The Varied Faces of James Buchanan

Following 21 years as Director of President James Buchanan’s Wheatland, Patrick Clarke has decided to retire. Early in his tenure as Director of James Bcuhanan’s Wheatland, Clarke discovered that most visitors, like himself, knew very little about James Buchanan’s early career in Pennsylvania and national politics, and they knew even less about his private life. Driven by his curiosity, Clarke decided to delve deep into primary research on Buchanan’s childhood and education, as well as the lives of his parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews, and the lives of the individuals who worked as domestic servants at his farm.

On Thursday March 19, Clarke joins LancasterHistory once more to share how and why he reshaped the interpretative approach at James Buchanan’s Wheatland. He will share the fascinating, varied faces of the man he has come to know as Buchanan the politician and campaigner, the family patriarch, father and disciplinarian, and the Sage of Wheatland.