Andrew Murphy: William Penn and "The Holy Experiment"

Andrew Murphy: William Penn and "The Holy Experiment"

"The road to Pennsylvania, for Penn, began in the Cork prison 15 years before he set foot in America."   You can't understand Pennsylvania history - "The Holy Experiment" - without knowing about William Penn. There's no better source than the man who wrote the biography of William Penn. Reflecting his interest in the intersections between political theory and political action (as well as his status as a born-and-raised Pennsylvanian), Murphy has engaged deeply with the life, career and political thought of William Penn, a figure who brought theory and practice together in the early modern British Atlantic. He is the author of William Penn: A Life (Oxford, 2019) and Liberty, Conscience, and Toleration: The Political Thought of William Penn (Oxford, 2016); and co-editor (with John Smolenski) of The Worlds of William Penn (Rutgers, 2019). A scholarly edition of Penn's political writings for the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought series appeared in 2021. Murphy's research takes up the intersections between politics and religion, in both historical and contemporary contexts. He is particularly interested in the emergence of religious liberty and liberty of conscience in early modern England and America, and the ongoing ramifications of these debates as they continue to unsettle American politics. He is the author, most recently, of Toleration: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2025), which canvasses the history, development, and contemporary global status of toleration as both a concept and a contested legal practice. His current research continues to bring together the political and the religious, exploring the concept of political martyrdom and the ways in which studying politically-charged deaths can help us make sense of the complex interplay of death, religion, politics, collective memory, and symbolic power. ANDREW MURPHY Professor; Department Chair murphyan@umich.edu [murphyan@umich.edu] Political Science [https://lsa.umich.edu/polisci/people.gallery.html#tag=polisci&tagns=michigan-lsa]; Political Theory [https://lsa.umich.edu/polisci/people.gallery.html#tag=polisci/political-theory&tagns=michigan-lsa]; Administration [https://lsa.umich.edu/polisci/people.gallery.html#tag=Academic/admin&tagns=michigan-lsa] Education/Degree: B.A. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (1989) M.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison (1991) Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison (1996) Andrew Murphy joined the Political Science Department at Michigan after appointments at Virginia Commonwealth University, Rutgers University, Valparaiso University, and the University of Chicago. He became department chair in July 2024.

Michael Norris, Carpenters' Hall

MICHAEL L. NORRIS                                           Executive Director As the Executive Director of the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, which owns and manages Carpenters’ Hall, a National Historic Landmark in Philadelphia’s historic district whose members constitute the nation’s oldest continuously operating craft guild, Michael oversees all of the Company’s programmatic and operational activities. Michael joined the Company in June 2019, after a seven-year tenure as Vice President of External Relations and Chief Strategy Officer at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, where he oversaw the organization’s policy, advocacy and community-engagement programs and its fundraising activities. Before that, Michael served for eight years as the Executive Director of Art-Reach, which connects underserved audiences with cultural experiences. Prior to leading Art-Reach, Michael spent nine years at the Arden Theatre Company, managing all aspects of fundraising, marketing, public relations and community outreach. Michael began his career in nonprofit administration as the Assistant Development Director at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre, the nation’s oldest continuously operating theatre and a National Historic Landmark. He started his professional career in editing and publishing, working as an editorial researcher at TV Guide magazine in Radnor, PA, and then editing the regional leadership directory Who’s Who in the Delaware Valley. A native of Chester County, PA, Michael received a B.A. in journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia. He received a certificate in fundraising from the University of Pennsylvania and has received supplemental education in nonprofit management through coursework offered by National Arts Strategies, the Fundraising School at the University of Indiana and the Stanford University Business School. He is a 2008 graduate of Leadership Philadelphia, which named him one of the region’s top 76 “Creative Connectors.” He serves on the board of PA Museums, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Histories Collaborative of Philadelphia.  To find out more about Carpenters' Company, Carpenters' Hall, and its amazing history, go to https://www.carpentershall.org/pages/story-of-carpenters-hall [https://www.carpentershall.org/pages/story-of-carpenters-hall]

Andrea Lowery, Why Pennsylvanians Love Our History

Andrea Lowery is the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) and PHMC is the official history agency of the Commonwealth. Andrea shares how PHMC stewards the history and heritage of Pennsylvania through its bureaus  (State Museum, State Archives, State Historic Preservation Office, and Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums) and programs such as the blue and gold historic markers ("history on a stick") and grants to encourage organizations to preserve and conserve historic buildings and sites. She discusses how a family member, her great-great-great grandmother, changed the lives of thousands of young boys in coal country and inspired her own love of history. Andrea also outlines the upcoming major renovation that will  transform the State Museum complex  to serve a 21st century audience.

We Love PA History! episode 1

Welcome to We Love PA History! - the podcast that explores Pennsylvania's past, one story at a time.