Events: Lecture

Lydia Hamilton Smith and the World of Entrepreneurial Black Women in the Nation’s Capital

Lydia Hamilton Smith lived a remarkable life as the confidante of Thaddeus Stevens, but also as an accomplished woman in the years following his death. While many know Smith in relation to Stevens, she carefully crafted a life shaped by hard work, dignity, and egalitarian values. An astute businesswoman and an important figure in social circles in both Gettysburg and Washington, D.C. this talk will explore how Lydia Hamilton Smith figured among the circles of Black entrepreneurs in the nation’s capital.

A young woman with long black hair and brown skin in a white button down shirt.
Tamika Nunley

Dr. Tamika Nunley is the Research Professor of History at Duke University. Along with articles, essays, and reviews, she is the author of At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C. which received the Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Award, the Pauli Murray Book Prize, and the Mary Kelley Book Prize. Her article, “Thrice Condemned’: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Practice of Leniency in Antebellum Courts,” received the Letitia Woods Brown prize for best article in African American Women’s History and the Anne Braden Prize for best article in Southern Women’s History. Nunley recently released her new book, The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women, Capital Crime and Clemency in Early Virginia with the University of North Carolina Press. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, NewsOne, Smithsonian Magazine, Ms. Magazine, and Fortune Magazine. In 2023, the Librarian of Congress named her the Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American history.

Information & Registration

The lecture, “Lydia Hamilton Smith and the World of Entrepreneurial Black Women in the Nation’s Capital,” will take place on Thursday, February 5, 2026 at the LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster. A reception will precede the lecture at 5pm, followed by the main event at 5:30pm. The lecture will be available via livestream, but will not be available publicly after the event concludes.

This event is free and open to the public, but requires registration to guarantee a seat. Select your registration option below, or call 717.392.4633 to register over the phone. An email is required to receive the link to the livestream on Zoom.

ATTEND IN PERSON

ATTEND ONLINE

Online/Virtual Event In-Person Event Lecture Reception

February 5, 2026 LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster 5pm Reception | 5:30pm Lecture FREE | Registration Required

The Varied Faces of James Buchanan

Headshot image of Patrick Clarke, an older light skinned man wearing a dark blue polo shirt and brownish glasses.
Patrick Clarke

Following 21 years as Director of President James Buchanan’s Wheatland, Patrick Clarke has decided to retire. Early in his tenure as Director of James Bcuhanan’s Wheatland, Clarke discovered that most visitors, like himself, knew very little about James Buchanan’s early career in Pennsylvania and national politics, and they knew even less about his private life. Driven by his curiosity, Clarke decided to delve deep into primary research on Buchanan’s childhood and education, as well as the lives of his parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews, and the lives of the individuals who worked as domestic servants at his farm. He also probed Buchanan’s early entry into politics during the War of 1812, as well as his 21 years in Congress and his decade of service in foreign and domestic diplomacy. On Thursday March 19, Clarke joins LancasterHistory once more to share how and why he reshaped the interpretative approach at James Buchanan’s Wheatland. He will share the fascinating, varied faces of the man he has come to know as Buchanan the politician and campaigner, the family patriarch, father and disciplinarian, and the Sage of Wheatland.  

Since 1981, Patrick Clarke has held leadership positions at a variety of history museums. During his career he has studied and interpreted early community life in New England, New Jersey’s 18th and 19th century iron industry and farming history, as well as the political careers of William Blount, Washington’s 18th century Southwest Territorial Governor, and two United States Presidents: Thomas Woodrow Wilson and James Buchanan. In 2005, Pat was appointed Executive Director & CEO of the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland. Four years later, he and Tom Ryan, then President & CEO of the Lancaster County Historical Society, agreed that the time was right to guide their respective nonprofit Boards through a new business strategy. The result was the successful merger of the two nonprofits to create a new not-for-profit called LancasterHistory. Tom remained the President & CEO and Pat continued as the Director of President James Buchanan’s Wheatland with the added leadership position of Director of Visitor Services. He holds those positions until his retirement in February 2026.

Information & Registration

The lecture, “The Varied Faces of James Buchanan,” will take place on Thursday, March 19, 2026 at the LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster. A reception will precede the lecture at 5pm, followed by the main event at 5:30pm. The lecture will be available via livestream, and will be posted publicly in the following days to LancasterHistory’s YouTube channel.

