It is difficult to overstate the optimism many Americans felt in the early 1960’s. The white middle class spent the previous decade enjoying explosive growth. For most, jobs were plentiful, houses were cheap, cars were beautiful: life was uncomplicated.

Over the course of the decade, however, that facade slowly eroded as assassination, war, and protest filled the nation’s headlines.

How that turbulence played out locally will be explored in a new symposium, ‘The Age of Aquarius in Chester County’, on April 16th at the Chester County Historical Society. During the event, distinguished speakers will explore the myths and realities that marked the years between 1954 and 1974. Lectures will explore the turbulence, turmoil, and creativity of the 1960’s through the music, fads, fashions and protests that defined a generation.

Starting at 9 a.m., the event will open with a lecture from the keynote speaker, Emma Jones Lapsansky of Haverford College on Sculpting a New Identity: Peace, War and Revolution in Camelot.

Lapsansky will be followed by Michael Long of Elizabethtown College who will point to the link between the modern civil rights movement and the emerging gay and lesbian rights movement in his lecture From Black to Gay: The Evolving Dimensions of the Civil Rights Movement.  Jo B. Paoletti of the University of Maryland will then tackle sixties fashion with Litigated: Short Skirts, Long Hair, and Civil Rights.

Starting at 11:45 a.m., Bill Ehrhart of Haverford School, a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, will talk about it in his lecture When the Chickens Came Home to Roost: the Vietnam War & the 60s Generation.  After that, Michell Muldoon and Kim Holston will present Movies in a Decade of Change, and Mark Oppenlander will close out the day with a discussion on one of the most popular music groups in history: The Beatles.

Registration for the event costs $50 for non-CCHS members, $35 for members and $20 for students with ID. The registration includes lunch, refreshments and the closing reception. To register, RSVP by April 8th to rsvp@chestercohistorical.org or call 610-692-4800.

Check out previous VISTA Today coverage of the Chester County Historical Society here.