Carol Dean Henn’s Oilcloth Stories – part fiction, part memoir – tells the tales of the men, women, and children who came to America from Central Europe and settled in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Unlike the wealthy captains of industry whose names were well known in Bethlehem, New York, Washington, and far beyond, these immigrants were men and women whose lives never warranted a news story, an autograph, or an award; whose names were unknown beyond their families, churches, and neighborhoods. They were men and women who lived and died in relative obscurity. But in many of their lives there were astonishing stories of triumph and pathos, devotion and brutality, tragedy and exultation. Their stories should be told, must be told.
Henn will explore some of these lives with audience members and will be available to sign copies of her book.
Program is free in celebration of the opening of our Destination: Northampton County exhibition.
About Carol Dean Henn
Henn grew up in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at a time when many of the area’s immigrants from Central Europe, including her maternal grandparents, were alive to share stories of their lives in Europe as well as their lives in their new country.
Retired after eighteen years as the CEO of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, Carol has worked in both business and non-profit settings. Under the auspices of the Foundation for a Civil Society and the U.S. Information Agency, she has served as a consultant in Central Europe, meeting with non-profit officials and government leaders in former Soviet bloc nations to strengthen philanthropic organizations, community initiatives, and public-private partnerships in a post-Soviet world. She is a graduate of Moravian College with an Honors degree in political science. Her Honors thesis was entitled “U.S. NATO Policies 1964-1967: The Johnson Treatment.”
This program is sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium, with generous support provided by a grant to Lafayette College from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
