Experiencing Revolution in the “Backcountry”: Lehigh Valley Contributions to the New Nation

FAIN: GE-293162-23

Lafayette College (Easton, PA 18042-7625)
Ricardo J. Reyes (Project Director: January 2023 to present)

Participating institutions:
Lafayette College (Easton, PA) - Applicant/Recipient
Historic Bethlehem Partnership, Inc. (Bethlehem, PA) - Participating Institution
National Canal Museum (Easton, PA) - Participating Institution
Northampton County Historical Genealogical Society (Easton, PA) - Participating Institution

Planning of five exhibitions and a symposium series that examine the impact of the peoples of the Lehigh Valley on American culture.

Contributing to America250, four cultural organizations will collaborate with humanities scholars to develop five exhibitions offered for general audiences over a three-year period (2025–28) and conduct a symposium series. Lafayette College, Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society, Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, and Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites will examine the pivotal impact of the diverse peoples of the Lehigh Valley on the history and culture of America. Material culture and historic sites will elucidate how residents of the Lehigh Valley “Backcountry” of Northeast Pennsylvania experienced and contributed to the American Revolution and the emerging nation. The exhibitions will provide fresh perspectives on the area’s role as a source of innovative industrial production that supplied the Revolution and the new country, the variety of responses to the Revolution among its diverse population, and how the Revolution transformed community life.