HSBC - Calendar of Events

Racing in Reading and Berks County

Saturday April 9, 2011 - Ever since the first race at the Reading Fairgounds in the 1920s, auto racing in Berks County has helped advance what is today America's most popular spectator sport. This display will focus on the races, the tracks, the drivers and promoters and their legacies. Local boys such as Tommy Hinnershitz and Joie Chitwood along with such nationally known drivers as A.J. Foyt, the Unser brothers and Mario Andretti cut their teeth in Reading. Come see the cars that raced in Reading, the photos, uniforms and other materials relating to this wonderful chapter of Berks County's history.

This event will be here until June 2, 2012. You won't want to miss this!

New Exhibit - Barnyard Animal Art of Berks County

Saturday February 11, 2012 - The Historical Society of Berks County Library & Museum is pleased to announce their first special exhibit of 2012 Barnyard Animal Art of Berks County. Guest Curator, Board President Beulah "Boots" Fehr has selected paintings from the HSBC collection, most of which have not been displayed in years. They will be joined by complementary pieces loaned from private collections. Artists represented include Ferdinand Brader, John Heyl Raser, Ralph Dunkelberger, Francis Daniel Devlan, Christopher Shearer, Charles F. Witman, and Almshouse painter Louis Mader.

The exhibit opens at 10:00am Saturday, February 11, 2012 and will close at the end of August 2012. Ms. Fehr will present the opening lecture on works of Devlan.

Preserving Family Legacy by Restoring Family Photographs Lecture

Saturday February 11, 2012 - Part 2 of the Archives Lectures from the Henry Jannsen Library

Lecture will run from 1:00pm to 2:00 pm, and a tour of the Henry Jannsen Library will follow.

Admission is FREE for members and $5 for non-members.

Discover your family heritage by preserving generations of photographs. Learn how to take care of your collection and see some examples of ways to reproduce and enhance damaged, deteriorated photographs. See some examples of how to make an album using a timeline and create a story from your collection. Bring some family pictures that you may have questions about.

Presenter: Patricia Scialo is an arts educator in the field of historic photographic techniques and offers workshops and residencies as a PA Council on the Arts visiting artist. She is the owner of "An Art Portrait", an individual and family portraiture service and preservation business.

Annual Presidents Day Luncheon

Saturday February 18, 2012 - Annual Presidents Day Luncheon Hosted by the Historical Society of Berks County 940 Centre Ave., Reading, PA.19601

Members/Prospective members and their guests are invited to join with the Berks County Chapter DAR, Governor Joseph Hiester Chapter, Pennsylvania Society SAR and Conrad Weiser Society CAR

Saturday, February 18, 2012, 12noon at HSBC

Guest Speaker: Jim Lewars, Director at Landis Valley Farm Museum

Program: Early English/German Architecture in Berks County

A full service lunch will be served by VIVA

Menu includes: Side Salad, Toscani chopped salad with Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette Served with Our Signature Fresh Bread, Olive Oil, and Herbs

Choice of Entrée: Home-Made 4-Cheese Lasagna with Marinara Sauce OR Herb-Encrusted Chicken with Fettuccini Alfredo

Desserts include: Bananas Foster Cheesecake & Strawberry Dulce Cheesecake Includes Fresh Brewed Regular and Decaf Coffees, Hot Tea and Iced Tea

Cost $30 � RSVP by February 13th to HSBC

Make checks payable to HSBC, attn: Annual Luncheon

Credit cards are acceptable by calling HSBC 610-375-4375

Kits Kaboodle Interactive Theatre

Saturday March 3, 2012 - The Historical Society of Berks County invites children 7 and older, accompanied by an adult, to participate in Kits Kaboodle Interactive Theatre presenting, The Royalty of the Renaissance.

England, 1599- the splendor of Elizabethan history, manners and customs, court dancing, and ladyship and knighthood exhibitions are all magnificently explored and brought to life with Lady Celia Beaumont.

This is a FREE program and will begin at 10:00 a.m.

Call 610-375-4375 for more information.

2nd Saturday Program: Pastors & Patriots Lecture

Saturday March 10, 2012 - Pastors and Patriots: The Muhlenberg Family of Pennsylvania

Admission is FREE for members and $5 for non-members.

Refreshments served at 9:30am. Program begins at 10:00am.

This lecture showcases the contributions and achievements of one of Pennsylvania�s most venerable and noteworthy families.

