The concept for this project began in 1997 as part
of the Raising Our Sites initiative developed by the
Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The Lancaster County
Historical Society was one of fourteen institutions
committed to reaching out to the underserved in our
community. Our goal was to introduce our resources to
African-Americans and children and plan creative programs
to encourage and sustain the use of our resources by
those who did not traditionally come to our institution.
As a first step we examined our collection and created
an annotated Bibliography of African American Resources
enabling us to have a concrete working research tool.
Then we incorporated children's programming by developing
a very successful Summer History Camp for an ethnically
and economically diverse group of 4th and 5th graders.
This program, focusing on the Lancaster County's role
in the Underground Railroad, garnered a state and national
award in 1999 and has been offered again in 2001.
The annual Pennsylvania Black History Conference, sponsored
by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,
was held at Millersville University in 1997. An outgrowth
of that event was the formation of the Black History
Roundtable, a group of Lancaster County community organizations,
which meets quarterly to share new developments and
programs relating to their mutual interest in black
history.
The Lancaster County Historical Society works closely
with area colleges and universities to foster dialogue
on local and regional historical perspectives. The Regional
History Colloquium encourages scholars to introduce
a work-in-progress to an attentive audience. Often primary
sources cited in the research are part of the collection
of the Lancaster County Historical Society.
Dr. Tracey Weis, professor of history at Millersville
University, has made extensive use of the historical
society's African-American primary documents in academic
courses. As director of New Media Classroom she has
introduced primary sources in electronic format to workshop
participants. Several of the databases on this website
have been created by her students using these new technologies
and pedagogy skills
The Lancaster County Historical Society is a partner
in the National Endowment for the Humanities Underground
Railroad Project. This program, directed by Dr. Weis,
further expands the exploration and outreach of African-American
primary documents and their creative and constructive
use for educators.
Although many of our resources focus on the Underground
Railroad as an organized fugitive movement during the
three decades preceding the Civil War, we have compiled
primary documents that reflect the African-American
community as it developed in the 18th century as well
as the 19th century of Lancaster County history. The
timeline lists dates and significant events in the history
of African-Americans in Lancaster County prior to the
Civil War.
Funds to develop this website have been provided by
a LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grant from
the Institute of Museum
and Library Services.
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