Irwin Richman, born in 1937, was raised in Brooklyn, New York, the grandchild of Jewish immigrants who spent summers in the Catskill Mountains. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from George Washington University (1957) and a master's and doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania (1965), where he studied the history of medicine. Before finishing his doctorate, Richman began work as a historian with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was appointed the first curator of Science History, Industry, and Technology at the State Museum of Pennsylvania. In 1968 he became one of the founding professors in the American studies program at Penn State Harrisburg, Capitol College, where he taught until 2003. His areas of research included American architectural history, art history, American decorative arts, Pennsylvania German culture, and landscape plants. His writings include: Pennsylvania's Decorative Arts in the Age of Handcraft (1978, reprinted 1995); Borscht Belt Bungalows: Memories of Catskill Summers (1998); The Catskills in Vintage Postcards (1999); Pennsylvania German Arts: More Than Hearts, Parrots, and Tulips (2001); The Pennsylvania Dutch Country (2004); and The Landis Family: A Pennsylvania German Family Album (2008).
From the description of Irwin Richman papers, 1964-2003. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 745911555
