Collections

Photographs

JFK at Penn SquareThe visual images of Lancaster County are captured in more than 40,000 photographs housed in the photographic collections of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Included are early tintypes, daguerreotypes, stereographs, cartes de visite, and cabinet cards taken by local nineteenth century photographers. Thousands of twentieth century commercial and amateur photographs depict the cultural and social landscape of Lancaster County.

Of particular note is the vintage Darmstaetter Collection making up more than a third of the photographs in the collection. These early twentieth century images, taken by a commercial photographer, document a myriad of subjects including:

  • Business and industry
  • Residences, both interior and exterior views
  • People at work and at leisure
  • Urban and rural landscape
  • Automobile and related services
  • Aerial photographs

The photographs in our collection can be searched by a database housed in the library and through our new Discovery Tool.
 
Types of Images in Our Collections
  • Ambrotypes
  • Daguerreotypes
  • Microfiche
  • Microfilm
  • Film Negatives
  • Glass Plate Negatives
  • Postcards
  • Photographic Prints
  • Panoramic Photographic Prints
  • Solar Prints
  • 35 mm Slides
  • Stereoscopic Prints
  • Tintypes
  • Lantern-slides
  • Transparencies
 
New Additions to the Collections
Photo buffs and fans of Lancaster County's visual history will be thrilled by the recent addition of three new collections to the growing number of photographs at the Lancaster County Historical Society.

For the railroad aficionados, there's the John D. Denney, Jr. Collection. Denney, a Columbia native and well-known railroad historian, wrote several articles about railroads and trolleys for the society's Journal. This collection, from his estate, contains nearly 1,000 images of trains, trolleys, stations and railroading subjects from the county, the state and across the country.

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Our Volunteers & Interns

That girl has Moxie!

stories_Juli_with_Moxie_1_2010

My name is Julianne Petrillo.  I am a freshman at Lancaster Catholic High School.  I enjoy learning about history, so I am volunteering this summer at LancasterHistory.org, Lancaster County’s Historical Society and President James Buchanan’s Wheatland.  At the Historical Society I volunteer in the archives department.  I studied receipts from a store in Lancaster during the 1920s.  I learned so much about items being sold back then and was amazed at how old some of my favorite snacks were such as Life Savers, Oreos, taffy, saltines, and Moxie.  At Wheatland I volunteer for special events giving tours as well as helping dust the antique furniture.  I enjoy working at the Historical Society and Wheatland very much and hope to be back next summer!

Living History

katelynstauffer

At the time of her internship Katelynn Stauffer will be a rising sophomore at Gettysburg College, where she will be majoring in History and Political Science with minors in Education and Civil War Era Studies. While interning at Wheatland she will be working on the creation of a new living history tour that will examine the war years at Wheatland.  She will be organizing volunteers and setting up a test run of the program for the public.

Diplomacy

alextrimble

Alex Trimble is a senior at Elizabethtown Area High School. His primary focus of study has been in history and social sciences. During his internship at the James Buchanan Wheatland mansion he will be conducting research on James Buchanan's diplomatic mission to Russia.

Parks and Recreation

Amy_at_computer_2010

Amy Noll is a New Hampshire native who graduated with her B.A. in History and Management from Gettysburg College in 2007.  She received her M.L.S. with a specialization in Archives, Records, and Information Management from the University of Maryland in 2009, and recently moved into the Lancaster area.  She has past experience working at the National Archives and is also a Civil War Reenactor.  In the Archives, Amy is working on the Lancaster Recreation Commission Records manuscript group.  She has found many interesting records about past recreational programming for senior citizens as well as records detailing the creation and acquisition of some of Lancaster’s most well known public parks.

Cultural Politics

becca

My name is Rebecca Macy and I am a rising sophomore at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. I am an American Studies major with a concentration in Cultural Politics. I have a great interest in civil rights, immigration, and the American Presidency. With a love of history, I am so excited to be working in my hometown this summer with LancasterHistory.org, Lancaster County's Historical Society & President James Buchanan's Wheatland!

We'd Love Your Help

Help us preserve and promote Lancaster's history. You, too, can play an important role in keeping Lancaster's past present!

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