This event is free and open to the public, but requires registration to guarantee a seat. Select your registration option below, or call 717.392.4633 to register over the phone. An email is required to receive the link to the livestream on Zoom.

ATTEND IN PERSON

ATTEND ONLINE

Online/Virtual Event In-Person Event Lecture Reception

March 19, 2026 LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster 5pm Reception | 5:30pm Lecture FREE | Registration Required

Democratic Faith: From Abolitionism to Civil Rights

Image of a young Black man with dark skin sitting on a chair, hands crossed over his knees. He wears a light blue suit and tie.
Dr. Melvin Rogers

A moral and political vision of democratic faith has guided the struggle for racial justice from the abolitionist movement in the 19th century to the civil rights movement in the 20th century. Figures such as Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith, alongside David Walker, Frederick Douglass, Anna Julia Cooper, and Martin Luther King Jr., reveal that faith in democracy is not a matter of optimism but of moral courage—the conviction that equality must be enacted in both public institutions and everyday life. Drawing on this inheritance, Dr. Melvin L. Rogers of Brown University, considers how such faith can sustain us amid the moral and political crises of our own time. In the year of America’s Semiquincentennial, these questions lie at the heart of our past, present, and future. 

Dr. Melvin L. Rogers is the Edna and Richard Salomon Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Democracy Project at Brown University. A leading scholar of American and African American political thought, his work examines the moral and spiritual foundations of democracy. He is the author of the award-winning The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought (Princeton University Press, 2023), The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2009), and co-editor of African American Political Thought: A Collected History (University of Chicago Press, 2021).

Information & Registration

The lecture, “Democratic Faith: From Abolitionism to Civil Rights,” will take place on Thursday, March 24, 2026 at the Ann & Richard Barshinger Center for Musical Arts at Franklin & Marshall College, located along College Avenue near the intersection with W. Frederick Street in Lancaster. [Click here for a campus map.] Parking is available on-street or in nearby Franklin & Marshall lots., or in nearby Franklin & Marshall lots. [Click here for a map of campus parking.]

This lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is required to guarantee a seat. At this time, in-person attendance is the only option available. We plan to make a livestream option available. Please check back in early March for this option.

Register to Attend In Person

This event is presented in partnership with Franklin & Marshall College with support from the Center for Politics and Public Affairs and Reckoning with Lancaster. 

In-Person Event Off-Site Event Lecture

March 24, 2026 The Barshinger Center for Musical Arts, Franklin & Marshall College, College Avenue, Lancaster 7pm FREE | Registration Required

Thrill Ride: Hersheypark & Its Transformation in the 1970s

Image of an older man with light skin. He had a bad head, wears glasses, and is wearing a gray suit with a red striped tie.
Dr. John Haddad

Today, Hersheypark is famous for coasters and candy-themed fun, but it wasn’t always. When it was founded in 1906, it was central to Milton Hershey’s larger vision of paternalistic capitalism. It was only in the 1970s that it transformed from an old-fashioned amusement park into a modern entertainment complex that followed the model of Disneyland. When and how did the park discover its magic formula of thrill rides and chocolate theming? The answer is sure to surprise you, so join LancasterHistory and Dr. John Haddad of Penn State University to find out!

Dr. John R. Haddad is Professor of American Studies and Popular Culture at Penn State University in Harrisburg. He is the author of Thrill Ride: The Transformation of Hershey Park (2025) as well as three books that explore America’s historical relationship with China. He lives in Lancaster with his family. 

Information & Registration

The lecture, “Thrill Ride: Hersheypark & Its Transformation in the 1970s,” will take place on Thursday, May 28, 2026 at the LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster. A reception will precede the lecture at 5pm, followed by the main event at 5:30pm. The lecture will be available via livestream, but will not be available publicly after the event concludes.

This event is free and open to the public, but requires registration to guarantee a seat. Select your registration option below, or call 717.392.4633 to register over the phone. An email is required to receive the link to the livestream on Zoom.

ATTEND IN PERSON

ATTEND ONLINE

Online/Virtual Event In-Person Event Lecture Reception

May 28, 2026 LancasterHistory Museum & Research Center, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster 5pm Reception | 5:30pm Lecture FREE | Registration Required