2025-26 Season Meetings
Tuesday October 13: Stacey C. Peeples, “Pennsylvania Hospital at 275: The Making of a Museum”
Earlier this year Pennsylvania Hospital, America’s first chartered hospital, marked 275 years by transforming its historic Pine Building into a museum. Among the exhibits are the preserved historic library and surgical amphitheater, and newly restored apothecary. This talk will discuss what went into making the museum.
For over 25 years, Stacey C. Peeples has served as the Curator-Lead Archivist at the Pennsylvania Hospital. Stacey oversees the manuscripts, rare books, fine art, artifacts, ephemera and antique furniture; works with researchers; provides presentations and education on the history of the institution, and curated and directs the new Pennsylvania Hospital Museum.
Tuesday, November 10: Jordan B. Smith, “The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity”
Jordan B. Smith presents a new account of how rum was invented, made, sold, and consumed, and how that history connected Philadelphia to other parts of the Atlantic world. He'll introduce you to a commodity that transformed how things were made and consumed in large part due to its ubiquity and affordability. Moreover, he argues, rum’s emergence as the quintessential Atlantic commodity tied together myriad innovations to inspire a broader reimagining of what commodities were and how they were made. This talk builds on Jordan’s book, The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025).
Jordan B. Smith teaches early American and Atlantic history at Widener University, where he is an associate professor of history and the pre-law advisor. Jordan received his BA in History from Carleton College and his MA and PhD from Georgetown University. His essays have appeared in Early American Studies, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, and Commonplace.
