The Rosenbach’s American History Book Club in Partnership with Carpenters’ Hall
All Program Dates
October 20, 2026 | 6:00pm - 7:30pm (at Carpenters’ Hall)
November 17, 2026 | 6:00pm - 7:30pm (at The Rosenbach)
December 15, 2026 | 6:00pm - 7:30pm (at Carpenters’ Hall)
Registration
Admission for this book club is $35 per session, or $90 for the package. Members receive exclusive discounts on our programs and courses. Not a member? Learn more.
Please check your spam folder for your email confirmation. If you have questions, please call (215) 732-1600 or email rsvp@rosenbach.org.
This is an in-person program at The Rosenbach and at Carpenters’ Hall
This program is for those 18 and older.
To inquire about a scholarship for this book club, please contact Bryn Michelson-Ziegler at bziegler@rosenbach.org
Description
This season of the Republic of Letters Book Club explores the causes, consequences, and cultural legacy of the Whiskey Rebellion, one of the first major tests of federal authority in the early United States. Through a blend of narrative history and historical fiction, book club attendees will examine the tensions between frontier communities and the federal government, the meaning of democratic resistance, and the broader revolutionary currents that continued long after independence. The Republic of Letters Book Club invites readers to reflect on these events through the lens of popular sovereignty and the evolving role of ordinary citizens, highlighting how the struggle to define political power persisted in the early republic.
This American history book club is a partnership of Carpenters’ Hall and the Rosenbach Museum & Library. Sessions meet variously at Carpenters’ Hall and the Rosenbach; check individual program descriptions for details. At least one book club session in the season will include a presentation of rare collection materials related to the themes and topics under discussion during the meetings.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026: The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss [At Carpenters’ Hall]
Tuesday, November 17, 2026: The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America’s Newfound Sovereignty by William Hogeland [At the Rosenbach]
Tuesday, December 15, 2026: A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism by Carol Berkin [At Carpenters’ Hall]
Book Purchase
The Rosenbach has partnered with The Head & The Hand (H&H Books) to supply us with book club selections at reasonable prices via their Bookshop.org affiliate link. To order a copy, visit the following link and select our nonprofit partner, H&H Books, as the bookstore you’d like to support: The Republic of Letters
Learn more about H&H Books here: https://www.theheadandthehand.com/.
Note that copies of book club selections are not currently available at H&H Books’s physical location.
Facilitators
Dr. Alexander Lawrence Ames (he/him) is Director of Outreach & Engagement at the Rosenbach Museum & Library and an historian of religious, intellectual, and cultural life in early America. He is the author of The Word in the Wilderness: Popular Piety and the Manuscript Arts in Early Pennsylvania (Penn State Press, 2020), Grolier Club Bookplates, Past & Present (The Grolier Club of New York, 2023), as well as numerous articles dealing with book-historical topics in journals including Winterthur Portfolio, Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, The Mennonite Quarterly Review, and Minnesota History. His current book project is Portrait of a Citizen: Stephen Girard, Mariner, Merchant, Banker, & Philanthropist of the Early American Republic. When not curating Rosenbach exhibitions or leading book club sessions, Alex enjoys visiting historic house museums and public gardens in the Philadelphia area.
Emilie Parker (she/her)After starting her career at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts and spending eight years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Emilie found her professional home at the Rosenbach, where she has served as Director of Education for the past seventeen years. Trained in the visual arts, she is especially drawn to the Rosenbach’s approach to books as both something to read and something to look at, valuing their stories, history, and physical beauty. She brings that curiosity and care to every program she leads, welcoming participants to explore, ask questions, and enjoy the experience together. When she’s not at work, Emilie can often be found tending her garden in Mount Airy or reading British and Irish crime fiction.
Karen Grossman, Library and Museum Educator at the Rosenbach, will lead artifact show-and-tell sessions at select meetings of The Republic of Letters to help club members situate book club selections in the context of the Rosenbach’s collections. With a background in classroom teaching and a passion for hands-on learning, she began her career as a science teacher, inspiring curiosity and critical thinking in students of all ages. After several years in education, Karen transitioned into museum work. When she is not hosting book clubs or leading other Rosenbach programs, she serves on the Board of the Delaware County Historical Society and takes her children to visit historical sites.
Alyssa Constad (she/her) is the Assistant Director at Carpenters’ Hall where she oversees the historic collections and excels at complaining when the air conditioning is not working. Alyssa has loved history since she was a child, but she knew she was destined for a career in museums when she fell in love with giving historic tours on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and instructing tourists on where to find the best pickles and knishes. The mom of a two-year-old, Alyssa no longer has hobbies, as all of her free time is spent cleaning up toys or watching Bluey, but when she’s able, she enjoys running and getting lost in a good historical fiction read. Alyssa currently lives in Manayunk with her husband, daughter, and 100-pound goldendoodle who often complains about the amount of hills they have to walk up.
Michael Norris (he/him), the Executive Director of Carpenters' Hall, came of age in the mid-1970s and thus was fundamentally formed by the back-to-back impact of the Bicentennial, making him a self-professed history nerd and "Star Wars" (there was no "A New Hope" back then) devotee. After begging his parents to take him to Mount Vernon, he had to settle for the American Freedom Train when it visited suburban Philadelphia. While he has since been to Mount Vernon, he's still bitter. When not overseeing the operations of Carpenters' Hall and the Carpenters' Company, he's reading American history, dreaming up travel plans, or bingeing "Peaky Blinders."
Emily Winters (she/her) is the Operations Manager/ Development Associate at Carpenters’ Hall by day and a rambling poet by night. Emily recently graduated Rutgers Camden with a master’s degree in history. She was raised in a small (no stoplight) town in South Jersey and continues to live in Camden County, New Jersey. When not learning how to play the violin and reading anything she can get her hands on, she enjoys late-night dessert runs with friends and getting lost in the woods.