Blog Archives

On Thursday, April 13 LancasterHistory.org will host Dr. Carl Strikwerda to observe the 100-year anniversary of the United States’ involvement in World War I with the colloquium 100 Years: US Entry into World War I. The entry of the United States into World War I in April 1917 changed both American and world history. For the first time, the US became deeply involved in international politics as a military and economic power. Join Dr. Carl Strikwerda as he explores why the US entered The Great War, the national and global impact of our involvement, and how we can use those experiences to inform our nation’s future military decisions.

Dr. Carl J. Strikwerda is the fourteenth president of Elizabethtown College, serving since 2011, and previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the College of William and Mary. He has served as a historical consultant to the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, and to several colleges and universities on higher education administration. He has lectured to business groups, schools and religious organizations on World War I and the history of globalization.

The colloquium 100 Years: US Entry into World War I will take place on Thursday, April 13, 2017 in Ryder Hall at LancasterHistory.org, 230 N President Avenue, Lancaster. A speaker’s reception with refreshments will begin at 4pm, followed by the lecture from 4:30-5:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.

Cynthia Trussell presents “From Planting to Plate: What Primary Sources Reveal About Colonial Kitchen Gardens, Households and Food Preparation.”

In 1796, Amelia Simmons became the first American to publish a cookbook.  A look at her groundbreaking book, 18th century gardening manuals, and period diaries and family cookbooks of other women, illuminates the work that went into running a household and putting food on the table.  Eighteenth century Lancaster resident Sarah Yeates, family to General Edward Hand, wrote down recipes from 1800 to 1816 leaving us a wealth of information about the family’s preferences.  From the humblest meal to the most elegant feast, we will follow the journey that began in the kitchen garden and ultimately ended on the table.

Cynthia Trussell is a long-time volunteer, a past member of the Board of Trustees and the head of the Garden Committee at Rock Ford.

This event will be held in the Rock Ford Barn. No reservations required.  Seating is limited.

Admission: $5 for non-members.  Free for members of the Rock Ford Foundation.

 

Horticulturist, lecturer, and John Bartram re-enactor Kirk Brown returns to LancasterHistory.org to portray Frederick Law Olmsted in a dramatic presentation on the life of the father of landscape architecture. Responsible for designing over 6,000 landscapes in North America, Olmsted’s legacy includes the grounds of The White House, Central Park in New York City, and a conservation movement that is still challenging the world today.

Kirk R. Brown is the current Treasurer of the Garden Writers Association and has served that organization in many other volunteer capacities. He is a horticulturist, world-recognized botanist, key note speaker, business lecturer, and dramatist appearing across the United States and Canada. Brown is also a recipient of the Pennsylvania Nursery and Landscape Association “Green Achiever” Award for advancing horticulture in Pennsylvania among many additional accolades. Brown last visited LancasterHistory.org in April 2016 to portray John Bartram, America’s first botanist and father of the nursery industry in the original thirteen colonies.

The colloquium Olmsted: Landscape Architect & Environmental Visionary will take place on Thursday, March 16, 2017 in Ryder Hall at LancasterHistory.org, 230 N President Avenue, Lancaster. A social gathering will begin at 4pm, followed by the lecture from 4:30-5:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.

Randolph J. Harris will present a lecture on Major Thomas Boude (1752-1822), a war hero and national political figure, who thwarted the attempted kidnapping of a formerly enslaved woman at his home in 1804. A spontaneous, community-supported uprising against the institution of slavery, this flashpoint in Columbia – a community central to the African American experience – has been recognized as “the incorporation” of the movement that some three decades later became known as the Underground Railroad.

This event will be held in the Rock Ford Barn. No reservations required.  Seating is limited.

Admission: $5 for non-members.  Free for members of the Rock Ford Foundation.

On Thursday, February 2, 2017, in honor of Black History Month, LancasterHistory.org will welcome M. Alison Kibler of Franklin & Marshall College for the lecture Protests at Rocky Springs — The Integration of Lancaster’s Swimming Pools. The historic protests demanding swimming pool integration at three Lancaster pools – Rocky Springs, Maple Grove, and Brookside – are the focus of this lecture. A panel discussion will follow, featuring guests who will share their recollections of the 1963 protest, including Dr. Leroy Hopkins, Rev. A.L. Stephens, Louise Williams, Nelson Polite Jr., and Attorney Robert Pfannebecker.

The lecture Protests at Rocky Springs will take place on Thursday, February 2, 2017 in Ryder Hall at LancasterHistory.org, 230 N President Avenue in Lancaster, PA. A social gathering will begin at 4pm, followed by the lecture and panel at 4:30pm. The event is free and open to the public.

Gregory J. Scott will explore the three most prevalent architectural styles of the time: Germanic, Traditional English and Georgian including Lancaster City and the surrounding countryside.  
This event will be held in the Rock Ford Barn. No reservations required.  Seating is limited.

Admission: $5 for non-members.  Free for members of the Rock Ford Foundation.

Scott is a senior partner in the architectural firm of RLPS Architects located in Lancaster County, PA. and is a graduate of Penn State University with a Bachelors of Architecture degree.  He holds professional affiliations with the American Institute of Architects, Leading Age and the National Hospice Organization.  In addition to practicing architecture, Gregg  writes a monthly architectural design column for Lancaster Newspapers entitled Design Intervention

On Thursday January 19th, LancasterHistory.org will host Michael Showalter to kick off its 2017 Regional History Colloquium series with Room Enough for them All: The People of Lancaster County on the Eve of Revolution. Showalter is a museum educator at Ephrata Cloister, and will share the history of the various religious groups that sought freedom in mid-18th century Lancaster County.

