The Formative Years: Childhood 1830 – 1910 (Virtual)

Work, education, and leisure defined childhood in the 1800s. In Chester County, the ways in which children thrived or survived depended upon family situations and the community’s ability to provide for the youngest generation. This 80-year span of local examples covers the spectrum from idyllic play to the hard realities of life. It looks at the ways in which decisions and reforms by the end of the 1800s served as the foundation for the welfare of children today.

About the Speaker: Ellen Endslow is the Director of Collections/Curator at the Chester County History Center. She is responsible for the museum collections and also oversees the library and photo archives. She works with volunteers and interns to make the museum collections accessible to the public by answering research requests, giving behind-the-scenes tours and public lectures, and creating exhibits. Ellen has served on a variety of state and national committees and appreciates the opportunity to give something back to the profession.

Admission is Pay as You Wish! Your donation is greatly appreciated. All proceeds benefit the development of future programming and the preservation of the History Center and its collections. The History Center is home to over 750,000 manuscripts, 100,000 photographs, and 70,000 artifacts. Your donation helps us to preserve and share those resources.

Presentation is via Zoom, and will be recorded and available for 7 days for all registered participants. We will email out a Zoom link the day of the program, and email a link to the recording within 24 hours. Note: the Zoom link emailed out the day of the presentation only takes you to the live Zoom; the link emailed out the day after will contain the recorded version.

This program is made possible with the support of the Chester County Community Foundation and the Chester County History Center Special Fund in honor of 18th century botanist Humphry Marshall.