Event – Detail Past

Join fellow Athenaeum members and their guests for a special guided tour of the Lazaretto site with Dr. David Barnes. The Lazaretto is situated on a 10-acre riverside property in Tinicum Township, just west of Philadelphia International Airport.

Please keep the following in mind:

• Transportation is not provided. Attendees must make their own travel plans to and from the site. See these directions.
• Space is very limited. Registration is open to members and their guests only.
• Registration and payment are required in advance to reserve a spot on the tour.
• No refunds will be given within 1 week of the tour date.
• The tour will run approximately 1 hour and entail standing and walking on uneven ground.
• We will not be deterred by a little rain! If the weather forecast is truly bad, The Athenaeum staff will contact registrants by Friday (9/20) to reschedule or cancel the tour.
• A portion of the registration fees will go to The Lazaretto Preservation Association of Tinicum Township to support the ongoing restoration and interpretation of the site.

David Barnes is Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of three books on public health in the nineteenth century, including Lazaretto: How Philadelphia Used an Unpopular Quarantine Based on Disputed Science to Accommodate Immigrants and Prevent Epidemics, published in 2023.  He is actively involved in the effort to preserve and interpret the Lazaretto historic site.  In recent years, he has also taught and written about strategies for presenting history to the public, and about the ways in which historical perspectives can change the way we confront health and disease today.