By the middle of the 1750s, Lancaster County had become one of the most diverse places in all of the American Colonies. This mix of cultures and customs was created by Penn’s policies of religious toleration, vast natural resources, and a spirit of cooperation. Who were these people and what was their life like? Looking at tax records, church histories, travel accounts, local histories, and family traditions, this presentation will examine some information about the early residents of the county.

Michael S. Showalter is the Museum Educator at the historic Ephrata Cloister. He holds a BA in History from Millersville University and a MA from Penn State University in American Studies. He began volunteering at the historic Ephrata Cloister while still in high school, and has worked at the Cornwall Iron Furnace and The State Museum of Pennsylvania. He has been on the staff at historic Ephrata Cloister in 1996. In addition to leading tours at the site, he oversees the educational programs, public events, and manages the volunteer program at the site.

The colloquium Room Enough for them All will take place on Thursday, January 19, 2017 in Ryder Hall at LancasterHistory.org, 230 N President Avenue, Lancaster. A social gathering with refreshments will begin at 4pm, followed by the lecture from 4:30-5:30pm. The colloquium is free and open to the public.

dolores_parsilJohn Piersol McCaskey was among the first to collect and publish songs for the American public in the 19th century. Once McCaskey was able to convince Harper and Brothers publishing company that such song books would sell, his many songbooks sold in the hundreds of thousands and graced parlor pianos throughout the country. With Christmas, McCaskey’s favorite holiday, came a new host of opportunities including compiling a Christmas book, scheduling annual parties and programs for school students, and preserving the songs of the season in his music books. At this colloquium, local author Dolores Parsil will discuss McCaskey’s contributions to American music, love for the Christmas holidays, and uncanny connection to the song Jolly Old St. Nicholas.
Dolores Parsil, B.S. East Stroudsburg University, and M.A., University of Cincinnati, is a retired McCaskey High School communication arts teacher. She resides in Lancaster with her husband, Wayne. Parsil will be available before and after the lecture to sign copies of her biography of McCaskey, Lancaster’s Good Man, John Piersol McCaskey, available for purchase at the LancasterHistory.org Museum Store.
The colloquium Lancaster’s Music Man will take place on Thursday, December 15, 2016 in Ryder Hall at LancasterHistory.org, 230 North President Avenue, Lancaster. A social gathering with refreshments will begin at 4pm, followed by the lecture from 4:30-5:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.

a11m9yqucdl-_ux250_At this November colloquium, Patrick Spero, Ph.D. will discuss his new publication Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania. “In Frontier Country, Spero addresses one of the most controversial subjects in American history: the frontier. Countering the modern conception of the American frontier as an area of expansion, Spero employs the eighteenth-century meaning of the term to show colonists understood it as a vulnerable, militarized boundary. The Pennsylvania frontier, Spero argues, was constituted through conflicts not only between colonists and Native Americans but also among neighboring British colonies. These violent encounters created what Spero describes as a distinctive ‘frontier society’ on the eve of the American Revolution that transformed the once-peaceful colony of Pennsylvania into a ‘frontier county'” (Frontier Country).

Patrick Spero, Ph.D. is the Librarian and Director of the American Philosophical Society. Frontier Country is the first book written by Spero and is a volume in the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Press Early American Studies series. Previously he was the co-editor of the anthology The American Revolution Reborn: New Perspective for the 21st Century. Spero earned his Ph.D. in History at the University of Pennsylvania and has since held roles there as professor, essayist, and lecturer, specializing in the era of the American Revolution.

The colloquium Frontier Country will take place on Thursday, November 17, 2016 in Ryder Hall at LancasterHistory.org, 230 N President Avenue, Lancaster. A social gathering with refreshments and a booksigning by the author will begin at 4pm, followed by the lecture from 4:30-5:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.

balcerski_tomThomas Balcerski, Ph.D. will conclude the Presidential Lecture Series for 2016 with his discussion on James Buchanan & The Onset of Reconstruction in the South. Although often overlooked, James Buchanan lived during the first three years of the federal reconstruction in the South. Firmly situated at Wheatland, his home near Lancaster, Buchanan wrote letters to fellow Democrats about the state of affairs in the postwar nation. The talk will assess Buchanan’s contribution to national politics in his final three years (1865-1868) and consider more broadly the rhetoric of the Democratic Party at the outset of Reconstruction. Old Buck, as it turns out, was ahead of the curve of the national mood.

Thomas Balcerski, Ph.D. is currently the Assistant Professor of History at Eastern Connecticut State University. He graduated from Cornell University in 2005 with undergraduate degrees in Economics and American Studies. Next, he attended Stony Brook University and competed a MA in History. He then earned a Ph.D. in History from Cornell University in 2014. His research and teaching interests include early American history, politics, and manhood.

The Presidential Lecture James Buchanan & The Onset of Reconstruction in the South will take place on Thursday, November 10, 2016 in Ryder Hall at LancasterHistory.org, 230 N President Avenue, Lancaster. A social gathering with refreshments will begin at 4pm, followed by the lecture from 4:30-5:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.