Events: Reception

Cradle of Conservation: An Environmental History of Pennsylvania

A graphic with two images. On the left is a headshot of a middle-aged man with a bald head wearing a green button up shirt. The right image is of the book cover of "Cradle of Conservation."
(left) Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward (right) The book cover of “Cradle of Conservation.”

The environmental history of Pennsylvania includes William Penn’s instruction to “leave one acre of tree for every five acres cleared” and the 1971 ratification of the Environmental Rights Amendment as well as today’s debates over fracking and the threat of climate change. Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward of Shippensburg University will share his survey of the “working landscapes” of Pennsylvania and Lancaster County from the 17th century to the present.

Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward is a professor of history and director of The Graduate School at Shippensburg University. His first book, Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America, won the 2016 Arline Custer Memorial Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference. His second book, Cradle of Conservation: An Environmental History of Pennsylvania, is now available from Temple University Press. He is the past president of the Pennsylvania Historical Association, former editor of the Pennsylvania History Series, and a board member of PA Humanities.

EVENT DETAILS & HOW TO REGISTER

This event will take place in person at LancasterHistory on Thursday, August 21, 2025. Doors open and a reception begins at 5pm. The lecture will begin at 5:30pm. The lecture will also be livestreamed to Zoom at 5:30pm for those who wish to join us virtually.

This program is free and open to the public. In-person attendance requires advance registration in order to guarantee a seat. Due to capacity restrictions, tickets may not be available at the door. Virtual attendance requires advance registration in order to receive the Zoom link. The Zoom link will be emailed to registrants before the event. Register online by clicking the appropriate link below or by calling (717) 392-4633. The online version of this program will also be recorded and uploaded to LancasterHistory’s YouTube channel after the event.

REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON

REGISTER TO ATTEND ONLINE

By purchasing a ticket to our facility and/or program, you are agreeing to our Admissions & Programs Terms and Conditions.

Membership Makes History Happen! Your membership enables us to bring dynamic speakers to LancasterHistory and gives you other exciting benefits! Learn more about becoming a member of LancasterHistory or renewing your membership today.

In-Person Event Lecture Reception

August 21, 2025 LancasterHistory, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster, PA 5pm Reception | 5:30pm Lecture FREE | Registration Required

Wine & Cheese and A Walk in the Trees

Join the Friends of the Tanger Arboretum for a delightful, late summer social! Enjoy refreshing drinks and light bites while taking a leisurely stroll through the many stately trees in the Tanger Arboretum. There will be a brief presentation about the Tanger Arboretum alongside member-led tours of the Arboretum throughout the evening.

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Member Event - Arboretum Outdoor Tour Reception

September 5, 2025 LancasterHistory, 230 N. President Ave, Lancaster 5-7pm

From Blacksmith To Inventor: The William Chester Ruth Legacy

Two headshot photos. The left photo is of an older woman with dark skin, short dark brown or black hair, wearing a black shirt and glasses. The image on the right is of an older man with light skin with short gray hair and wearing glasses and a plaid button up shirt.
Gwendolyn Dickinson (left) and Bruce Bomberger (right).

Blessed with inherent mechanical genius and a family environment conducive to success, African American metalsmith William Chester Ruth evolved his forge in Gap, Pennsylvania from farm machinery repair into a workshop of mechanical creation. Gwendolyn Dickenson, Ruth’s granddaughter, and Bruce Bomberger of the William Chester Ruth Legacy Project join LancasterHistory to tell Ruth’s story.

Gwen Ruth Dickinson, raised in Gap, Pennsylvania is the granddaughter of William Chester Ruth, and she carries his legacy as an inventor and entrepreneur close to her heart. Graduating from Hahnemann University’s College of Allied Sciences, she dedicated over 30 years to healthcare as a Primary Care Physician Assistant. In 2021, after her retirement, she founded the William Chester Ruth Project to honor her grandfather’s memory and his accomplishments as an inventor.

Bruce D. Bomberger has degrees in history from Lebanon Valley College, Penn State University, and Lehigh University as well as graduate credits in museum studies from the University of Delaware. He has worked for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for 35 years and is currently an archivist with Lebanon County Historical Society.

