Events

Join us and enjoy four courses created by Make It Fabulous

First course: Spanakopita
Second course: Greek Salad
Third course: Entrée (choose one):
Pork Souvlaki served with rice pilaf, potatoes, grilled veggies & tzatziki
Shrimp Saganaki served on a bed of warmed orzo feta with lemon and dill
Chicken Souvlaki served with rice pilaf, potatoes, grilled veggies & tzatziki
Dessert: Portokalopita, an orange phyllo cake with a honey syrup

$105 per person includes wine, tax and gratuity.

Join us as we welcome Kimberly Montague, President and CEO of Albert Kahn Architecture in Detroit, in a free lecture as part of our collaboration with Jefferson Educational Society.
Montague will explore the three giants of American architecture: Henry Hobbs Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Their trend-setting styles were completely revolutionary for their day, and helped to inspire a completely unique brand of American design.

Mark your calendars! The lecture is free, but signups are necessary.

Join us at the Women Creating A Legacy cocktail party on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, from 5pm-8pm. We’re hosting a garden party you won’t want to miss at the newly restored Battles White House, 306 Walnut Street, Girard, PA. Wear your favorite floral dress and stylish hat and enjoy a country garden party celebrating businesswoman and philanthropist Charlotte Elizabeth Battles.

Enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres from Make it Fabulous, cocktails and music. This event promises to be a great party with committee members Lauren Bauer, Emily Fessler Suchanec, Erin Fessler, Susan Kanonczyk, Abby Lechner, Barb Lechner, Dr. Kim Mascia, Leah Murphy, Lisa NeCastro, and Dana Zaphiris. Last year 220 guests attended!

It’s THE party to start the summer season!

Join Erie County men at a cocktail party at the Hagen History Center on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, beginning at 5pm.

This is a campus-wide, inside/outside fundraising party to support the operations of the museum.

Enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres, open bar, and music. This event promises to be a great party with committee members Matt Clark, Ben Davis, Joe Hilbert, Ben Jefferys, Matt Lasher, Mark Murphy, John Zack and Alec Zaphiris.

Last year 140 guests attended!

Sponsorships are available. See attached list.

Tickets are priced at $100. Men 40 years and younger pay their age. For example, a 30-year-old man pays $30.

To become a sponsor or purchase tickets, go online to Donation Form

Invitations will be mailed out in May. If you have any questions, or wish to receive an invitation, contact Geri Cicchetti, Advancement Director, at gcicchetti@eriehistory.org or 814-454-1813 x 34.

Sponsorship opportunities

Linguist and researcher Dr. Keelan Evanini will describe the dialect of North American English spoken in and around Erie, Pennsylvania, and trace the history of how it changed over the course of the 20th century.

Based on early dialect research with speakers born in the late-19th century, the dialect features in Erie pattern with other cities in the North dialect region, such as Buffalo. These features included vocabulary words such as "string beans" (instead of "snap beans") and pronunciation patterns such as pronouncing "cot" and "caught" differently. However, the Atlas of North American English, which was published in 2006, showed that the speakers from Erie shared many of their dialect features with other cities in the Midland dialect region, such as Pittsburgh. But Erie is unique, since it is the only city to have changed its dialect patterns from the North to the Midland.

Evanini will provide examples for these patterns drawn from the field work conducted with over 100 residents of the geographical region around Erie in an attempt to track down the current location of the border between the North and Midland dialect regions.

Evanini grew up in New Jersey, but he has Erie roots: his mother was born and raised in Erie. He visited Erie frequently as a child and has fond memories of the water slides at Waldameer & Water World Amusement Park and eating sponge candy from Romolo Chocolates. He stayed in Erie for an extended period of time during his PhD studies in order to conduct the interviews for his field work. Several members of his extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) still live in Erie, and Evanini has come back to visit as an adult with family.

The Hagen History Center Doris Becker Lecture is a free event thanks to Mark Becker, who underwrites the series in honor of his late mother, Doris Becker.

We are celebrating 90 years of our favorite donor’s life during a special celebration that will replace our gala this year at 356 West 6th Street.