The 2023 Annual Meeting and Book Launch
The 2023 Annual Meeting
The annual meeting will begin with an update on the status to build a solid foundation to move the Society toward a promising future, given by current Executive Board members who have served over the past 6 months.
The meeting will end with an election of 5 Officers and 3 Directors, maintaining a total of 9 directors and 6 officers as required by the LMHS Bylaws. Several directors are also officers, as permitted by the Bylaws.
The Slate of Officers & Directors
The Nominating Committee has nominated the following slate of incumbent Officers for a two-year term:
- President: Kate Jiggins
- Vice President: Erin Betley
- Treasurer: Craig Whitney
- Corresponding Secretary: Linda Tasker
- Recording Secretary: Kim Andrews
The Committee has nominated the following slate of incumbent Directors for a three-year term
Class of 2026: Kim Andrews, Jamie Singer, Brad Upp
The remaining Directors are not up for election, since their terms began following the Society’s November 17 Special Meeting:
Class of 2024: Chad Henneberry, Elizabeth Laurent, Craig Whitney
Class of 2025: Kate Jiggins, Dennis Montagna, Scott Reynolds
Full bios of current Executive Board Members
Given the recent history of the Society, the progress made by the new Executive Board since November, and a desire to continue to move forward constructively, we request as a courtesy that any additional nominations be submitted to President Kate Jiggins in advance of the meeting. This can be done via email to kjiggins@LowerMerionHistory.org.
In the interest of expediency, please submit any questions you may have in advance and they will be addressed at the meeting. There will not be an open floor for questions during the meeting.
Back from Battle Celebration
The meeting will begin promptly at 12:30pm and is expected to conclude at 1pm. Immediately following will be a book release party for Back From Battle: The Forgotten Story of Pennsylvania’s Camp Discharge and the Weary Civil War Soldiers It Served by Jim Remsen and Brad Upp.
Jim is a retired Philadelphia Inquirer journalist and the author of two prior Pennsylvania history books. Brad is a longtime Civil War reenactor for the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry and a board member of the Lower Merion Historical Society, which proudly supported the development of Back From Battle. The authors will be doing a presentation, answering questions, and signing copies of their book, which will be available for sale.
Light refreshments will be served. Although the meeting is limited to members, the public is welcome and encouraged to attend the book release party.
Brief bios of the slate nominated by Nominating Committee
Kate Jiggins (incumbent & nominee for President and Director, Class of 2025) — A suburban Philadelphia native with ancestry in the area stretching back almost 260 years, Kate has spent a significant amount of time working in the legal field and is passionate both about preserving the history we are familiar with as well as continuing to discover and illuminate the history we aren’t. She has lived in Haverford for the past 4 years with her husband, Julian, and two sons, who attend Friends’ Central Lower School.
Erin Betley (incumbent & nominee for Vice President) — A conservation biologist and educator with 15 years of museum experience and a love of history, Erin has lived with her family in Bala Cynwyd for 8 years.
Craig Whitney (incumbent & nominee for Treasurer and Director, Class of 2024) — Born and raised In Bryn Mawr, Craig is Broker of Record of Whitney Sims Realty LLC in Bryn Mawr for over 40 years and has a tax accounting background.
Linda Tasker (incumbent & nominee for Corresponding Secretary) — Linda has served as an officer in a variety of nonprofit organizations primarily focused on community building and children’s concerns, with particular expertise in organization management and event planning and a lifetime fundraising total exceeding $250k. She is a resident of Bala Cynwyd, where she moved with her family upon repatriation from Shanghai, China, in 2016.
Kim Andrews (incumbent & nominee for Recording Secretary and Director, Class of 2026) — Kim has worked in Philadelphia-area cultural nonprofits for over 20 years, the last 15 as an executive director. She oversaw the Japanese historic site Shofuso for 13 years, and holds an MA in Preventive Conservation specializing in archival collections on paper. Kim has lived in Merion Station for 10 years and prior to that in Ardmore for 15 years.
Jamie Singer (incumbent & nominee for Director, Class of 2026) — Jamie has lived in Lower Merion for most of her life, and has had an abiding interest in our local history since childhood. She’s a freelance writer in the pharmaceutical industry, and the mom of grown twins who also love LM & Narberth history.
Brad Upp (incumbent & nominee for Director, Class of 2026) — Brad grew up in Lower Merion and has always been drawn to the rich history throughout the township. After spending seven years up in New England studying and working as an educator, he returned to Lower Merion with an even greater interest in history. He started to frequent the Historical Society, became a Civil War reenactor, purchased a metal detector (so he could start finding the history and holding it) and spent countless hours in the Gladwyne Free Library’s Pennsylvania Room filled with historic books and documents. He is the co-author of the book Back From Battle, which chronicles the Civil War discharge camp that was located in Gladwyne from 1864-65.
As the Lower Merion Historical Society works to renew our bylaws according to modern standards and ethics, the Executive Board has voted to decline to determine and name an Immediate Past President and will not fill that position.