From there, the tour will visit the former Irene Kaufman Settlement House auditorium in the Hill District and learn about the Curtaineers, an integrated theater troupe created in the 1940s and 1950s in response to a shift in neighborhood demographics. The auditorium is now home to a community arts space called ACH Clear Pathways. The tour will follow Murray Avenue through Squirrel Hill, showing the evolution of the once predominately Jewish business district with the arrival of AAPI immigrants over the past two decades. The final stop will be The Rotunda Collaborative in East Liberty/Highland Park, which is a gorgeous former synagogue being converted into a multi-use community arts space.




    This tour is sponsored by:


    • 26 Oct 2023
    • 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    • 0
    Join waitlist


    From Industrial to Post-Industrial:(Re)Development in Pittsburgh and Braddock

    Thursday, October 26, 2023

    2:00pm - 5:00pm

    Pittsburgh and its neighbor Braddock have been hailed as leaders in post-industrial redevelopment, the former for its surprising ascendance in the 1990s, the latter for a more DIY approach made famous by now-U.S. Senator John Fetterman. This tour will visit three major industrial redevelopment sites from the last 20+ years, where we will hear from participants and experts who can unpack this complicated history, present, and future:

    Downtown Braddock, where we will hear from representatives of The Hollander Project, a co-working space and business incubator for women entrepreneurs from Braddock and the surrounding Mon Valley.

    the Homestead Steel Works Pump House in Munhall, an important part of the U.S. labor movement now part of The Waterfront mall redevelopment, where we will hear from interpreters from the heritage-oriented nonprofit organization Rivers of Steel.

    Hazelwood Green in Pittsburgh, an ongoing 178-acre waterfront redevelopment of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company, where we will hear from a Pittsburgh city planner and a community activist involved in anti-gentrification and displacement efforts related to the project.

    A portion of the ticket price will go to snacks from Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, a not-for-profit organization that addresses structural employment issues and food access.

    Topics from the tour will be further explored during the session "Contesting the Contested City: Towards a New Understanding of Creative Placemaking."

    Tour leaders:

    Michael Carriere, Professor of History, Milwaukee School of Engineering

    Rebecca Kiernan, former Director of Sustainability and Resilience, City of Pittsburgh

    David Schalliol, Associate Professor of Sociology, St. Olaf College

    Representatives of the Pittsburgh Department of City Planning, the Hollander Project, Hazelwood Initiative, Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, and Rivers of Steel



    • 26 Oct 2023
    • 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
    Register


    • 27 Oct 2023
    • 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    • 29
    Register


    Pittsburgh History Tour at the Heinz History Center

    Friday, October 27, 2023

    10:00am - 12:00pm

    Includes From Slavery to Freedom exhibit, Jewish Pittsburgh and Tree of Life massacre project and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum includes Negro Leagues, Pirates, Steelers, Penguins and more. Easy walk from The Westin Pittsburgh. Includes a behind-the-scene of History Center.


    • 27 Oct 2023
    • 2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
    • 10
    Register


    Carrie Furnaces Industrial Tour

    October 27, 2023

    2:30pm - 5:00pm


    Declared a National Historic Landmark in 2006, Carrie, as it’s affectionately known, entices visitors to marvel at the scale and legacy of its industrial might. A remnant of the legendary U.S. Steel Homestead Steel Works, the Carrie Blast Furnaces are a vestige of Pittsburgh’s 20th century domination of the steel industry.

    During this two-hour guided tour, you’ll hear stories about the site’s technology (including why it is nationally significant) along with the iron-making process, from the movement of the raw materials to the tapping of the furnaces that produced fiery molten iron. You will also get to know the culture of the industrial workers and the communities in which they lived - historically and presently - and how these relationships influenced the past and help to inform the future of the region.


    • 27 Oct 2023
    • 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
    Register


    • 27 Oct 2023
    • 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM
    Register

    The Urban History Association will host a gala at the Heinz History Center on Friday October 27, 2023. Join us for our first in-person celebration since 2018! 

    While guests enjoy dinner and wine, UHA President, Joe Trotter, will recognize our best book, article, and dissertation award winners. He will then give his Presidential Address, Building the Black City: Expanding the Case for Reparations for Descendants of African People Enslaved in America.

    Please note the reduced ticket price for graduate students, who are highly encouraged to attend!


    For any questions regarding dietary needs or restrictions, contact UHA Executive Director, Daniela Sheinin at dsheinin@urbanhistory.org. 


    • 28 Oct 2023
    • 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
    Register

    We will start at Freedom Corner, corner Crawford and Centre) to discuss effects of Urban Renewal in the late 1950s and observe current efforts at revitalization. We will visit the August Wilson house on Bedford Avenue (https://augustwilsonhouse.org), followed by stops on and around Centre Avenue that Wilson walked by on a regular basis. We will examine current new construction and the hoped for “Rebirth of The Hill” with business and residential initiatives, including Crawford Roberts and the New Granada Theatre complex. If possible, read Laurence Glasco and Christopher Rawson, August Wilson: Pittsburgh Places in His Life and Plays.


    • 28 Oct 2023
    • 12:30 PM - 3:00 PM
    • 20
    Register


    Downtown Pittsburgh Walking Tour

    A guided walking tour of downtown Pittsburgh with insights into the architecture, history and culture of America’s greatest industrial city. We will see Richardson’s Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail; Jansson & Abbott’s William Penn Hotel; Frederick Osterling’s Union Trust Building; Henry Hornbostel’s City County Building; Daniel Burnham’s Frick Building; Isaac Hobbs’ Dollar Savings Bank; Philip Johnson’s PPG Building; and many others as we stroll along Grant Street (Government), down Fourth Avenue (Financial), to Market Square (Business), and back up Penn Avenue (Cultural district).

    Departure/return location:

    Westin Hotel – main lobby

    Tour Leader:

    David Vater , R.A., Co-Editor of Exploring Pittsburgh: A Downtown Walking Tour, 2018.

    Mr. Vater is a Pittsburgh Architect and has led tours for the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation and the National Trust.


    • 28 Oct 2023
    • 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
    Register


Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software