CLOSED ON JULY 4th | All operations of LancasterHistory, including President James Buchanan’s Wheatland, will be closed on Friday, July 4 for Independence Day. We will reopen for normal business hours on Saturday, July 5. Thank you!
Open Mon – Sat, 9:30am – 5pm | Wheatland Tours 10am – 3pm
In December 2019, LancasterHistory received the General Thomas Welsh Family Papers collection from Richard C. Wiggin, a direct descendent of the General. Thomas Welsh (1824-1863) was born in Columbia, Lancaster County and served with distinction in both the Mexican War and the Civil War. The bulk of the collection consists of original papers and official […]
Read MoreOn 23 April 1791, James Buchanan was born to James and Elizabeth Speer Buchanan. Though Buchanan didn’t celebrate with balloons and streamers, he did have a few known favorites that he may have enjoyed on his birthday. Favorite Way to Spend the Day A publication from the Daily Democrat and News on 20 December 1859 […]
Read MoreWritten by Martha Abel You will have noticed, if you look at old deeds, that many property sales took place on April 1. No fooling. It was also the day that all rental housing leases expired, and so many people took the opportunity to move (or flit) to a new place. From the colonial days […]
Read MoreMy name is James McMahon and for the past year I have been working as a project archivist for LancasterHistory. My responsibilities include cataloguing and digitizing a vast collection of archival materials that document the significant role of the cork industry in the local economy. As Women’s History Month draws to a close, I want […]
Read MoreOver the next few weeks, we will look at some dinnerware objects on our Instagram page. Today’s blog post will reveal what it may have been like to be a dinner guest at Wheatland. Small Guest Lists Meals at Wheatland generally had a smaller guest list. Buchanan preferred to entertain smaller dinner parties between two […]
Read MoreCatherine Hershey, Philanthropic Catalyst Catherine Sweeney Hershey married Lancaster confectioner Milton S. Hershey on May 25, 1898. Prior to his marriage, Milton Hershey showed little interest in philanthropy. Soon after his marriage, however, the successful businessman and proprietor of both the Lancaster Caramel Company and the Hershey Chocolate Company made his first verifiable charitable gift—a […]
Read More“I have ambitions to be an aviatrix, to follow the interest of my father…I have a great deal of flying to do before catching up with him.” Helen Jones Carter (1920-1998) was the eldest daughter of pilot Jesse Jones, aviator, flight instructor, and manager of the Lancaster Airport. She and her two sisters, Jessie and […]
Read MoreThe Crinoline (mid-1850s to mid-1860s) The cage crinoline, or the hoop skirt, was made of thin steel wires bound in fabric and draped from the waist with cotton tape ties. Though the idea of a hoop skirt has been around for centuries (see the farthingale of the 15th-17th centuries, or the pannier of the 18th […]
Read MoreThe 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition & The 1964 New York World’s Fair My name is James McMahon and for the past year I have been working as a project archivist for LancasterHistory. My responsibilities include cataloguing and digitizing a vast collection of archival materials that document the significant role of the cork industry in […]
Read MoreBorn near Voganville in 1862, Salome Buck was one of five daughters born to George and Mary Hess Buck. She married Abraham Whitman in New Holland on August 2, 1883. In August of 1884, she became the first woman in Pennsylvania to be jailed for stealing horses. According to local newspapers, Salome was […]
Read MoreCocalico Township took its name from a Native American term meaning “den of serpents.”