After our organization interviewed about two dozen individuals, we realized that many were great storytellers! Thus, the History in Our Backyard Lecture Series was born in 2012.

We are grateful to the Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum, Horsham, PA for allowing us to hold our first few live lectures at their facility. We relocated our live programming to The Fuge in Warminster, PA starting in November 2012.

Unless otherwise announced, we hold lectures on the second Thursday of the month at 7:30pm EST/EDT. Most events are now held as Zoom webinars, but we do schedule some live programming at The Fuge, including an Annual Veterans Tribute in November.

Note: you must be on our email distribution list in order to receive a Zoom link to this program. Email us at mail@ColdWarHistory.org if interested.

Our webinars are archived for on-demand viewing on our YouTube Channel .

Please refer to this link for a listing of past lecture topics and speakers: Link

Upcoming Events

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Project SPARC

April 13, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Project SPARC began in the early 1960s at Northeast H.S. in Philadelphia, PA to promote the development of leaders dedicated to the extension of mankind’s grasp beyond that of planet Earth. 

Project SPARC was recognized by NASA…

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History of Naval Tactical Airborne Electronic Warfare Countermeasures

May 11, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Join us for a presentation on the history of the US Navy's use of electronic warfare-- the art and science of preserving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (radio frequencies, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays…

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75th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift

June 8, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

We welcome back Don Smith with a commemorative presentation on the 75th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift!

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American Technical Ops in the Shah’s Iran

July 13, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

John Ramirez returns for another presentation on signal ops during the Cold War!

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The Tell Two Missions

Aug. 10, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Join historian Robert S. Hopkins, III for a discussion on the highly secretive “Tell Two” program, part of a wide array of systems and methods to collect telemetry signals from Soviet missiles and spacecraft during the Cold War.

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Escape From WWII Ethnic Cleansing to Refugee Life to NADC Career

Sept. 14, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Schwabenlager Groedig, an abandoned WWI Russian POW camp of 7 barracks outside the town of Groedig, on the outskirts of Salzburg, Austria, served as a refugee camp for approximately 500+ individuals fleeing Yugoslavia at the end of WWII. This is …

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Aircraft Carrier ASW Capabilities: 1963- 1987

Oct. 12, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Join us for a presentation by Chuck Phillips, who worked for the Department of Defense at the Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, PA from 1953 to 1983-- one of the DOD’s most important research and development facilities. He was Pro…

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Minuteman Missile Vulnerability

Dec. 14, 2023 at 7 p.m.

Join us for another fascinating discussion on our Cold War nuclear missile armamentarium with historian David Stumpf!