2010-2011 Events

“Our Sixty-Third Year”

Sunday, September 26, 2010, 4:00 p.m., at Robinson Hall, Presbyterian Children’s Village (PCV), 452 Roberts Rd., Rosemont
PCV will host its donors and RHS members at the former Glencoe estate built in 1906 as a country home for Thomas McKean, Jr., namesake and descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Jim Garrison, a noted local architectural historian, will lecture about the estate and lead a house tour. Glencoe’s architect was George Bispham Page, who recreated English designs he had seen on his travels as a University of Pennsylvania scholar. In 1926 the 44 acre estate was purchased by Samuel Robinson, President of Acme Markets. Upon his death in 1959, Robinson left the property to the Presbyterian Church. PCV is celebrating its 50th anniversary at the Rosemont site. Following the lecture and tour, wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Directions: From Wayne, take Conestoga Road East to Ithan Avenue. Turn right (South) on Ithan and follow it to Roberts Road. Turn Left on Roberts, proceed through first stop sign, and watch for PCV signage. Please note that in Mapquest the address is listed as Bryn Mawr rather than Rosemont.
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010. 7:30 p.m., at the Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library
RHS and the Library are co-sponsoring a book talk by Tad Friend, a New Yorker Magazine staff writer since 1988. Friend’s book, Cheerful Money: Me, My Family and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor, is a memoir that includes his growing up in Swarthmore as the son of the College president. Cheerful Money was chosen as one of the best books of 2009 by The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Chicago Tribune. Following the talk, refreshments will be served, and books will be available for purchase and signing.

Sunday, October 10, 4:00 p.m., at the Willows Cottage
RHS, the Radnor Conservancy, and the Friends of the Willows Cottage are sponsoring a presentation on the history of the Willows Estate, previously known as Rose Garland. Three speakers will trace the evolution of the property in a presentation entitled “Farm Life in Radnor.” Dr. Clarissa Dillon, retired teacher from Ithan Elementary School, will talk on early agricultural beginnings; Sara Pilling, RHS Board member, will tell us about gentleman farmers of the 19th and 20th centuries; and Sean Roulan, the Farm Manager for Skunk Hollow Community Farm, will talk on community farms in present times. Refreshments will be served.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 7:30 p.m., at the Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library
RHS and the Library are co-sponsoring a book talk by Dr. Kathleen M. Brown, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Foul Bodies: Cleanliness in Early America. Dr. Brown will talk about this unusual cultural history that traces attitudes toward dirt through the mid-nineteenth century, demonstrating that cleanliness—and the lack of it—had moral, religious, and often sexual implications. Foul Bodies is the winner of the 2010 Lawrence W. Levine Award, presented by the Organization of American Historians. Refreshments will be served following the talk, and books will be available for purchase and signing.
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Wednesday, November 3, 7:30 p.m., at the Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library
RHS and the Library are co-sponsoring a book talk by Stephen Fried, author of Appetite for America: How Visionary Business Man Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire that Civilized the Wild West (2010). Award winning Journalist Fried tells the story of British-born Fred Harvey, one of the country’s first self-made millionaires, whose restaurants were synonymous with the West for nearly a century. The Fred Harvey story is told here with all its majesty, dirty laundry, triumph and failure. His book is a hefty slice of American history, and you will live it as much as the critics did! Refreshments will be served following the talk, and books will be available for purchase and signing.

Sunday, December 19, 4:00 p.m. at the Finley House
Cardy Crawford, retired Radnor teacher, author, local artist, and RHS Board member, will read from David Sedaris’ holiday writings, which are filled will irony and sardonic humor. The reading will take place in the parlor by the fire, but it is not for traditionalists or children! Refreshments will be served.
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 7:30 p.m. at the Finley House
Art Forster, has owned Forster’s Framing on Lancaster Avenue in Wayne since 1974. He is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in graphic art and a major in photography. Mr. Forster will speak about the basics of art conservation, including photographs and paper documents. He will distinguish between conservation and restoration, explain why art deteriorates, and address approaches to prevent or stop deterioration. He will illustrate his talk with various samples, and encourages attendees to come with questions and/or samples for discussion. Refreshments will be served. (originally scheduled for January 18; postponed due to weather)
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Tuesday, February 8, 7:30 p.m., 2011, at the Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library (snow date is Tuesday, February 15)
RHS and the Library are co-sponsoring a presentation by Craig TenBroek, founder of the Main Line Genealogy Club. TenBroek has done a great deal of research on his own family and stumbled upon some very interesting coincidences that he will share. Because of his expertise, he has taught many courses on genealogy research at schools, churches, and Main Line School Night. Based on his lecture and demonstrations, you will learn fundamental research techniques and also learn about more advanced methods for finding genealogical information using computer programs and the internet. Refreshments will be served.
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Wednesday, March 2, 7:30 p.m., 2011, at the Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library (snow date is Tuesday, March 8)
RHS and the Library are co-sponsoring a book talk by Dennis McIlnay, author of The Horseshoe Curve: Sabotage and Subversion in the Railroad City. The book deals with an interrupted Nazi plot during World War II to blow up this landmark section of the Pennsylvania Railroad near Altoona. Two-hundred-twenty-five Nazi sympathizers from the area were arrested. Another little known fact: over 15,000 Germans and Italians were interred during World War II. Refreshments will be served, and books will be available for purchase and signing.
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Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 6:00 p.m., at St. Aloysius Academy, 401 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr
The Society’s Annual Dinner will be held at the former Wootton Estate, built in 1880 by Peabody & Stearns for George W. Childs, publisher of the Philadelphia Ledger and partner with Anthony Drexel in the building of the Wayne suburb. It was later owned by George W. Childs Drexel, his namesake. Speakers will be Annie Robinson, author of the recently published book, Peabody & Stearns: Country Houses and Seaside Cottages, and Sister Jane Reardon IHM, archivist for St. Aloysius. More details will follow closer to the dinner.
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Sunday, May 1, 2011, 4:00 p.m., at the American Missionary Fellowship, 672 Conestoga Road, Rosemont
The Annual Meeting of the Society will include a tour of the former Isle Field mansion, built in 1911 by Horace Trumbauer as a country home for the Darlington family. The home includes a small museum of the Fellowship’s history. Dr. Bryce Bartruff, Chief Operating Officer of the Fellowship, will speak on the history of the home and the Fellowship, which has been sending Missionaries into under-served American areas since the early 19th century and was prominent in the so-called “Sunday School Movement.” The Fellowship and its related organizations have published more than 10,000 books, Sunday school hymnals, school books, tracts, and blue and red Scripture tickets, many of which are on display at Isle Field. Following the lecture and tour, wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Directions to American Missionary Fellowship (AMF): From Wayne, proceed east on Conestoga Road. After crossing Route 320, go 0.4 mile, and turn right into the AMF campus.

Sunday, June 5, 2011, 2:00 p.m., starting from the Friends of the Radnor Trails Park (off West Wayne Avenue behind Vic & Deans Pizzeria and Grill)
Join Bob Thomas, partner in Campbell Thomas & Co., a center-city architectural firm, for a walk on the Radnor Trail. Thomas, one of the foremost experts in the design and development of multi-purpose trails, worked on the plans for the existing Radnor Trail, and is currently helping to plan a possible extension. One trail stop will be at the kiosk near the Wayne Art Center, where many pictures of the original trolley line will be on display. This event is co-sponsored by RHS and the Radnor Conservancy, and its date is planned to coincide with National Trails Day.