Historical Society Awarded $10,000 Grant for New Archives Center Building

The Historical Society of Haddonfield has received a new $10,000 grant from the Haddonfield Foundation in support of its planned new archives center building. The Foundation awarded the grant in honor of past Historical Society president Pat Lennon, so it will be matched dollar-for-dollar through a challenge grant issued earlier this year by a donor who worked with Pat at the Historical Society and admires her greatly.

“We are so thankful for the foundation’s ongoing support of the Historical Society,” said Doug Rauschenberger, president of the Historical Society of Haddonfield. “And we’re so pleased that this challenge grant is helping to draw even more attention to Pat’s many contributions to this community.”

With this grant and its match, the Society has now raised more than $858,000 in gifts and pledges for the new building. Donations can be mailed to the Historical Society, and gifts can also be made online. Donors who wish to have their gifts matched must designate that they are giving in Pat’s honor.

The Society will begin construction on the new building this month. The planned facility will nearly triple the storage space for archival collections while incorporating up-to-date temperature and humidity controls and fire suppression system in an ADA-compliant building. Space in the new building will also be reserved for Haddon Township Historical Society archival collections, thanks to a generous gift earlier this year from the William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation.

A rendering of the planned new Archives Center reading room.

September Membership Meeting to Feature Equal Rights Pioneer Octavius Catto

Our next general membership meeting will feature a talk by authors Daniel Biddle and Murray Dubin about Octavius Catto (1839-1871), an important educator, athlete, and equal rights leader in the years before, during, and after the Civil War.

Presented in partnership with Lawnside Historical Society, the event will be held on Wednesday September 26 at 7:30 pm at the Mabel Kay House, 24 Walnut Street, Haddonfield. Admission is free.

Biddle and Dubin helped to bring Catto’s many accomplishments to light with their 2010 book, Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America. Biddle and Dubin each had long careers with the Philadelphia Inquirer,  and both had previously created works touching on aspects of Catto’s life. After accidentally discovering their mutual interest in this remarkable man, they decided to work together to share his full story.

Catto worked as a teacher at Philadelphia’s finest black school and also was a second baseman in the Pythian Baseball Club, an African American team. Among other accomplishments, he led a successful effort to have Pennsylvania’s streetcars integrated and to have Pennsylvania ratify the 15th Amendment, which granted black men the right to participate in elections. He was murdered in 1871 by a member of a white mob while on his way to vote. Philadelphia recently honored Catto with a statue outside of its City Hall.

Please join us on Sept. 26 to learn more about this equal rights pioneer and the men and women who worked with him to change America.

Next Book Club Meeting To Be Held September 25

There’s still time to read the Historical Society’s Book Club summer reading selection before our next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday September 25 at 7 pm at Greenfield Hall.

We’ll be discussing Grant, by Ron Chernow, a captivating biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was named one of the best books of 2017 by Goodreads, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and others. Chernow “delivers a deeply researched, everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know biography, but few readers will regret the experience,” according to Kirkus Reviews.

As always, all are welcome at our discussion on September 25, even if you haven’t read the book. Light refreshments will be served.

If you’re planning your fall reading, the Book Club will then meet on Tuesday November 27 to discuss It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History, by Jennifer Wright.

Historical Society Closed to Public During August

Just a reminder that the Historical Society closes to the public for the month of August each year. We will also not be holding our usual “First Sunday” hours on Sunday September 2 due to the holiday weekend.

Our last summer hours for Greenfield Hall will be Monday July 30 from 1-4 pm, and our last research hours at the archives center in the Mickle House will be Tuesday July 31 from 9:30-11:30 am.

If you miss us in July, you can still reach out by phone or email, but please be patient if we are slower to respond. We will return to regular public hours after Labor Day. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Historical Society Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Archives Center Building

The Historical Society of Haddonfield held a groundbreaking ceremony on August 1 for its new, state-of-the-art archives center building to be built on its property on Kings Highway East in Haddonfield.

The Society has raised more than $817,000 in gifts and pledges for the new building and expects to begin construction later this month. The planned facility will nearly triple the storage space for archival collections while incorporating up-to-date temperature and humidity controls and fire suppression system in an ADA-compliant building. Space in the new building will also be reserved for Haddon Township Historical Society archival collections, thanks to a generous gift earlier this year from the William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation.

“We are so appreciative of all of the community support we have received for this project so far,” said Doug Rauschenberger, president of the Historical Society of Haddonfield. “This new facility will be so important for preserving these significant archival collections for generations to come.”

Other speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included Haddonfield Mayor Neal Rochford and Haddonfield architect Eduardo Guzman, president of DCM Architecture and Engineering, who designed the planned new building.

An ongoing challenge grant in honor of past Historical Society president Pat Lennon has brought in an additional $94,000 in gifts and pledges so far this summer. All gifts made in Pat’s honor are being matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous donor who worked with her at the Historical Society and admires her greatly.

Donations can be mailed to the Historical Society, and gifts can also be made online. Donors who wish to have their gifts matched must designate that they are giving in Pat’s honor.

Eduardo Guzman of DCM Architecture and Engineering and Historical Society of Haddonfield Board President Doug Rauschenberger speak to the crowd at the groundbreaking.

Left to right: Eduardo Guzman, Carol Smith, Doug Rauschenberger, Mayor Neal Rochford, Tish Colombi, Bill Reynolds, Tim Alles, Bob Marshall.