Speaker: Lisa Minardi is a Muhlenberg historian, the Assistant Curator at Winterthur Museum and the curator of the current Muhlenberg Exhibit, Pastors & Patriots at the Berman Gallery at Ursinus College.

Why Archives Matter

Saturday March 24, 2012 - This event has been rescheduled for March 24, and will be presented first, with another archival workshop to follow.

Event begins 1:00 and will finish by 3:00pm.

Admission is FREE for members and $5 for non-members.

Participants will learn more about archival practices, the goals and priorities of the library, with an introduction to the collections located in the library. After the workshop, there will be a tour the HJL for a firsthand look at the collection storage areas, including the basement. This workshop will be presented by our own Director of Special Collections, Kimberly Richards Brown.

Alice's Wonderland Tea Party Play

Friday April 27, 2012 - Historical Society of Berks County and Rainbow Theatre present Alice's Wonderland Tea Party!

The play will be held on Friday, April 27 at 7:00 pm. Saturday, April 28 at 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. Sunday, April 29 at 2:00 pm.

Child actors of Rainbow Theatre will perform this everlasting story of Alice's adventure in Wonderland. After the play, light refreshments will be served, as well as a "meet and greet" with the cast and crew.

Ticket cost is $12 per adult and $10 per child. Ticket also includes admission to the Historical Society of Berks County's Museum, which includes three floors of exhibits about local history and changing exhibitions: "Berks County Barnyard Art" and "Racing in Reading and Berks," and the Hands-On History Room.

This activity is appropriate for children five years and older and an adult must accompany children.

For more information, please contact: Vicky Heffner, Education Curator. Phone: 610-375-4375, email:education@berkshistory.org.

Sites Along the Schuylkill: A "Friendraiser" Bus Trip

Tuesday May 1, 2012 - Bus departs from the Historical Society building at 940 Centre Ave, Reading, at 7:00 AM, and will return by 6:30pm.

Price is $155 for members and $165 for non-members.

See the world through Van Gogh�s brush at the Philadephia Museum of Art! This landmark exhibition presents some of the most daring and innovative works Vincent van Gogh ever created. Van Gogh�s passionate experimentation and zeal for the natural world are reflected in more than forty close-ups of landscapes, flowers, and still lifes painted during the final five years of the artist's turbulent life. These works, which helped to alter the course of modern painting, have never been seen together, and the grouping will appear in this country only in Philadelphia. Bus trip includes a private guided tour of the exhibit and time on your own to tour the Museum.

Also included in the trip: Lunch at the Water Works Restaurant, named one of the �top 100 Dining experiences in the world.� Nestled on the banks of the Schuylkill River, with breathtaking views of famed Boathouse Row. Luncheon will include soup, salad, dessert, and non-acholic beverages, and your choice of Lobster BLT or Apple Bourbon BBQ Chicken Breast.

Guided tour of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania's museum of more than thirty thousand objects including George Washington�s Masonic apron and Brother Benjamin Franklin�s 1779 Masonic sash. We will see the beautiful 2008 renovation to the buildings exterior, as well as Oriental Hall, the Benjamin Franklin Room, and John Wanamaker Dining Room.

Bartram�s Garden, where we will walk in George Washington's, Thomas Jefferson's, and Benjamin Franklin�s footsteps as we explore America�s oldest living botanical garden overlooking the Schuylkill River. We will see the wildflower meadow, majestic trees, river trail, wetlands, and John Bartram�s 18th century home. Also see the Franklinia alatamaha, saved from extinction by the Bartrams and named for John Bartram�s great friend, Benjamin Franklin.

RSVP by March 20. Reservations should be mailed to the attention of Vicky Heffner, HSBC Education Curator, at 940 Centre Avenue, Reading, Pa 19601, or may be made by phone at 610-375-4375. Please make checks payable to HSBC. No refunds unless seat can be filled from a waiting list.

Junior Historian Summer Camp

Wednesday June 20, 2012 - HSBC is proud to announce its third annual Junior Historian Summer Camp, being held Wednesday, June 20th, Thursday, June 21st and Friday, June 22nd, from 9 am to 3 pm.

Children, who must be 7 to 14 years of age, will weave a market basket, set text like what was once was done to print newspaper and books, mold pottery, churn ice cream and more.

Cost is $50, only $35 for 1776 Club members, lunch not included.

Reservation deadline is Friday, June 8th.