Becky Libourel Diamond is a food writer and research historian. Her second book, The Thousand Dollar Dinner, tells the unique story of a nineteenth century culinary challenge between Philadelphia restaurateur James Parkinson and the Delmonico family of New York. She is also the author of Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s First Cooking School and is currently working on a book about Pierre Blot, America’s first celebrity chef. Attend Becky’s upcoming workshop.
J.M. Duffin is an American historian and archivist. In addition to research into 18th century Germantown history, he has worked on and led tours on the development of Mount Airy in the 19th and early 20th century. He is a former librarian of the Germantown Historical Society and a board member at HG and Historic RittenhouseTown.
Mark Lloyd is an American historian and University archivist. He was in graduate school when he began his research on Ebenezer Maxwell and the suburban Tulpehocken Street community in which Maxwell lived and thrived. He subsequently served as a member of the board of directors of the Maxwell Mansion, as president of that board, as the executive director of the Germantown Historical Society, and since May 1984, as the Director of the University Archives and Records Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Josh Hitchens has been the Creative Director of the Mansion’s Victorian Theatre Company since 2008, and is also the Company Manager for Curio Theatre Company in West Philadelphia. He has directed and acted for theaters throughout the region, as well as writing acclaimed solo adaptations of Stoker’s Dracula and A Christmas Carol. Josh holds a B.F.A. in Acting from Arcadia University.
Michelle DiMeo, PhD is S. Gordon Castigliano Director of Digital Library Initiatives at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and Visiting Professor in the Health, Medicine and Society program at Lehigh University. She is co-editor of Reading and Writing Recipe Books 1550-1800 (Manchester University Press) and the author of several academic essays on early modern women’s writing and the history of science and medicine.
