About Us - Background

What We Do and How You Can Get Involved:

In 1936, a small group of local history-lovers, under the leadership of famed educator S. Paul Teamer, formed what they called the Tredyffrin Easttown History Club. Eighty years later and counting, the Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society, the oldest group of its kind on the Upper Main Line, continues their legacy by serving our community with dedicated efforts to accurately research, carefully preserve, and clearly present our rich local history.

Our members and their engagement with our Society is essential if we are to continue to succeed in our mission. Whether you join for the first time, or renew after many years of loyal membership, your involvement in what has been called “one of the most vigorous local history organizations in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” is vitally important and sincerely appreciated.

Consider some of the ways that the Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society assists our local community in remembering its past:

• We hold nine meetings each year featuring presentations by expert members and guest speakers on a wide variety of local historical subjects, and open to both members and the public free of charge.
• We publish our highly-regarded History Quarterly, provided free by mail to our members, and available for purchase by non-members at selected local retailers and libraries. The excellent articles about our history make each richly-illustrated issue, now printed in full-color, a joy to explore.
• The Society's ever-growing website (www.tehistory.org) provides resources that include:
  • Our History Quarterly Digital Archive provides digital access to our publication back issues from the the first volume in 1937 up to 2007 (with more recent volumes coming soon). This compendium of local Upper Main Line history is the largest of its kind in Chester County, and has been critically acclaimed by community leaders and educators alike. And because it is word-searchable, this is a particularly useful tool for researchers.
  • Our Digital Image Collection, an ever-expanding online database containing a portion of our large and growing collection of historic images in a searchable format. This wonderful resource is both fun to browse and useful for research.
  • The scholarly compendium of online information found in the Tredyffrin Township History and Easttown Township Deed History areas of the website, prepared by our esteemed colleague Mike Bertram, features interactive maps and is a tremendous asset for local historians and genealogists alike studying the early history and development of our area.
• The Society's Archive contains an extensive collection of manuscripts, documents, photographs, and artifacts, and provides an invaluable window into the personal lives of past residents and institutions from our area. The Society houses and curates these assets, and publishes descriptions of them to aid both local and non-local researchers.
• We participate in community outreach events such as the Paoli Blues Fest, Tredyffrin Community Day, and Paoli Battlefield Heritage Day to increase awareness and meet new people. Special events, like our dedication of a new historic marker for the Main Line Airport, help to bring history to a wider audience.

The operating budget to fund the Society's efforts comes almost entirely from membership dues, and we ask you to support us by becoming a member. As always, your generosity beyond the basic dues will make an especially useful difference in supporting our endeavors for the Society and the community. Finally, because we are staffed 100% by volunteers, we ask our members to consider helping us in some way in the coming year. Please give thoughtful consideration to how you might wish to assist the Society, and make a notation accordingly on the membership application. Those who participate often find that it is a great way to get to know others who share an interest in history while making a difference.

Thank you for your generous support and participation.