Talks and Presentations

Archives & Library Director, Cara Curtis, will explore the complex history of Carlisle’s oldest historic Black cemetery at the corner of Pitt and Penn Streets.

Virtual program. Celebrating Cumberland County’s 275th anniversary with historian and author Judith Ridner. Sign up to receive a link to this program. RSVP Here:

Between the rides of the Blue Mountains and the crystalline waters of the Yellow Breeches Creek, one-room schoolhouse of yesteryear dot the landscape of Cumberland County. By the latter half of the 19th century, there were more than 160 one-room schools operating throughout the region. Join us for a talk exploring the schools that educated […]

The son of a Philadelphia shipping merchant and the namesake for the capital of New Jersey, William Trent carved his own legacy as a gentleman, throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century. A seasoned veteran officer of three different conflicts, he was praised for his “frame of speech to the Indians, in their style”. […]

Sources of Untapped Information for Historians and Family Researchers in Cumberland County Court House Records. Merri Lou Schaumann, author an local historian, will shed light on the kinds of county court records that are seldom used, unknown to most genealogists and historians, yet packed with untapped historical data. You will discover the titles of these […]

From the earliest human inhabitants to the present day, Cumberland County has been an agricultural breadbasket. Many great innovations were developed or tested in the Cumberland Valley. We will discuss the important role our area has played in the production of food.

Jim Richards discusses the unwilling witnesses to the events of late June 1863 through November of that year and what they experienced when war was at their doorsteps. We will examine how the lives of many of the citizens were changed forever by the events of those days. Special emphasis will be place on some […]

Guest Curator Kate Theimer will provide some background on the development of the Historical Society’s exhibit Before and After and After: New Perspectives on the Carlisle Indian School, and discuss some of the ways in which new perspectives have been explored and incorporated.