Please join us on Saturday evening, November 15th, as we remember former Carpenters' Company Historian, Roger Moss. We will also be unveiling the Carpenters' Company Library, as the Roger W. Moss Library in his honor. 

Roger Moss, historian of the Carpenters’ Company since 2004, first became involved with the Company and its rich history as a graduate student at the University of Delaware when he chose to investigate the history of the company as his PhD thesis. At that time the Company was not as well-known as it is today and its records were not accessible to most people. Roger successfully completed his dissertation, he went on to spend decades at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia as its Executive Director, but he never lost his love for those early builders of Philadelphia.  He spent years researching them for a subsequent publication The Dictionary of Philadelphia Architects.  He took the little-known carpenters and master builders of the 17th and 18th centuries and brought them to the attention of historians, the public and present-day members of the Company.  And of course, his work continued with his preparation of the manuscript history of the company which we expect to publish in the coming year.

Roger once said in an interview: “I celebrate the willingness of the company to provide for the library committee funds to send off some of these treasures and have them conserved.  …when people come to visit the company, they always want to see the library. And even though they have to take their life in their own hands getting up the stairs, it's to be able to open a book that belonged to someone like Robert Smith and say, 'and here, this is what he was using. This is what he was looking at.' And it's a rare person who is. Isn't moved by that. Absolutely. So, the company is wise to spend what it can on the conservation of books, some of which have been here for a long time.”

Roger loved this Company but his passion could be seen as he talked about the books in the library that provided the impetus and designs for the building of Philadelphia.

Light refreshments will be served.