Delaware

Native American Artifacts Found on Lehigh Land to be Returned to Delaware Nation

Published

2 years ago

March 1, 2024

Native American Artifacts Found on Lehigh Land to be Returned to Delaware Nation

Kintzer said it was the first time in her nearly nine years at Lehigh that she was contacted about artifacts. Kintzer consulted two sociology and anthropology professors and spoke with Lehigh College of Health Dean Beth Dolan to decide the best option for the artifacts.

“If you don’t make a decision, the artifacts go to the Pennsylvania Museum of History. That felt a little too distanced or removed from what we were hoping to accomplish here,” Kintzer said. “I was worried they might end up in a drawer where someone forgets about them, versus being something that would be honored and used.”

Dolan suggested contacting Delaware Nation. University leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Delaware Nation in October 2023, signaling an ongoing, reciprocal partnership. The agreement also enabled Delaware Nation to relocate an extension of their historic preservation office to Lehigh’s campus. At the time of the signing, Sean M. Daley, a faculty member with the College of Health who directs Lehigh’s Institute for Indigenous Studies (IIS), said he hopes the MOU will encourage Delaware Nation students to not only come to Lehigh to study, but to start a connection with their ancestral lands.

Dolan said the timing of the find was fortunate. Katelyn Lucas, Delaware Nation’s historic preservation officer, moved into her office at the IIS at the start of the Fall 2023 semester and was quickly able to handle the transfer of the artifacts to their rightful home.

“Honoring the history and culture of the Lenape people is a foundational goal of Lehigh’s MOU with the Delaware Nation, a goal that is further supported by the Institute for Indigenous Studies in the College of Health,” Dolan said.

Most of the artifacts found on Lehigh’s property are “pre-contact” artifacts, meaning they were made before European settlers arrived, said Richard White, an archeologist at A.D. Marble & Company. Swedes were the first European settlers in Pennsylvania. The first settlement was recorded in 1643 when Governor Johan Printz of the colony of New Sweden arrived and established his capital at Tinicum Island, according to Britannica.

Artifacts collected at the site include debitage, or the material produced during the process of fashioning stones into tools or weapons; stone tools, stone knife points and ceramic fragments from pottery.

Anytime PennDOT officials are undertaking a project, they have to consider its effects on cultural resources, including archeological sites, historic buildings and historic districts, McDougal said. There were a number of previous archaeological sites in the area of this particular project, which is why PennDOT decided to conduct the survey.

The State Museum has a predictive model that takes into consideration locations of previously recorded sites, the type of soil, landforms in the area and natural resources Native people would have needed to live, such as streams, McDougal said.

Last April and May archeologists excavated a total of 566 test pits across an area of just under 100 acres, White said. The excavation site included property not owned by Lehigh where artifacts had previously been recorded by amateur archeologists 20 to 30 years ago, White said.

The majority of artifacts uncovered in the spring were discovered on Lehigh’s land, he added.

PennDOT completed its study of the property.

“Archaeology is the study of humanity through the lens of material culture.” McDougal said. “I personally think it’s really important to understand the history of the land we are on, dating back as long as there have been people there. You study past peoples, whether it be Native Americans, or early European settlers of this area, and that tells you a lot about how people lived, the small bits and pieces of life. I think it gives you a very good picture of common humanity.”

People have been living in what is now Pennsylvania for roughly 15,000 years, McDougal said.

“There are still many important Native American sites across eastern Pennsylvania which warrant proper respect and protections,” Lucas said. “The Lenape Tribal Nations still care deeply about their ancestors’ sites and belongings in the homelands. But because they were historically forced out and relocated far away, it has often been difficult to get institutions and organizations in the homelands to recognize and respect their ongoing relationship to these lands.”

Lehigh’s decision to return the artifacts to Delaware Nation is an ideal model for such collections, Lucas said. Lenape Tribal Nations should also be consulted before ground disturbance happens in their homelands, she added.

“There’s a really long history of settler colonial institutions problematically implying that Tribal Nations aren’t capable of handling their own artifacts,” Lucas said. “Returning ownership of collections and management agency to Tribal Nations for their own museums is critical.”

Read more stories on the Lehigh News Center.

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Delaware

Thomas Jefferson University to run Delaware’s first medical school

Published

3 hours ago

June 3, 2026

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Thomas Jefferson University to run Delaware’s first medical school

Thomas Jefferson University is opening a regional campus of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Delaware, an effort that will result in the state’s first medical school.

Jefferson beat out three other bidders to establish the four-year program in partnership with the state. The other bidders were the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Ponce Health Sciences University in Puerto Rico, Spotlight Delaware reported.

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The inaugural class of 40 medical students will begin instruction in July 2028. Initially, the campus will be based at the University of Delaware in Newark, with Jefferson faculty providing instruction. A permanent home for the campus is still being finalized, the Inquirer reported.

The medical students will receive 18 months of preclinical training on campus before receiving clinical training from healthcare providers in Delaware’s southern counties, where the state’s physician shortage is most deeply felt. That shortage is compounded by an aging population, Delaware officials said.

“Jefferson is committed to being part of the solution to Delaware’s physician shortage,” Jefferson CEO Dr. Joseph Cacchione said in a statement. “We are proud to help build a future where every Delawarean has access to the care they deserve. Jefferson is all in.”

The school’s creation is being supported by $157.4 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Delaware is one of three states without a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program. Since the late 1960s, Jefferson and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine have reserved seats for Delaware students.

“Sidney Kimmel Medical College has trained generations of physicians for more than 200 years, more than any other medical college in the country,” Said Ibrahim, dean of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, said in a statement. “It is a privilege to bring our mission to Delaware’s patients and communities.”

Jefferson has announced several expansions recently. The university is establishing a full-time doctor of nursing practice-nurse anesthesia program and several online graduate programs at the Lehigh Valley Health Network Center for Healthcare Education in Lehigh County. It also is opening a satellite respiratory therapy lab at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown.

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Delaware

Delaware is getting its first medical school, with classes set to start in 2028

Published

13 hours ago

June 2, 2026

Press Room

Delaware is getting its first medical school, with classes set to start in 2028

Delaware officials said medical students will start their classroom instruction at UD and then do their clinical training at offices and health care systems in Kent and Sussex counties, where the shortage of doctors is most acute.

However, ChristianaCare, which has its own partnership with Jefferson, is not participating. The state’s largest health care system was part of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s unsuccessful bid to operate the school. In a joint statement from ChristianaCare and PCOM, the two organizations expressed disappointment with not being part of the consortium of higher education institutions and healthcare organizations.

“The path forward raises genuine questions about whether the school’s goals can be fully realized without ChristianaCare’s meaningful participation in its clinical training mission,” it said. “The success of any four-year medical program depends not just on an academic institution, but on a true and committed partnership with its clinical partners — one built on shared mission, mutual investment and trust developed over time.”

Students in the first class can get their tuition subsidized, covering all of their education costs, in exchange for an agreement to work in rural Delaware for five years.

Running the medical school is expected to cost Jefferson $78 million over the next five years. The money is from a federal rural health grant through the Rural Health Transformation Program, which congressional Republicans created in the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.”

The program will give $50 billion to every state over five years, though exactly the total each will eventually receive is unclear. Half of the money is to be distributed equally to states and the other half is awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services based on a variety of factors.

The state applied for $1 billion late last year to improve health care in Kent and Sussex counties. The Trump administration has so far allocated Delaware $157 million. Delaware is expected to receive at least $500 million over the life of the fund.

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