EVENT DETAILS & HOW TO REGISTER

This event will take place in person at LancasterHistory on Thursday, September 18, 2025. Doors open and a reception begins at 5pm. The lecture will begin at 5:30pm. The lecture will also be livestreamed to Zoom at 5:30pm for those who wish to join us virtually.

This program is free and open to the public. In-person attendance requires advance registration in order to guarantee a seat. Due to capacity restrictions, tickets may not be available at the door. Virtual attendance requires advance registration in order to receive the Zoom link. The Zoom link will be emailed to registrants before the event. Register online by clicking the appropriate link below or by calling (717) 392-4633. The online version of this program will also be recorded and uploaded to LancasterHistory’s YouTube channel after the event.

REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON

REGISTER TO ATTEND ONLINE

By purchasing a ticket to our facility and/or program, you are agreeing to our Admissions & Programs Terms and Conditions.

Membership Makes History Happen! Your membership enables us to bring dynamic speakers to LancasterHistory and gives you other exciting benefits! Learn more about becoming a member of LancasterHistory or renewing your membership today.

In-Person Event Lecture Reception

September 18, 2025 LancasterHistory, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster, PA 5pm Reception | 5:30pm Lecture FREE | Registration Required

Samurai At The White House: Harriet Lane & The 1860 Japanese Embassy

A photograph of a young woman with light skin and dark, wavy hair in a blue blazer standing in front of a Japanese style building.
Dr. Natalia Doan

In May 1860, Harriet Lane welcomed a delegation of samurai to the White House. These samurai were members of the first official Japanese delegation to the United States. During the embassy’s two month visit to America, crowds of people gathered across the East Coast in the hopes of meeting (or at least glimpsing) the mysterious travelers from across the seas. The Japanese embassy members recorded in their journals their different experiences of this historic encounter, and perhaps no American woman left as much of an impression on the samurai as Harriet Lane during her hosting and entertaining of the Japanese at the White House. In this October lecture, Dr. Natalia Doan of the University of Tennessee will explore the exciting history of Harriet Lane’s connection with the Japanese embassy and the impact of the samurai on antebellum America.

Dr. Natalia Doan is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville where she teaches the history of modern and early modern Japan. She completed her doctorate in Asian Studies at the University of Oxford and recently co-edited the academic volume Black Transnationalism and Japan (Leiden University Press, 2024) which discloses over a century of cultural and intellectual exchange between Japanese and African American people. Her work on Japanese history has appeared in, among other publications, Reopening the Opening of Japan: Transnational Approaches to Modern Japan and the Wider World (Brill, 2023) and the Historical Journal and the Journal of Social History, in which her work on the 1860 embassy was shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society Alexander Prize.

EVENT DETAILS & HOW TO REGISTER

This event will take place in person at LancasterHistory on Thursday, October 9, 2025. Doors open and a reception begins at 5pm. The lecture will begin at 5:30pm. The lecture will also be livestreamed to Zoom at 5:30pm for those who wish to join us virtually.

This program is free and open to the public. In-person attendance requires advance registration in order to guarantee a seat. Due to capacity restrictions, tickets may not be available at the door. Virtual attendance requires advance registration in order to receive the Zoom link. The Zoom link will be emailed to registrants before the event. Register online by clicking the appropriate link below or by calling (717) 392-4633. The online version of this program will also be recorded and uploaded to LancasterHistory’s YouTube channel after the event.

REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON

REGISTER TO ATTEND ONLINE

By purchasing a ticket to our facility and/or program, you are agreeing to our Admissions & Programs Terms and Conditions.

Membership Makes History Happen! Your membership enables us to bring dynamic speakers to LancasterHistory and gives you other exciting benefits! Learn more about becoming a member of LancasterHistory or renewing your membership today.

 

In-Person Event Lecture Reception

October 9, 2025 LancasterHistory, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster, PA 5pm Reception | 5:30pm Lecture FREE | Registration Required