LancasterHistory recognized three individuals as Fellows of the Lancaster County Historical Society at LancasterHistory's annual dinner, held on June 13 at Excelsior Lancaster. Tom Ryan, LancasterHistory's president and CEO, celebrated John H. Brubaker III, Darlene A. Colon, and Dr. Leroy T. Hopkins Jr., awarding each a bronze medal and naming them as Fellows.

According to LancasterHistory's institutional records, the Fellows of the Lancaster County Historical Society program was created in 1992 by incoming historical society president Hopkins. The designation recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the community's understanding of Lancaster County's history over an extended period of scholarly activity or who have had a significant impact on the vitality of LancasterHistory over an extended period of service.

The first recipients of the award were President James Buchanan and Thaddeus Stevens, honored posthumously, and John W.W. Loose, the then outgoing president of the historical society. Since 1992, this honor has been conferred on 17 individuals over 22 years.

Brubaker is deeply connected to Lancaster's history, having spent more than four decades as an investigative reporter and the author of the "Scribbler" column. He has written seven books, including "Down the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake" and "Massacre of the Conestogas." He is a regular contributor to Pennsylvania Heritage magazine. Brubaker has spoken about his books and other historical subjects to more than 150 groups in central Pennsylvania. Brubaker's most recent book, "Sons of East Tennessee: Civil War Veterans Divided and Reconciled," was published in 2022. Brubaker and his wife, Christine, a longtime conservationist, live in Lancaster.

Colon is an educator known for her first-person, living history portrayal of Lydia Hamilton Smith, a Lancaster businesswoman and property owner who was also housekeeper to Thaddeus Stevens. Colon is active with multiple historical organizations, including the Christiana Historical Society, of which she is president, and the African American Historical Society of South Central Pennsylvania, which she co-founded and has led as president. Colon's third-great-grandfather Ezekiel Thompson participated in the Christiana Resistance on Sept. 11, 1851.

Hopkins is a prolific Lancaster County researcher and historian on black history and the history of African Americans and Germans in Lancaster. Hopkins received a bachelor's degree in German and Russian from Millersville State College in 1966 and a doctorate in Germanic languages and literature from Harvard University in 1974. He served as the associate director for program and planning and then as acting executive director of the Urban League of Lancaster County from 1976 to 1979. He taught German at Millersville University from 1979 until his retirement in 2015. Hopkins has served on the boards of numerous nonprofits, including the Library System of Lancaster County, the Southeast Health Center, and the Black History Advisory Committee of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). He is a longtime member of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lancaster, home of the Leroy T. Hopkins and Mary Taft Hopkins Study Center, named for his parents. He is also a founding member and former president of the African American Historical Society of South Central Pennsylvania and a board member and past president of LancasterHistory.