Search

This Year's Past Programs - 2022

The Hopewell Valley Historical Society regularly sponsors community programs on local history, often in partnership with the Hopewell Museum. These programs typically are free and open to the public.
Recent 2022 Programs: Next:  Past Programs 2021
See also:

Liberty: Don Troiani's Paintings of the Revolutionary War
     Presented by Matthew Skic

         Mon., April 18, 2022 - 7 pm ET
             Online virtual presentation via GotoMeeting
             Registration Required -> Register here (through the Mercer County Library)
             Note: The MCL uses GoToMeeting for video webinars - see GoToMeeting Installation Instructions (PDF)
Join Matthew Skic, Curator of Exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, for an exciting look at the artistic career of Don Troiani, America's foremost historical military artist. For the very first time in a museum exhibit, nearly 50 of Don Troiani's original paintings of the Revolutionary War are now on display at the Museum of the American Revolution. Matthew will discuss Troiani's artistic process, how Troiani uses his collection of historic military antiques in his work, and the significance of Troiani's paintings to our understanding of the Revolutionary War. Liberty: Don Troiani's Paintings of the Revolutionary War is on view at the Museum of the American Revolution until September 5, 2022. Tickets and exhibit catalogs are available for purchase at amrevmuseum.org.
Matthew Skic serves as Curator of Exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. Originally from Hopewell, NJ, he worked as an historical interpreter at Washington Crossing State Park during high school. Matthew went on to study history at American University and interned for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. He was a fellow in the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and graduated with his master’s degree in 2016. Soon after graduation from the Winterthur Program, Matthew joined the curatorial team at the Museum of the American Revolution and helped open the Museum in 2017. He has curated multiple award-winning exhibitions and online projects since then. Matthew has also authored or co-authored three books: Among His Troops: Washington’s War Tent in a Newly Discovered Watercolor (2019), Cost of Revolution: The Life and Death of an Irish Soldier (2019), and Liberty: Don Troiani’s Paintings of the Revolutionary War (2021). 
Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, The Hopewell Museum, and the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library.
Picture
Matthew Skic
Picture
Download Flyer (PDF)

Discussion Panel: Immigration Experiences in Hopewell Valley

         Sun., March 20, 2022 - 3 pm ET
             Online virtual presentation via Zoom
                 and in-person livestream at the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library
             Zoom Registration Required -> Register here (through the Pennington Public Library)
             Livestream Registration Required -> Register here (through the Mercer County Library)
             More Information (Pennington Public Library)
As part of the 2022 Big Read initiative, The Hopewell Museum, the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, and the Hopewell Branch of Mercer County Library are partnering with the Pennington Public Library to present a conversation on how local families with a primary, secondary or tertiary immigrant experiences move through this grand notion of the “American Dream.”

The NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. This year, the Pennington Public Library has organized an extensive program from February 26 through April 10, 2022, intending to bring our community together around one book and use this shared experience of reading, discussing and exploring the themes of the book as a stepping stone to learn from and listen to each other. 

The book selection for this year is the debut graphic novel memoir by Thi Bui, an intimate look at one family’s journey from their war-torn home in Vietnam to their new lives in America.
Facilitator: Ian Burrow, Owner at BurrowIntoHistory LLC
​Panelists:
  • Dr. David Angwenyi – Founder/CEO, Global Connections Kenya, Founder, Hopewell-Keroka Alliance
  • Kim T. Ha – Director, Pennington Public Library
  • Ellyn Ito – Executive Director, Seeds to Sew
  • Mikaela Levons – Director of Stakeholder Relations, Equal Justice USA
  • Committeewoman Uma Purandare – Hopewell Township Committee Member, Founder, Marathi School
  • Colby Cedar Smith – Author, Call Me Athena
About the speakers:
  • Ian Burrow is a semi-retired archaeologist. He was born, raised and educated in England. After working there for 10 years as a professional archaeologist, he emigrated to the United States with his American wife Cathe in 1988 to continue his archaeological career in New Jersey and surrounding states. He serves on the Board of the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum (among other things). Cathe was born in Canada. Their daughter is from Peru, and her husband Leo is Mexican/Costa Rican.
  • Dr. Angweni is an educator at Hopewell Regional School District. He is the Founder/CEO of Global Connections Kenya, a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise funds to support students to implement projects that help link American communities with villages in Kenya. He is also Founder of Hopewell-Keroka Alliance, a non-profit organization that links Hopewell Valley Community with the Keroka area of South Western Kenya for the purpose of improving people’s lives in the villages.
  • Kim T. Ha has been Director of the Pennington Library for the past ten years. She is a goals-driven, community-oriented leader with a collaborative style that fosters individual creativity and empowers others by encouraging them to take ownership of their work. Ms. Ha is inspired by how public libraries open worlds of possibilities to people of all backgrounds. Libraries have been a cornerstone of her life from the youngest age, thanks to her Vietnamese immigrant parents taking her to local libraries weekly where she borrowed piles of books nearly as tall as herself!
  • Ms. Ito has served in executive roles in both public and private companies and serves on the board of several organizations. She is currently the CEO and co-founder of Within Health, a greater-good company offering medication-free electroceuticals to improve health and mental wellness. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Seeds to Sew International, a non-profit organization committed to improving the lives of women and girls in compromised communities. Ms. Ito’s social justice focus fuels her passion to create opportunities for those less fortunate.
  • Mikaela Levons is Director of Stakeholder Relations, Equal Justice USA. Mikaela Levons (she/her) is a native of Kingston, Jamaica, who spends her days connecting generous people and institutions who want to invest in community safety with the work of Equal Justice USA. She ensures that EJUSA has the resources to transform the justice system by promoting responses to violence that break cycles of trauma. She’s a Trustee of Young Audiences of NJ and Eastern PA (YA), which inspires young people and expands their learning through the arts, and also serves on the board of the Fergus Simpson Foundation, a non-profit operating in rural Jamaica.
  • Uma Purandare is a Hopewell Township Committee Member and Founder of the Marathi Language School. She is on the Township’s Board of Health and is the liaison to the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, the Environmental Commission, and the Senior Advisory Board. Uma Purandare has been a Girl Scout troop leader and a member of the PTO, has managed A-Z Mentoring to provide free tutoring to underprivileged children, and started Marathi Language School for families and neighboring communities. She volunteers with the Hopewell Valley Mobile Food Pantry.
  • Colby Cedar Smith is an award-winning poet, novelist, and educator. She has spent the last fifteen years teaching writing and storytelling workshops in schools, art museums, community centers, university classrooms, non-profits, and corporations. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications and she is the recipient of a 2020 Poetry Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts. Call Me Athena, A Girl From Detroit, is a novel in verse loosely based on her grandmother’s immigrant experiences.

Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, The Hopewell Museum, and the Pennington Public Library.
Picture
Ian Burrow
Picture
Dr. David Angwenyi
Picture
Kim T. Ha
Picture
Ellyn Ito
Picture
Mikaela Levons
Picture
Uma Purandare
Picture
Colby Cedar Smith

The Revolutionary World of a Free Black Man: Jacob Francis, 1754-1836
     Presented by Larry Kidder

         Thurs., February 3, 2022 - 7 pm ET
             Online virtual presentation via GotoMeeting
             Registration Required -> Register here (through the Mercer County Library)
             Note: The MCL uses GoToMeeting for video webinars - see GoToMeeting Installation Instructions (PDF)
Born in Amwell Township to a free Black mother, Jacob Francis lived his 82-year life in a world of revolutionary change. He became caught up in the rising tide of revolution in the 1760s and 70s and served in the Continental Army, including at the Battle of Trenton, and then the New Jersey militia. Establishing himself as a farmer, he married an enslaved woman named Mary, freed her and they raised their eight children in the vicinity of Flemington during a period of rising interest in abolition. The story of Jacob Francis and his family provides us with an inside view of life in New Jersey in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and the revolutionary changes affecting the lives of both free and enslaved Black people.

Larry Kidder is a retired history teacher who taught for 40 years, including 32 years at The Hun School of Princeton. He is a graduate of Allegheny College (BA 1967, MS 1969) and served four years in the US Navy. Larry has been a volunteer historian and historical interpreter for the Howell Living History Farm in Hopewell for over 30 years and is a member of the board of the Princeton Battlefield Society where he focuses on educational programs and battlefield tours. He is a past president of the Hopewell Valley Historical Society and has served on the board for many years. The author of two books on rural New Jersey history and three on aspects of the American Revolution in Mercer County, Larry is a frequent speaker throughout New Jersey. He has also been a presenter at conferences on the American Revolution in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New York. For more of Larry's projects and books, visit his website, wlkidderhistorian.com.

Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, The Hopewell Museum, and the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library.
Picture
Headstones of Jacob and Mary Francis in the Flemington Baptist Church cemetery with veteran flag
Picture
Larry Kidder
Picture
Download Flyer (PDF)

Watermills of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed​​
     Presented by Richard Hunter

         Sun., January 23, 2022 - 2 pm ET
            -  Attend in person at the Watershed Institute, or via online Zoom virtual presentation
            - Registration Required for either option: Register here through the Watershed Institute
People have long been drawn to water, out of basic necessity, as a source of food resources, and more recently, for the power it can provide. Explore the history of the water-powered industry and the several dozen or so watermills of the Stony Brook-Millstone watershed. These range in date from the early 18th through the early 20th centuries, and cover a wide range of mill types, mostly grist and sawmills, but also many others, e.g., fulling, carding, woolen, cotton, flax, plaster, oil, clover, and more. Examine how these mills supported and shaped the communities within the watershed.
Richard Hunter has had a lifelong interest in mills going back to his pre-U.S. existence in the UK.  His doctoral dissertation at Rutgers was a historical geographical study of mill siting in the Stony Brook-Millstone and North Branch of the Raritan watersheds.  In his professional career as an archaeologist and cultural resource management specialist from the late 1970s onwards he has researched and excavated numerous water-powered industrial sites of many different types throughout the state and Mid-Atlantic region.  He has a particular obsession with tide mills, which sadly are a hydro-geographic impossibility in the Stony Brook-Millstone watershed.  Richard is founder and President of Hunter Research, Inc. a Trenton-based historic preservation and cultural resources consulting business, and has served on numerous state and local boards and commissions.  He is author of many articles and co-author (with Richard Porter) of Hopewell: A Historical Geography.  

You can attend this event in person or online - Registration is required for either option:
  • In person at The Watershed Institute, formerly the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association
    -     31 Titus Mill Road, Pennington, New Jersey 08534
  • Online virtual presentation via Zoom
  • Register here through the Watershed Institute for either in-person or Zoom attendance
​
Co-sponsored by the The Watershed Institute, the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, and The Hopewell Museum.
Picture
Stony Brook Mill
Picture
Richard Hunter
Picture
Download Flyer (PDF)
    Next - Past Programs 2021
Hopewell Valley Historical Society
Box 371, Pennington, NJ 08534
hvhswebsite@gmail.com
About  -  Programs  -  Collections

Membership & Donations
Subscribe to Monthly Update Emails