2023-2024 Events

“Our Seventy-Sixth Year”


Judy Rakowsky, Author of Jews In The Garden: A Holocaust Survivor, The Fate Of His Family, And The Secret History of Poland in World War II

Thursday, September 28, 2023 @ 6:30 pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

What really happened to the Jews in the garden next door?Jews in the Garden reads like the best of narrator-guided murder mysteries. A globe-trotting detective story, this new book turns investigative eyes and ears towards the horrific actions taken by regular citizens during the Holocaust. The author and her elderly cousin Sam, a Holocaust survivor, never knew what happened to their family members who were hidden away from the Nazis by neighbors, and were never heard from again. Judy Rakowsky is an award-winning investigative journalist whose career of reporting for the Boston Globe and Providence Journal often led to coverage on major stories of the times from organized crime to security issues after 9/1. Books will be available for purchase.


Maj. Gen. Mari K. Eder, Author of The Girls Who Fought Crime: The Untold True Story Of The Country’s First Female Investigator And Crime Fighting Squads

Saturday, September 30, 2023, @ 2:00 pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

In 1920’s New York City one woman, Mae Foley, cast aside her corset and picked up a police badge to become the city’s first-ever woman crime investigator. With a  purse custom-made to hold a pistol, Foley learned that as a woman she made the perfect undercover agent. Over her career, Foley always strove to protect the innocent and vulnerable and to always be just.

Mari K. Eder is a retired U.S. Army Major General, a renowned speaker and author, and a thought leader on strategic communication and leadership. General Eder is the former Commanding General of the U.S. Army Reserve Joint and Special Troops Support Command, former Deputy Chief of the Army Reserve and former Deputy Chief of Public Affairs for the U.S. Army. Books will be available for purchase.

Watch a video of this event


Allen C. Guelzo, author of “Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment”

Thursday, February 15, 2024 @ 7:00 pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

Abraham Lincoln grappled with the greatest crisis of democracy that has ever confronted the United States. In Our Ancient Faith, Professor Allen C. Guelzo captures the president’s firmly held belief that democracy was the greatest political achievement in human history. The book is an intimate study of Lincoln’s version of democracy by a bestselling historian – with Guelzo bringing his subject to life as a rigorous and visionary thinker.

Allen C. Guelzo is a three-time winner of the Lincoln Prize, and one of America’s foremost experts on Abraham Lincoln. Event is co-sponsored by Main Point Books and the Radnor Memorial Library.


Rev. Dr. Manuel A. Howard, author of “Transforming Male Leaders in the Twenty-First Century”

Thursday, February 22, 2024 @ 6:30 pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

The Radnor Memorial Library is our partner for this special event as we celebrate Black History Month.

Reverend Dr. Manuel A. Howard is Pastor of Saint John AME Church of Garrett Hill, in Rosemont, and a Radnor native who attended Radnor schools where he was a standout athlete in football and basketball. After graduation from West Chester University, Dr. Howard earned a Master of Divinity degree followed by a Doctor of Ministry degree in 2018.

A well-regarded leader and founder of many local organizations, also chaplain for the Radnor Police Department, Dr. Howard has begun a new chapter in life as author of a new book on black leadership with the main objective of raising leaders.

We are thrilled to host Rev. Dr. Manuel A. Howard, Radnor Township’s nationally recognized speaker, whose true mission is at home here, preserving our historic church and serving his congregation at Saint John AME Church in Rosemont.

Books will be available for purchase at the event.


Amy Jane Cohen, author of “Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape: Deep Roots and Continuing Legacy”

Wednesday, February 28, 2024 @ 7:00 pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

Black Philadelphians have shaped Philadelphia history since colonial times. In Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape, Amy Cohen recounts notable aspects of the Black experience in Philadelphia from the late 1600s to the 1960s and how this history is marked in the contemporary city. She charts Charles Blockson’s efforts to commemorate the Pennsylvania slave trade with a historical marker and highlights Richard Allen, who founded Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church.

Cohen also describes the path to erecting a statue of civil rights activist Octavius Catto at Philadelphia’s City Hall and profiles international celebrities Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson who are honored in the city. At the end of each chapter, she includes suggestions to continue readers’ exploration of this important cultural heritage.

Showing how increased attention to the role of African Americans in local and national history has resulted in numerous, sometimes controversial, alterations to the landscape, Cohen guides readers to Black history’s significance and its connections with today’s spotlight on racial justice.

Books will be available at the event, which is co-sponsored by Main Point Books and the Radnor Memorial Library.


Black Powder Tavern Lecture Series: Radnor Township during September 1777 through April 1778

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 @ 6:00 pm
Black Powder Tavern, 1164 Valley Forge Rd, Wayne, PA

Learn about the vital role the Radnor Township area played during the Revolutionary War and what happened to not only the armies, but the Continental Congress as well.

Between September 1777 and April 1778, the Revolutionary War involved Radnor Township directly. It was the setting for Generals Washington, Cornwallis & Howe through which they marched, as well as the area the Continental Congress’ passed through on its journey westward after the occupation of Philadelphia by the British.

The lively discussion will cover the integral role that Radnor played during this period, from its establishment as a key Continental Army outpost, to the intelligence provided by locals to General Washington while at Valley Forge. It will also include information about prominent locals involved in the cause.

