It’s a head-to-head showdown for Pennsylvania history lovers! Joseph Priestley House goes up against Drake Well Museum & Park in this month’s Clash of the Collections, PHMC’s virtual series where museums across the Commonwealth face off to present an artifact that best captures the theme — this time, Revolutionary Legacies.

Representing JPH, PHMC regional curator Rachel Yerger will spotlight an 18th-century microscope by W&S Jones while exploring the life of Joseph Priestley — scientist, theologian, educator, and political dissident best known for isolating oxygen. Priestley built his home on the Susquehanna River in Northumberland, Pa. in 1794, and it still stands today as a museum to his legacy.

Going head-to-head, Drake Well Museum curator Sarah Ann Bell will highlight Titusville’s Col. E.A.L. Roberts, who used torpedoes during the Civil War and later pioneered “well shooting” — using nitroglycerine torpedoes to break up rock and access oil, a forerunner to modern fracking. His technique, patented and used well into the early 2000s by the Otto-Cupler Torpedo Co., left a lasting mark on the region.

Tune in to hear both stories, then cast your vote for Joseph Priestley House!

Register here: REGISTRATION LINK