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Joseph Garrera is an American historian, Abraham Lincoln expert, and museum professional. In 1997 Garrera concluded a year-long study of the Lincoln assassination flags. These are the American Flags that decorated the Presidential Box in Ford's Theatre the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. He concluded that one of the flags, a 36-star American Flag, was in the collections of the Pike County Historical Society in Milford, Pennsylvania. The story was carried by The New York Times on February 9, 1997.

Garrera was named Executive Director of the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum in 2006, a position he held for eighteen years, concluding in 2025. Under Garrera’s direction, the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum launched a series of exhibitions including “Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America,” which was endorsed by the federal Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, as well as “Remembering World War II,” and “The American Spirit: The Paintings of Mort Künstler.". Garrera inaugurated the Heritage Museum’s extensive work with school cyber programs, a service the Museum introduced in 2020 because of the pandemic that is now a permanent part of the Museum’s portfolio of programs.

Biography

Garrera earned a Master of Arts in History from East Stroudsburg University (2006) and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Thomas Edison State University (2004). He studied philanthropy at “The Center on Philanthropy” at Indiana University (2005).

Garrera was elected to the Abraham Lincoln Association Board of Directors in 2010, a position he continues to hold. From 1999 until 2010, he served as President of the Lincoln Group of New York in Manhattan, a nonprofit historical society that studies the life and times of Abraham Lincoln.

Honors

• - Phi Alpha Theta, 2006: Attainments and Scholarship in History
• Selected to address the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with a lecture commemorating the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train and funeral service in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Featured a one-day exhibit in the State Capitol on Abraham Lincoln at the invitation of Michael Turzai, Speaker of the House, 2015.
• Appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Federal Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, 2005. Served until its conclusion in 2009.
• Appointed to the New York State Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, 2006

Footnotes

1. "The Shroud of Milford". The New York Times. February 9, 1997. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
2. ^ "After 18 Years of Bringing Lehigh Valley History to Life, Joseph Garrera is Retiring". The Morning Call. October 28, 2024. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
3. "Remembering World War II: New Heritage Museum Exhibit Focuses on Valley's Contribution to the War Effort". The Morning Call. November 11, 2007. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
4. "Mort Kunstler, Premier Historical Artist, Exhibits 50 Works in Allentown". The Morning Call. October 11, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
5. "New County Historical Society Head Sees Challenges". The Morning Call. June 8, 2006. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
6. "Abraham Lincoln Association Directors".
7. "PA State Capitol Hosts Programs to Commemorate 150th Anniversary of the Funeral of President Lincoln". Retrieved January 7, 2025.
8. "Anniversary of the Lincoln Funeral Train's Harrisburg Stop is Today: List of Local Events". Penn Live. April 1, 205. Retrieved January 7, 2025.

• Living people
• 21st-century American historians
• Thomas Edison State University alumni
• Museum people
• East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania alumni
• American political historians
• Historians from Pennsylvania