On Thursday, October 4, Caitlin Black will explore the development of the robust agricultural and manufacturing industries relating to tobacco in Lancaster County. For event details and how to register, please scroll to the bottom of this event.

From its earliest years, the growth and marketing of tobacco in Lancaster County were deeply related. Beginning with the earliest concerted efforts to grow tobacco, Ph.D. candidate and former LancasterHistory.org NEH Fellow Caitlin Black will detail the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century history of tobacco in Lancaster County. Ms. Black will draw extensively on primary resources, including maps, newspapers, and archival material from LancasterHistory.org’s collections, to paint a vivid portrait of Lancaster County’s tobacco industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In addition, she will examine the architecture and material culture surrounding tobacco. This history will demonstrate the local importance of tobacco as well as the extent to which tobacco facilitated connections between Lancaster County and markets throughout the United States.

Caitlin Black graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a B.A. in American Studies and from the University of Maryland with an M.A. in Historic Preservation. She is now completing a Ph.D. in American Studies from Penn State University, with a dissertation titled Tobaccoland: Landscape, Business, and the Transformation of Central Pennsylvania, 1828-2017. In 2017, Ms. Black received an NEH-funded fellowship to conduct research at LancasterHistory.org. She teaches courses for the Humanities Department at Penn State Harrisburg and serves as co-editor of New Errands: the Journal of Undergraduate American Studies.

EVENT DETAILS & HOW TO REGISTER

A wine and cheese reception will begin at 4pm on Thursday, October 4 at LancasterHistory.org, 230 N. President Ave., Lancaster. The main presentation will begin at 4:30pm in Ryder Hall.

The program is free and open to the public but requires advance registration to guarantee a seat at the presentation. Register online by clicking “Buy Tickets” below or by calling (717) 392-4633. This presentation will also be livestreamed on the LancasterHistory.org Facebook page. Questions and accessibility requests may be directed to info@lancasterhistory.org or (717) 392-4633.