This is a paid event for the benefit of the Paoli Battlefield Preservation Fund. 

The Radnor Historical Society is co-sponsoring the event, and will have copies of The War of the Revolution in Radnor available for purchase.

About Our Speaker: Jim Segrave-Daly is a local historian, volunteer with America250PADelco, member of Radnor Township & Haverford Township historical societies, creator/presenter of History for Shut-Ins on Facebook & YouTube, volunteer history teacher at Haverford Township Adult School, & nationwide presenter of history to libraries & civic groups.


Justice Bell Foundation Documentary Film Screening of Finding Justice: The Untold Story of Women’s Fight for the Vote

Tuesday, March 19, 2024, 7:00pm-8:00pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

Finding Justice: The Untold Story of Women’s Fight for the Vote, tells the story of a band of intrepid women and their one-time bronze bell that became a celebrated icon of the women’s suffrage movement. Amanda Owen, the presenter of the film, is an author and independent scholar of women’s history who co-founded the Justice Bell Foundation. Owen wrote and directed the documentary and is currently writing a book about the Justice Bell’s role in the American women’s suffrage movement.

More information here


Jeffrey Rosen, Author of “The Pursuit of Happiness”

Monday, April 1, 2024, 7:00pm
Main Point Books – 116 North Wayne Avenue

The Radnor Historical Society and Main Point Books welcome Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitutional Center. He’ll be discussing his new book, “The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.”

About The Book

A fascinating examination of what “the pursuit of happiness” meant to our nation’s Founders and how that famous phrase defined their lives and became the foundation of our democracy.

The Declaration of Independence identified “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our unalienable rights, along with life and liberty. Jeffrey Rosen, the president of the National Constitution Center, profiles six of the most influential founders—Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton—to show what pursuing happiness meant in their lives.

By reading the classical Greek and Roman moral philosophers who inspired the Founders, Rosen shows us how they understood the pursuit of happiness as a quest for being good, not feeling good—the pursuit of lifelong virtue, not short-term pleasure. Among those virtues were the habits of industry, temperance, moderation, and sincerity, which the Founders viewed as part of a daily struggle for self-improvement, character development, and calm self-mastery. They believed that political self-government required personal self-government. For all six Founders, the pursuit of virtue was incompatible with enslavement of African Americans, although the Virginians betrayed their own principles.

The Pursuit of Happiness is more than an elucidation of the Declaration’s famous phrase; it is a revelatory journey into the minds of the Founders, and a deep, rich, and fresh understanding of the foundation of our democracy.


A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning

Saturday, May 11, 2024 @ 2:00 pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically, humorist A.J. Jacobs will talk about his wildly entertaining book, which is also deeply insightful about the promise and problems of living under a political order framed almost a quarter of a millennium ago. Books will be available for purchase from Main Point Books at the author event.

…from the author’s website…linked below:

A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, lecturer and human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help.

He is also editor at large at Esquire magazine, a commentator on NPR and a columnist for Mental Floss magazine and more…

His first book is called The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (Simon & Schuster, 2004). The memoir — which spent two months on the New York Times bestseller list — chronicles the 18 months Jacobs spent reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in a quest to learn everything in the world. It was praised by Time magazine, NewsweekVanity FairUSA Today, Janet Maslin in the New York Times and AJ’s uncle Henry on Amazon.com.

After trying to improve his mind, he turned to his spirit. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (2007) tells of his attempt to follow the hundreds of rules in the Good Book. It spent three months on the NYT bestseller list, and was praised by Publishers WeeklyKirkus ReviewsThe New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles TimesUSA Today and others. It appeared on the cover of the evangelical magazine Relevant, but was also featured in Penthouse. (Jacobs is proud to be a uniter, not a divider).

Read more about A.J. Jacobs!


Voices From the Civil War with Authors Allen C. Guelzo and Jon Grinspan (Registration Required)

Saturday, June 22, 2:00pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

Jon Grinspan’s Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War tells the story of the Wide Awakes, hundreds of thousands of young White and Black men, and a number of women, who organized boisterous, uniformed, torch-bearing brigades to oppose slavery. These Wide Awakes—mostly working-class Americans in their twenties—became one of the largest, most spectacular, and most influential political movements in our history. To some, it demonstrated the power of a rising majority to push back against slavery.

Allen Guelzo’s Voices from Gettysburg is the history of the Battle of Gettysburg told in the most personal way, through letters, papers, and memoirs. Books are available through eventbrite at registration and will also be available at the event.

  • Allen C. Guelzo is an American historian who serves as the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Research Scholar and Director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. He formerly was a professor of History at Gettysburg College.
  • Jon Grinspan is a historian of American democracy, youth, and popular culture. He is a curator of political history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and a frequent contributor to the New York Times.

Revolutionary Radnor 3-Part Series

Monday, June 17, 6:30-7:30pm
Monday, July 15, 6:30-7:30pm
Monday, August 19, 6:30-7:30pm
The Winsor Room, Radnor Memorial Library

Between September 1777 & April 1778, the Revolutionary War involved Radnor Township directly. It was the setting for Generals Washington, Cornwallis & Howe through which to march, as well as the Continental Congress’ passing on its journey westward, after the occupation of Philadelphia by the British. This 3-part talk will be presented by local historian Jim Segrave-Daly.

Watch Part 1

Watch Part 2