Photo courtesy of LancasterHistory.org
The Lancaster Campus of History is a now open! The campus also includes Wheatland; the once home of President James Buchanan (PA’s only president) and Tanger Arboretum which is home to over 100 species of trees from around the world. Lancaster County’s Historical Society building received a 19,755 square foot addition and now looks very modern. The website describes it here:
“The centerpiece of the Campus of History will be a 19,755-sq-ft addition to the headquarters of Lancaster County's Historical Society to accommodate expanded programming for both Wheatland and the Historical Society, new research facilities, new archival, library, and collection storage areas, exhibition galleries, learning centers, conservation space, and a multi-use educational auditorium.
Additionally, the project will include significant site enhancements to make the Campus more visitor-friendly, more park-like, and a model for responsible stewardship through a variety of "green technology" initiatives. The Campus of History, composed of Lancaster County's Historical Society headquarters and its new addition, as well as President James Buchanan's Wheatland, its outbuildings, and historic landscape, will offer a ten-acre park-like setting enhanced by the Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum and the Wheatland Gardens.”
New hours are Monday–Saturday, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm; open late until 8:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wheatland will reopen on Presidents day weekend.
Here a few collections you’ll find there:
- Firefighting collection - 250 years of Lancaster firefighting history
- Decorative Arts- furniture, ceramics, etc
- Lantern slides - precursors to 35mm slides, over 600 slides, many from photographs taken from 1890-1910
- Prints and paintings
- Online newspapers and city directories - search Civil War era newspapers!
- Library - a research facility of genealogical and local history materials. Containing over 15,000 volumes, the collection also includes maps, family files, subject information files, microfilm, and CDs.
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