PENNSBURG PA – The award of a multi-year grant, which is anticipated to help The Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center create “a more inclusive interpretation” of the Upper Perkiomen region and its Lenape tribal heritage, was announced Monday (Dec. 8, 2025) by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
The $241,104 grant allows the Schwenkfelder, located at 105 Seminary St., to continue a partnership with the Delaware Tribe Cultural Education Department in Oklahoma. It will result in new exhibits and programming curated by both organizations.
Over time the new presentations are expected to give the public more opportunities to meet with, and learn more about, the region’s original residents of about 13,000 years. Additionally, they will expand “the Delawares’ engagement with their homeland,” the Schwenkfelder reports.
The Cultural Education Department promotes, preserves, and educates about the Lenape (Delaware) culture. It is “engaged in building relationships with organizations and cultural institutions in the Mid-Atlantic region to connect to material culture and renew traditions.”
The grant to the Schwenkfelder is one of 44 new awards, and also among 28 creative project grants, with a total value of more than $8.6 million. All are offered by The Pew Center to support Philadelphia-area cultural organizations and artists. Grant money is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Pew Center’s primary founder.
Projects include historical exhibitions, new theater productions, concerts, public art installations, “and other engaging events,” Pew says. Also awarded were grants for six projects that reflect on America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
An Authentically Developed Perspective
The Heritage Center has exhibited some of its sizable collection of Lenape items in the past. Currently in planning is a new exhibit, expected to open during 2027, that reflects what it calls “an authentically developed indigenous perspective.”
The project involves several visits by members of the Delaware Tribe to Pennsburg, to participate in programs and experience the landscape earlier occupied by their ancestors.
Specifically, according to Pew Center documents, the Schwenkfelder and Delaware Tribe collaboration “illuminates the rich multicultural history of the Perkiomen Valley in Western Montgomery County.” It will highlight “the region’s Lenape roots through an exhibition of historical items, newly commissioned works, and stories of the Delaware Tribe’s homeland.”
Earlier this summer, the Schwenkfelder and the Cultural Education Department signed a Statement of Mutual Intentions to lay the groundwork for future collection, exhibition, and education work.
The Schwenkfelder serves as the regional history museum for the Upper Perkiomen Valley, and a registered non-profit affiliate of America250PA. The museum, its exhibits, and its accompanying research center are open Tuesday through Sunday with free admission.
Top photo by Travels With The Post
Above photo provided by The Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
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