Stories of Immigration Highlight April Family History Conference
Barry Moreno, Director of Ellis Island Memorial Library, to deliver Keynote

Lancaster, PA, March 3, 2009Roots on the Move! Stories of Immigration is the theme of the 30th Annual Family History Conference hosted by the Lancaster County Historical Society and the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. The conference for Genealogists and Family Historians will be held at the Eden Resort, Lancaster, PA, on April 24-25, 2009. Barry Moreno, Director of Ellis Island Memorial Library, will deliver the Keynote address Stories from Ellis Island as well as the luncheon banquet address The Children of Ellis Island. Saturday workshops feature over a dozen noted research authorities discussing the migration and settlement patterns of varied groups to the Lancaster area including: the Germans, Swiss Mennonites, Scots-Irish, Italians, French Huguenot, and Native American. Other sessions focus on Records from the Pennsylvania State and Lancaster County Archives, carbon-14 testing and wide population DNA testing, document preservation and capturing oral histories. As always, the conference will host a wide variety of vendors offering publications and products covering a wide range of genealogy and historical research.
Friday features a guided motor coach tour and ferry ride to Ellis Island, New York, where visitors will enjoy a personal tour with Ellis Island Memorial Library Director and our keynote speaker Barry Moreno. The bus leaves at 6 am and will return at 8 pm. This Friday trip is priced separately from Saturday's activities.
Call the Lancaster County Historical Society (717) 392-4633 to register or to request a brochure or get further details.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Felice Ethun
Director of Education & Public Programs
717-392-4633 x 113
felice.ethun@lancasterhistory.org

Philadelphia furniture of the 18th and 19th centuries set standards of excellence that continue to inspire collectors and students today. On March 20-21, 2009, the Lancaster County Historical Society and Rock Ford Plantation team up to offer this special 2-day course taught by Philip Zimmerman, PhD, a nationally recognized authority on early American furniture. Zimmerman will examine furniture making traditions and practices of this regional furniture making center. Defining style and construction characteristics, discerning levels of quality among surviving examples, and drawing distinctions between urban products and those from surrounding areas are some of the topics addressed. Expect lively discussion. The class meets at Lancaster County Historical Society, 230 N. President Avenue, Lancaster, PA from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm Friday and Saturday, March 20-21, 2009. The course includes collection study at Rock Ford Plantation and a box lunch each day. Cost: $320 No prerequisite knowledge or experience needed. Enrollment limited to 16.

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Lancaster, PA - (February 26, 2009) The Lancaster County Historical Society and the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland announced their intention to merge the two historic institutions, forming one 10-acre campus of history at the corner of Marietta and
N. President Avenues in Lancaster.

The Boards of Directors of each organization voted enthusiastically Tuesday to approve the merger, forming a new historical organization, LancasterHistory.org. Joining as one entity enables the two organizations to better live their missions of educating our community and visitors about the heritage and history of the people, places and events that shaped our region, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the United States of America. LancasterHistory.org takes Wheatland and the Historical Society in a bold new direction aimed at making history relevant to contemporary Americans.

The merger results from an extensive and thoughtful planning process that began in 2006 with the formation of a Joint Development Board. At the suggestion of John Fry, President of Franklin & Marshall College, and under the guidance of its chair, community leader Judy Ware, the Joint Development Board explored collaborative opportunities to bring added value to the community while enhancing the future prospects of both organizations.

The merger is expected to be complete in May. Dr. Thomas R. Ryan, President & CEO of the Lancaster County Historical Society will lead the organization as President and CEO. Patrick Clarke, Executive Director of the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland, will join the leadership team of the newly developed entity as Director of Wheatland.

"Moving in this direction creates a remarkable opportunity to explore America's past by demonstrating the relationship between local, regional, and national history, and to be of better service to our community. LancasterHistory.org will change the way local history is explored, debated, and interpreted and will simultaneously reinvigorate the role of the historic house museum as it contributes to an understanding of a community's history," said Ryan.

"We have a long-standing collaborative partnership with Wheatland, and have been working together for years on everything from crafting educational programs for school groups and living history encampments to lectures and a national scholarly symposium this past September," adds Kathy Gray, Board Chair of the Lancaster County Historical Society.

Through planned collaborations with multiple proven partners LancasterHistory.org's contributions will extend beyond its ten-acre campus explains Judy Ware. "Our hope is that LancasterHistory.org will bring greater focus and new energy to the remarkably diverse yet rich array of historic resources in our region." A recently-awarded $500,000 We the People challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, to be matched on a three-to-one basis, will help to support a new roster of research fellowships and expanded humanities-based programming.

Sam Bressi, President & CEO of the Lancaster County Community Foundation applauds the organizations. "This is precisely the kind of institutional capacity-building that the Community Foundation wishes to encourage among the myriad high-quality non-profits that serve our community. Wheatland and the Lancaster County Historical Society are providing a bold model that maximizes the charitable contributions of a very generous community."

LancasterHistory.org - Lancaster County's Historical Society & President James Buchanan's Wheatland-is located at 230 N. President Avenue, Lancaster, PA. For more information online, please visit LancasterHistory.org.