Meet the Team
The Rowing History Project (RHP) is part of the 501(c)(3) Head of the Schuylkill Regatta. A group of passionate citizen archivists came together in 2021 to begin recording the rich history of rowing through storytelling. Its mission became evident over time - tell the history of rowing both locally and nationally through a virtual museum which catalogues and displays important rowing-related objects, photographs, videos, and audio recordings, many of which are currently poorly housed and damaged or likely to become so. The Project seeks in this way to preserve and share with the public artifacts that tell the story of this iconic sport and its place in American history.
In addition, the Rowing History Project seeks to educate rowing organizations about the importance of their collections and methods to inventory and preserve them. The RHP works with rowing clubs, historians, and archivists to organize and preserve materials, providing guidance on collection management and conservation.
Based in Philadelphia, we are initially focusing on the legacy of rowing on Boathouse Row and elsewhere in the region. We invite rowing organizations nationally and abroad to coordinate with us and share their history with this platform.
Our Team
- Jen Wesson HOSR Executive Director University Barge Club
- Ellen Carver HOSR Board President University Barge Club
- Rick Stehlik Malta Boat Club
- Hilary Langer Vesper Boat Club
- Henry Hauptfuhrer Bachelors Barge Club
- Chuck Brown Malta Boat Club
- James Dietz All American Rowing Camps New York Athletic Club
- Dotty Brown Vesper Boat Club Author “Boathouse Row, Waves of Change”
- Stephen Malbouef Detroit Boat Club
- Chris Doyle Pennsylvania Barge Club
- Walt Rice Web Developer and Omeka-S Application Specialist R&R Computer Solutions/R2infosys
- Kaitlyn Pettingill Consulting Archivist Center for the Conservation of Art and Historical Artifacts (CCAHA)
Intern Associates
From Drexel University’s graduate Library and Information Sciences Program
- Annie McCrone
- Morah Patterson
- Grace Leonard
- Hannah Cerino
Advisors and Supporters
- Bill Miller rowinghistory.net
- Goran Buckhorn heartheboatsing.com
- Pete Mallory The Sport of Rowing
- Tony Schneider Founding Supporter of RHP
Founding Members
Organizational and individual collections that originated the RHP
- Bachelors Barge Club
- Crescent Boat Club
- Fairmount Rowing Association
- Head of the Schuylkill Regatta
- Malta Boat Club
- Pennsylvania Athletic Club
- Pennsylvania Barge Club
- Philadelphia Girls Rowing Club
- Philadelphia City Rowing
- The Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia
- Sedgeley Club
- Undine Barge Club
- University Barge Club
- Vesper Boat Club
- Whitemarsh Boat Club
- Bill Miller Collection
- George Hines Collection
- James Hill Collection
- Joe Sweeney Collection
In Memoriam
Margery Sly
1957 – 2025
We first met Margery in the summer of 2023, when she was engaged by Vesper Boat Club to consult with them about their collection. Margery had recently retired from her role as Director of Special Collections at Temple University. She was very well known in the Philadelphia archivists community, and she was a revered teacher of many archiving professionals in Philadelphia.
Margery laid the groundwork for the entire cataloging process for Vesper, which was a very complex operation since many objects had to be cleaned, repaired, labelled, packaged for moving, and ultimately relocated to the warehouse of Boathouse Sports in North Philadelphia. She trained Vesper volunteers in photographing objects, and in recording those objects in a spreadsheet which she designed specifically for this process, following international archiving standards.
We worked closely with Margery on cataloging the Vesper collection, and RHP engaged her to assist us in the platform selection process, which eventually decided on Omeka-S. The spreadsheet that she designed became the input to our “proof of concept” project, to determine if Omeka-S performed adequately to load objects and images from our rudimentary spreadsheets.
Margery fell ill in the summer of 2025, and passed away quickly. We will always remember her as a beloved colleague. She really believed in what RHP is doing, and she was a tremendous supporter of ours. We miss her deeply.
Tom Weil
1948 – 2024
Tom was considered the “godfather” of rowing collectors, and enthusiasts of rowing history. Some of us knew Tom for many years, but he was eventually known by all of us as a revered mentor, supporter, and friend. Tom became a member of our Steering Committee, and guided us with insight and experience in our discussions regarding the concept of a digital rowing museum.
The following guidance from Tom is what steered us toward the creation of the RHP digital museum:
“One of the most useful roles this entity could play, which would underpin the linked member communities’ function, would be to have a searchable meta-database into which all of the archives/collections of the members could be entered. Such a database could provide, at an elemental stage, a checklist of rowing art, artifacts, literature, images, etc., and, at some more divine level of aspiration, a digital catalogue with descriptions and pictures of the constituent elements which would constitute an online museum/ library/research facility.”
Tom was a featured guest on several of our “Story Hour” symposiums, in particular, Episode 11 in February 2023, entitled “Preserving the History of Rowing, Its People and Places.”
Our 22nd episode of 50 Stories was dedicated to Tom’s Legacy; “Tom Weil: Rowing’s Extraordinary Historian and Collector.”
Several of us attended the grand opening of the Tom Weil Collection at Marist College in August 2026.
Tom was a great friend of ours, and we will miss him dearly.
