SEMINARS
Education on Every Topic – Free!
Join us for The Legacy Lineup Lifelong Learning Seminars offering a variety of topics at no cost! Seminars are scheduled every other Tuesday at 11 a.m. Parking is free. Please RSVP to 412-635-8080 to reserve a seat or for weather cancellations.
-
Pittsburgh Department Stores…Then and Now
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Sue Morris, regional public historian
Department stores emerged in the 1800s, forever changing the retail landscape and reshaping how people interacted. Trace three landmarks from their reign as local “palaces of consumption” to the present day.
-
The Life of Ulysses S Grant Life and Myth – the decisions we make in our youth shape who we become in life.
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Kenneth J. Serfass, Gunnery Sgt. USMC, retired and Ulysses S. Grant first-person impressionist
It is not so important how you fall, but what matters is how you get back up. In this encounter US Grant will tell you how his reactions and decisions as a boy and young officer shaped the man he became, and how those same incidents that led to those decisions were all part of a greater destiny than any of us could decide for ourselves to lead a “safe and good” life. US Grant was a reluctant leader in many situations but repeatedly proved up to the task. This discussion will focus on much of that experience.
-
Veterans Day
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Todd DePastino, PhD in American History from Yale University, award-winning author and lecturer
Veterans Day evolved from a World War I armistice into a distinctly American holiday. Learn how shifting attitudes toward veterans, citizenship, and military service have shaped Veterans Day and what those changes can mean in a nation where veterans make up a shrinking share of the population. Rather than nostalgia or pageantry, Veterans Day might become a civic observance rooted in shared values of service, sacrifice, and responsibility.
-
Mark Twain in Three Centuries
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2026, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Don A. Pellegrino, Author and Speaker specializing in Mark Twain
Learn about Mark Twain-his life, his writings, and legacy up until the present day. You might be familiar with the man in the white suit, may have read Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn, and most likely have heard many of his aphorisms. Examples of Twain’s original writings will be covered. Learn why his greatest book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was banned in the year it was published and still is! These topics will be explored, plus other layers of this individual that you may not know. See how Twain continues to show up in the 20th and 21st centuries.
-
Winter Birds
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2026, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Chris Kubiak, Education, Director Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania
What birds hang around all winter? What do they eat? When can we expect our migrants to pass through or come back? How can we identify key species? This program will cover information from Project Feederwatch and The Christmas Bird Count and include our region’s top 20 bird species.
-
Western Pennsylvania from the Ice Age to Space Age
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2027, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Steve Cicero, The History Hobo, former history instructor in the Butler Area District
If something important happened in America, there is probably a connection to western Pennsylvania. Get a brief glimpse into the story behind many of the names associated with this area: Carnegie, Pitt, Westinghouse, Braddock, Forbes, Perry, Heinz, Salk, Mellon, and many more.
-
The Presidential Election of 1800
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2027, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Jack Puglisi, history speaker and artist
The presidential election of 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, was the first hotly contested political race in America’s history. Its importance resonates to this day with the birth of the two-party system, the role of media in elections, and the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power between two conflicting political ideologies.
-
The Cold War
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2027, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Paige Palmer, historian
This lecture traces the Cold War in its entirety from 1945 through 1991. By examining the causes of the Cold War during the aftermath of World War II, this lecture offers a fresh perspective into the tensions that escalated into this decades-long global conflict between democracy and communism.
-
Pittsburgh Foods
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2027, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Gail Griffith, life enrichment speaker
Heinz Ketchup, Klondike bars, Smiley Face Cookies, Chipped Chopped ham, what do these foods all have in common? Made in Pittsburgh! Yum!
-
Spring’s Early Bloomers
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2027, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Julie Travaglini, senior director of Education and Curriculum, Allegheny Land Trust & President Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators (PAEE)
Providing some of the first food of the spring for bees, this seminar explores the wildflowers that bloom just as the snow begins to melt.
-
Introduction to Archaeology
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2027, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Allegheny County Park Ranger
What can we learn from the things people leave behind? Discover the history unearthed in our parks and engage in hands-on activities.
-
Horne’s Lingerie Lady
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2027, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Sue Morris, regional public historian
Explore the lives of shoppers and shopgirls through the experiences of a lingerie buyer for Pittsburgh’s beloved Jospeh Horne Company department store in the early 1900s.
-
Memorial Day
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2027, 11 a.m.
Speaker: Todd DePastino, PhD in American History from Yale University; award-winning author of Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front; lecturer on American History; founder and executive director of the Veterans Breakfast Club
Memorial Day is a uniquely American holiday with a fascinating history that stretches back to the Civil War, when huge casualties inspired widows and mothers to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers.
Information
700 Cumberland Woods Drive
Allison Park, PA 15101
Phone: 412-635-8080
