Upcoming Events

Virtual Book Talk: Ten Tea Parties: Patriotic Protests that History Forgot

Join author Joe Cummins for a virtual book talk on his 2012 work, Ten Tea Parties: Patriotic Protests that History Forgot. This discussion will be held online using Zoom on Thursday, April 19th, 2024 from 5:30 to 7pm.

Purchase tickets here.

Everyone knows the story of the Boston Tea Party—in which colonists stormed three British ships and dumped 92,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor. But do you know the history of the Philadelphia Tea Party (December 1773)? How about the York, Maine, Tea Party (September 1774) or the Wilmington, North Carolina, Tea Party (March 1775)?

Ten Tea Parties is the first book to chronicle all these uniquely American protests. Author and historian Joseph Cummins begins with the history of the East India Company (the biggest global corporation in the eighteenth century) and their staggering financial losses during the Boston Tea Party (more than a million dollars in today’s money).
From there we travel to Philadelphia, where Captain Samuel Ayres was nearly tarred and feathered by a mob of 8,000 angry patriots.

Then we set sail for New York City, where the Sons of Liberty raided the London and heaved 18 chests of tea into the Hudson River. Still later, in Annapolis, Maryland, a brigantine carrying 2,320 pounds of the “wretched weed” was burned to ashes. Together, the stories in Ten Tea Parties illuminate the power of Americans banding together as Americans —for the very first time in the fledgling nation’s history. It’s no wonder these patriots remain an inspiration to so many people today. (Book description credit: Goodreads.)

Author Biography: Joseph Cummins’ works of popular history include Anything For A Vote, History’s Great Untold Stories and Great Rivals in History. He is also the author of a novel, The Snow Train. He has MFA in Writing from Columbia University and is a MacDowell Colony Fellow. He lives in Shoreline, Washington, and works as a freelance writer.

PAST EVENTS

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY TOUR OF THE OLEY VALLEY

On Saturday, April 13th, 2024 the Carpenters' Company hosted a small group architectural history tour of the Oley Valley in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Oley township in its entirety was designated a historic district by the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and residents, preservationists and historians continue to preserve and promote Oley Valley's unique historic landscape. 

Carpenters’ Company consulting historian Tom Stokes led the group through buildings and sites from the 18th and 19th centuries, some of which are either still in use or are being actively preserved. We visited the Exeter Quaker meetinghouse, the Kauffman Farm, the Johannes Yoder Farmstead, the Lobachsville Gristmill, and the Keim Homestead.

Ties Between Two Great Nations – American & British Architecture & Design

On October 17th, 2023, the British American Business Council, in partnership with the World Affairs Council, hosted a panel discussion on this year’s mutual recognition of qualifications in architecture between the United States and United Kingdom.

This discussion included the following panelists: Catherine Clark, RIBA ARB Dip Arch BSc President of the Royal Institute of British Architects - USA; Scott Compton, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP Principal Architect AIA Strategic Council Convener; Danielle Dileo Kim, AIA President and CEO of Philadelphia250; Richard Maimon, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C Partner at KieranTimberlake; Gina Robredo, Associate Partner at RSHP. The discussion was moderated by Alan Greenberger, FAIA, Vice President for Real Estate and Facilities.

Also in attendance was special guest Emma Wade-Smith OBE, his majesty’s Trade Commissioner for North American and the Consul General New York.

Check out some photos of the event below!

Arriving, Staying, Leaving: The Idea of Home

On September 26th, 2023, the Carpenters’ Company in partnership with MGA Partners, and sponsored by Premier Building Restoration, Inc. hosted John Jarboe and Drew Philp for a night of performance (the first drag show held in Carpenters’ Hall!) and intimate conversation. Drew Philp is the author of A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City. John Jarboe, a college classmate of Philp’s, is the founder and artistic director of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, founded in 2010, which uses the tropes of queer performance to engage audiences and explore issues of history, sexual politics and popular culture.

Thank you to our partners, Philp, Jarboe, and everyone who was able to come out! Please view some pictures from the event below. Photos were taken by Michael Xu and Chris Raia from MGA Partners.

Our grand reopening

Thank you to all who joined us for our grand reopening on Monday, July 3rd. A special thank you to the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry for the color guard procession, trumpeters Nozomi Imamura and Will Gregory, and the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution for the stunning flag installation. Also, thank you to our wonderful guest speakers: Interim Superintendent of Independence National Historical Park Amnesty Kochanowski, U.S. Congressman Brendan Boyle, President and CEO of Visit Philadelphia Angela Val, Philadelphia City Representative Sheila Hess, and Immediate Past President and Trustee of the Carpenters’ Company Tom Daley.

See some great photos below!

Interested in viewing footage from our previous programming or events? Visit us on YouTube @carpentershall1308.

Contact emilywinters@carpentershall.com with any questions.

Check back often for new programs and events!