Heinz History Center Excursion

This Week's Question: Compose a blog entry of four to five paragraphs in lenght about your experience at the Heinz History Center. Please include a general overview of the museum as well as information about the settlers in Pittsburgh, the main industires of the area, and products that originated in Western Pennsylvania. Next, move into a description of a specific exhibit you found interesting. Your blog entry should provide basic information that one can gather from the Heinz History Center along with your personal interaction with anything specific that you encountered there.

Response:

When one arrives in an unknown city it is normal to make assumptions based on first impressions. Thus when I arrived in Pittsburgh I made my assumptions about the city based on what caught my atention at first: its astonishing passion towards football (specially towards the Pittsbugh Steelers) and its very cold winter. However, a visit to the Heinz History Center revealed interesting facts about Pittsburgh that can not be discovered through a superficial interaction with its daily life.
The Heinz History Center features exhibitions covering remarkable events that occurred in Pittsburgh, such as a crucial battle during the French and Indian War, up to the history of sports in the city. The museum has six floors and the exhibitions are usually followed by videos that explain what is being exposed to the public.
The second floor of the museum displays an exhibition about the French and Indian War that reaveals very interesting facts about George Washington. In 1953 a young George Washington came to the area of the present day Pittsburgh to lead the colony's troops in a battle against the french. He eventually surrendered by signing a controversial document written in french that admitted the assassination of a french officer, claiming afterwards that this statment was not changed due to an error in the translation of the document. This shows an unusual side of Washington, closer to a soldier than to a statesman.
Another amusing section of the museum portrays the history of sports in Pittsburgh. It is amazing to realize that the passion for the Pittsburgh Steelers is as intense as the one felt by brazilians towards their soccer national team. It seems like each Super Bowl won by the Steelers contributed to create a legacy of pride to live in Pittsburgh.
All things considered, while first impressions can be confirmed (like Pittsburgh's love for football) they can also be only a superficial understanding of a place. The visit to the Heinz History Center made me realize that there is a lot to unveil about Pittsburgh's history and its way of life.