Membership Benefits
Founded in 1862, Penn Center is a non-profit organization that cares deeply about preserving history and culture.
Becoming a member is one of the easiest ways to show your support. Your membership dollars help Penn Center to maintain a museum, preserve collections and artifacts, and provide free and low-cost programs to the public, both locally and nationally.
Student Membership
Your $10 annual gift, which is just over the price of an adult admission, conveys the following benefits:
Free admission for member all year
A personalized Dr. York W. Bailey membership card
Listing recognizing your support installed in the museum’s entry foyer
Advance notice of events and tickets presale opportunities
Individual Membership
Your $50 annual gift conveys:
A personalized Penn Center membership card
Unlimited free admission for family and friends accompanied by member
10% discount on all purchase items
Invitations to premiere members-only exhibit previews and events
Listing recognizing your support installed in the museum’s entry foyer
Advance notice of events and tickets presale opportunities
Family Membership
Your $100 annual gift conveys:
A personalized Penn Center membership card
Free admission for family and friends accompanied by member
15% discount on all purchase items
A complimentary Penn Center bookmark
Invitations to premiere members-only exhibit previews and events
Listing recognizing your support installed in the museum’s entry foyer
Advance notice of events and tickets presale opportunities
Your $250 annual gift conveys:
A personalized Penn Center membership card
Unlimited free admission for family and friends accompanied by member
15% discount on all purchase items
Free admission to museum events and programs for two people (RSVP required)
Complimentary York W. Bailey bookmark
Invitations to premiere members-only exhibit previews and events
Listing recognizing your support installed in the museum’s entry foyer
Advance notice of events and tickets presale opportunities
Supporting Membership
Members of the military who support Penn Center receive the following benefits:
Enlisted: $15 annual gift
A personalized Dr. York W. Bailey membership card
Free admission for member all year
Advance notice of events and tickets presale opportunities
Listing recognizing your support installed in the museum’s entry foyer
Non-commissioned: $20 annual gift
A personalized Penn Center membership card
Free admission for member all year
Listing recognizing your support installed in the museum’s entry foyer
Advance notice of events and tickets presale opportunities
Commissioned: $40 annual gift
A personalized Penn Center membership card
Free admission for member
Invitations to premiere members-only exhibit previews and events
Listing recognizing your support installed in the museum’s entry foyer
Advance notice of events and tickets presale opportunities
Military Memberships
Membership Societies
Your $500 annual gift provides the following benefits, in addition to those specific to the Society you choose:
A Penn Center Welcome Packet
Unlimited free admission for family and friends when accompanied by member
15% discount on all purchased items
Free admission to museum events and programs for two people (RSVP required)
Invitations to premiere members-only exhibit previews and events
One event sponsored in your name per membership year
Listing recognizing your support installed in the museum’s entry foyer
The York W. Bailey Society
Doctor York Bailey was a Penn School graduate who completed medical school at Howard University and returned to help his community.
With your $500 annual gift, you receive the general society membership benefits listed above, plus:
A personalized Dr. York W. Bailey Society membership card
One complimentary York W. Bailey bookmark
One complimentary signed copy of Penn Center: A History by Orville Vernon Burton
One-time complimentary 8x10 matted watercolor reproduction of York Bailey, painted by German artist Winold Reiss, from an original in the Penn Center Collection, suitable for framing
The Hastings Gantt Society
Hastings Gantt exemplified the possibilities of Reconstruction when he bought land, raised cotton for profit, bought more land, and was repeatedly elected to the state House of Representatives. Gantt gave 50 acres to the Penn School so it could grow from its 1862 beginnings.
With your $500 annual gift, you receive the general society membership benefits listed above, plus:
A personalized Hastings Gantt Society membership card
One complimentary Hastings Gantt bookmark
Free admission to the annual Hastings Gantt Lecture Series
One complimentary signed copy of Penn Center: A History by Orville Vernon Burton
One complimentary 8x10 matted photograph of Hastings Gantt, reproduced from an original in the Penn Center Collection, per membership year
The Laura Towne and Ellen Murray Society
Laura Towne and Ellen Murray were teachers and philanthropists from Philadelphia, who founded the Penn School in 1862.
With your $500 annual gift, you receive the general society membership benefits listed above, plus:
A personalized Laura Towne and Ellen Murray membership card
One complimentary Towne and Murray bookmark
One complimentary copy of The Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne
One complementary 8x10 matted photograph of Towne and Murray from the Penn Center Collection, per membership year
The Charlotte Forten Society
Charlotte Forten was an abolitionist and became the first African American teacher at Penn School in 1862. In 1863, she volunteered as a nurse, caring for wounded soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first regular infantry unit of Black troops in the U.S. Army.
With your $500 annual gift, you receive the general society membership benefits listed above, plus:
A personalized Charlotte Forten membership card
Complimentary Charlotte Forten bookmark
One-time complimentary copy of The Journal of Charlotte L. Forten
One complementary 8x10 matted photograph of Charlotte Forten, reproduced from an original in the NY Public Library Collection, per membership year
The Watch Night Society
The Watch Night Society advances historical study among academic and nonacademic scholars by engaging in conversation, research, writing, and teaching of African American history and culture. Members are linked by their commitment to the Penn Center and also by a scholarly interest in the humanities.
In September 1862, President Abraham Lincoln used the occasion of the Union victory at Antietam, Maryland to issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declared free all enslaved people in rebellious states beginning on January 1, 1863.
On December 31,1862, “Freedom’s Eve,” free blacks as well as enslaved people gathered in churches and private homes across the nation awaiting the moment that Proclamation took effect.
At the stroke of midnight, all slaves in the Confederate states were legally free. There were prayers, shouts, and songs of joy as many people fell to their knees and thanked God.
By the time the Civil War ended in April 1865, some 186,000 Black men served as Union soldiers and sailors, and 38,000 lost their lives.
Since the first Freedom’s Eve, tradition still brings African Americans together on New Year’s Eve, often with praise and worship. For many Black Americans, church is that holiday’s only event. Service usually begins between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. and ends at midnight.
The Watch Night Society honors this tradition both in its name and its activities.
Watch Night Society Membership
A $2,500 annual gift conveys the following benefits:
The annual Watch Night Journal, a scholarly, digital journal featuring writings from national scholars across a range of disciplines
The Watch Night Journal includes public history essays, book reviews, and humanities works broadly relating to Reconstruction and Civil Rights, including African American literature, Southern literature, music, museum studies, theater, history, art history, photography, film, religion, peace and social justice studies, and regional studies.
The Journal’s editorial board is comprised of nationally recognized historians, authors, and scholars.
Editor Alexis Gargagliano is an accomplished book editor who also serves as the editor of the New York Lincoln Center Theater Review Journal.
Editorial advisor Valarie Babb, Ph.D., is the Andrew H. Mellon Professor of African American History at Emory University, and the former editor of the Langston Hughes Literary Review at the University of Georgia, Athens.
Editorial advisor Barbara McCaskill, Ph.D., is Professor of English at the University of Georgia, Associate Academic Director of the Willson Center for Humanities & Arts, and Founding Co-Editor of The Womanist/Womanist Studies & Research (1994-2004).
Membership Signup
To sign up for a membership, please fill out the form below and submit payment directly online. If you would prefer to pay with a check, please download, print, and fill out the application form and mail the form along with the check to:
HISTORIC PENN CENTER INC.
16 Penn Center Circle West, St Helena Island, South Carolina 29920