Here are some free events taking place during the next few weeks. Enjoy!
George Washington’s Band of Brothers
November 5-27 12:30 pm
Join a park ranger for a tour of the portrait gallery that will introduce George Washington and his generals, who, against all odds, led the soldiers of the Continental Army to victory over the armies of Great Britain and won American Independence.
And
The Forgotten Native Americans
November 25, 2011 at 3:00
Meet a Park Ranger for a 30 minute program about Native Americans
Both at:
Second Bank of the United States
420 Chestnut Street
http://www.nps.gov/inde/special-programs.htm (Check out this link for other upcoming FREE programs)
Book discussion on “1491”
November 28, 7:30 pm
Briar Bush Nature Center
1212 Edge Hill Road, Abington PA
This book challenges the conventional wisdom that the Americas were sparsely populated continents teeming with wildlife before the Europeans arrived on its shores. Instead, early human civilizations altered the wilderness to make it work for them, just as we do today. Author Charles Mann demonstrates the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed and were flourishing with a high degree of sophistication by the time European colonists arrived in 1491.
Civil War Education Series: Christmas Past
December 1, 2011, 7 pm
Hagley Museum and Library
Rte. 141, Wilmington, DE
http://www.hagley.lib.de.us/index.html
“Christmas Past” is a talk by Hagley guide Jane Peters Estes. Many of today’s secular holiday traditions such as the Christmas tree had their beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century. Her program will emphasize holiday happenings during the Civil War era. As part of the program, the first floor of the du Pont family residence, featuring their annual holiday display, will be open for tours.
Of Pictures and Specimens: Natural History in Post-Revolutionary and Restoration France
December 1-3
American Philosophical Society, Benjamin Franklin Hall
427 Chestnut St.
Of Pictures & Specimens: Natural History in Post-Revolutionary and Restoration France is organized by the APS Museum in conjunction with its current exhibition, Of Elephants & Roses: Encounters with French Natural History, 1790 – 1830. It will bring together scholars from the United States and France. Included are presentations on topics related to natural history, from the role of artists and gardeners in botanical science and the representations of a giraffe’s African keepers to the influence of natural history on Balzac’s writing and on the birth of the social sciences. Participants bring interdisciplinary perspectives from material culture, the histories of art and science, visual studies, botany, decorative arts, and cultural history.
Of Pictures & Specimens is free of charge. Please click here to register on or before Monday, November 28, 2011.
An Evening with Jonathon Zimmerman
December 8, 2011-11-20, 6 pm
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
1300 Locust Street
Join us for a conversation about current events and the connected parallels, roots, and lessons from history. This discussion will be led by Jonathan Zimmerman, an historian affiliated with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and featured guest on “That’s History,” a biweekly radio segment coproduced by HSP and WHYY. Teachers may receive Act 48 credit.
Lecture Series “A Republic if You Can Keep it:” Benjamin Franklin and the Crafting of the Constitution
December 8, 7:30 om
David Library of the American Revolution
1201 River Road, Washington Crossing PA
We will close the series with a talk by an audience favorite, George W. Boudreau, Associate Professor of Humanities and History at the University of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. In his lecture, “’A Republic, if you can keep it’: Benjamin Franklin and the Crafting of the Constitution,” Professor Boudreau will discuss Benjamin Franklin’s role in the creation of the Constitution.
Delaware Valley Archivists Group 