Our campus hosts a variety of community events including film screenings, author talks, guest lectures, and music performances that are open to the public.
"Motown Meets Jazz" Performance
Thursday, September 18, 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Warren Oree & The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble perform Motown hits infused with soulful jazz that you won't want to miss! Oree will guide the audience on a trip down musical memory lane. He and his fellow musicians aim to illustrate how signature Motown sounds emanated from the soul and style of jazz.
Presented by the Philadelphia-based Lifeline Music Coalition, the event will focus on the union of these two musical genres by highlighting signature Motown favorites infused with the jazz style of soul and improvisation. The program will feature a variety of instrumentalists and singers in addition to The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble.
“This is not a ‘cover’ band trying to play the music exactly the same as the recordings,” explains Oree. “Our goal is to show the harmony that existed — and still exists — between two styles of music that were considered distinctly different. Together these two styles create a sound that propels and moves the listener to a place where memories stimulate and refresh.”
Register for "Motown meets jazz"
More Than Just Parks: America's National Parks Like You've Never Seen Them
Wednesday, October 22, 7 - 9 p.m.
Will and Jim Pattiz — award-winning filmmakers, national park advocates, intrepid travelers and brothers — have traveled the country documenting the natural wonders of America's national parks. Their breathtaking photography and videography have been featured in National Geographic, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast, Outside, and of course, on their own YouTube channel. Will and Jim have documented the outrageous beauty of parks from Acadia to Zion.
Join us for a special screening of Will and Jim's most spectacular national park footage and hear them talk about their gear, process and planning to film the stunning images they capture. And get the inside scoop on their tips and guides for different parks that you'll want to visit. Check out their More Than Just Parks website.
This event is co-sponsored with the Valley Forge Park Alliance. Tickets are available for $20 or $10 for VFPA members.
Purchase "More Than just parks" tickets
Cracking the Case on Art Crime
With FBI Special Agent Jake Archer
Tuesday, October 28, 7 - 8 p.m.
Join FBI Special Agent Jake Archer for a riveting journey into the world of art crime and cultural heritage recovery!
Special Agent Jake Archer, FBI Art Crime Team - Philadelphia Division will share thrilling insights into his work investigating and recovering stolen art and cultural property across the globe, including his experience helping recover a Revolutionary War-era musket stolen over 50 years ago from Valley Forge.
Special Agent Archer conducts art and cultural property-related investigations, repatriations, and training domestically and internationally. Archer is the team lead for the Art Crime Team's international matters involving the FBI's Eurasia Legal Attaches, to include areas of responsibility such as Ukraine and Russia. Archer is a member of the United States Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee and chair of its Technology Working Group, which is based in Washington, D.C. and coordinates diplomatic and law enforcement efforts to combat antiquities trafficking, disrupt trafficking networks, and protect against the looting and destruction of cultural property around the world.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear firsthand stories from the front lines of cultural heritage protection.
Register for "Cracking the Case on Art Crime"
Chocolate in the Gilded Age
Wednesday, November 12, 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Join renowned author and food historian Becky Libourel Diamond for an irresistible journey back in time to explore Victorian-era chocolate. Discover some of the time period’s most popular chocolate indulgences and learn why this now-ubiquitous treat wasn’t fully integrated into American culture until the late nineteenth century.
You will explore:
- Victorian hot cocoa vs. hot chocolate: Learn the delicious differences between these two comforting beverages.
- Innovative marketing schemes: Discover the clever tactics Victorian food companies used to promote their chocolate products.
- The rise of chocolate cake: Delve into the history of chocolate cake in America and how it skyrocketed in popularity through strategic partnerships between cookbook authors and chocolate companies.
- Victorian chocolate desserts: Hear the stories behind popular Victorian chocolate desserts, including jellies, meringues, macaroons, ice cream, and syrups.
A chocolate sampling from America's oldest continuously operating confectionary, Shane Confectionery, will be provided to each participant, and you will have the opportunity to purchase a signed book from Becky following the program.
Don't miss this chance to satisfy your curiosity and your sweet tooth with a deep dive into the delectable world of Victorian chocolate!
Register for "chocolate in the gilded age"
Fierce Desires: Variation, Conflict, and Pleasure in the History of America
Tuesday, February 24, 7 - 8:30 p.m.
From puritans to polyamory, Professor Rebecca Davis explores the story of America’s sexual past.
In the United States today, we have government decrees that there are only two sexes, debates about “trad wives” and polyamory, and frequent references to the nation’s “puritan” past. But in her latest book—and in this talk—Professor Rebecca L. Davis argues that 17th century Puritans are a weak precedent for how the history of sexuality has unfolded in the United States.
Into the 1800s, the United States was far more welcoming of gender nonconformity and same-sex/queer desires than we might presume. Instead, a significant shift occurred in the late 19th century, when anti-obscenity and anti-immigration legislation vastly expanded the federal government’s investment in shaping sexual morality. The history that unfolds is far less about prudish Puritans than shifting sexual values. Our contemporary conflicts over sex and gender highlight the power of this surprising history.
Rebecca L. Davis is the Miller Family Early Career Professor of History and an associate professor of women and gender studies at the University of Delaware. She is a historian of marriage, religion, sexuality, and politics in the United States. In addition to "Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America," she is author of "Public Confessions: The Religious Conversions that Changed American Politics" and "More Perfect Unions: The American Search for Marital Bliss," and the co-editor of "Heterosexual Histories." She is also a podcast host and producer and writes the newsletter "Carnal Knowledge," which explains the history behind today’s headlines about gender, sexuality, and American politics.
Register for "Fierce Desires" event
Women in Horticulture
Thursday, March 19, 2026, 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Join Jenny Rose Carey as she unveils the forgotten contributions of pioneering women in horticulture.
Women have tended and loved their gardens for millennia, but their contributions are largely forgotten. In this lecture, Jenny Rose Carey takes a small slice of time, 1900 to 1940, and explores the key women who founded gardening organizations including the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women, the Women’s National Farm and Garden Association, and the Garden Club of America. Other women discussed include authors, garden designers, conservationists, dig-in-dirt gardeners, and influential women from Chester County who participated in the horticultural movement during that time.
Jenny Rose Carey is a renowned gardener, educator, historian, and author. She is the former senior director at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Meadowbrook Farm in Jenkintown, and she previously worked at Temple University for over a decade, first as an adjunct professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and then as director of the Ambler Arboretum. Jenny Rose has been lecturing nationally and internationally for many years.Register for "women in horticulture"
Mountainfilm on Tour
Tuesday, April 7, 2026, 7 - 9 p.m.
Enjoy adventure-filled documentaries that inspire audiences through film, art, and ideas.
Join us for an evening of inspiring and captivating films handpicked from the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Colorado. Founded in 1979, Mountainfilm is one of America’s longest-running film festivals. The annual festival is held every Memorial Day weekend in Telluride, CO. Mountainfilm is a dynamic nonprofit organization and festival that celebrate adventure, activism, social justice, environment and indomitable spirit.
Mountainfilm on Tour in Malvern, PA will feature a collection of culturally rich, adventure-packed and engaging documentary short films that align with Mountainfilm’s mission to use the power of film, art and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world. Doors open for the event at 6:30 and the show will kick off at 7 p.m.
