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Become A Member Preserve the Past. Inspire the Future. Your membership to LancasterHistory demonstrates your passion for and commitment to Lancaster County’s history and your support of LancasterHistory. As LancasterHistory grows with the latest addition of the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy, we realized our membership program needed to […]
Read MorePreparing the Ross Home Doorframe for Display The doorframe from the colonial-era George Ross home is finally in place! Although it has undergone a number of repairs and changes over the years, it still remains one of the most important and elaborate architectural elements to have survived from the eighteenth century. The much traveled doorframe […]
Read MoreOn Display at the Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster County When the colonial-era home of George Ross was razed in the early 1850s to make way for the present county courthouse, the prominent pedimented doorway was incorporated into the home of Ann Coleman Hopkins, a great-granddaughter of George Ross, and her husband Issac Newton Lightner. […]
Read MoreThe Home of George Ross A number of celebrations and exhibitions will mark this year’s Semiquincentennial celebration marking the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. LancasterHistory is pleased to partner with Historic Rock Ford to honor George Ross (1730-1779) as part of their Lancaster’s Revolutionaries display in the John J. Snyder, Jr. Gallery […]
Read MoreCoverlets vs. Quilts The LancasterHistory object collection includes a number of nineteenth-century coverlets woven by various weavers from around the county and the surrounding area. Like a quilt, a coverlet is intended as a bedcover; however, there are some important differences. Whereas a quilt consists of three assembled parts – a decorative top, a middle […]
Read MoreWritten by Patrick Clarke, Director of President James Buchanan’s Wheatland The Wheatland mansion was built at the end of the Federal style period in 1828 for William Jenkins, the president of the Farmers’ Bank of Lancaster. We don’t know the architect or builder, but they may have been familiar with the popular manuals circulating in […]
Read MoreBridging Literature and History: James Buchanan Meets an American Author by Nathaniel Drenner, Collections Intern, Summer 2025 Politicians and Authors When we think of major figures in history, we probably first envision people like politicians, activists, business tycoons, or military leaders. Novelists may not make the cut. Writers, though, have a life outside of their […]
Read MoreOn July 22nd, a group of LancasterHistory summer interns, staff, and volunteers visited the museum conservation facility of B.R. Howard Conservation in Carlisle. Head conservator Brian Howard provided the group with a tour of his facility and insights into the work that goes into preserving cultural heritage objects for museums and historical organizations as well […]
Read MoreThis past June, LancasterHistory welcomed one undergraduate and two post-graduate students into our NEH-funded Summer Internship Program. Each intern has been diligently working in one of three museum departments at LancasterHistory on various day-to-day projects as well as a larger research project. We’re also excited to welcome another post-graduate student this summer working on artifacts […]
Read MorePlay Ball! When most people think of early organized baseball in Lancaster, the first team that usually comes to mind is the Lancaster Red Roses. That team existed intermittently under various major league teams and minor league affiliations between 1906 and 1961. The most well-known version of the team was founded in 1940 and played […]
Read MoreThe great train wreck of 1919 earned the nickname “The Kidney Wreck” because its cargo of meat products were strewn throughout nearby fields as a result of the crash.