Thaddeus Stevens Society To Meet
The Thaddeus Stevens Society will meet on Sunday, November 6, at 1 p.m. at 149 Carlisle Street in Gettysburg, PA.
Besides the normal business meeting, attendees will get to see a new exhibit of the Society’s Stevens artifacts, which include stoves made at two Stevens iron mills, letters he wrote and period newspapers
that chronicle his achievements. The permanent display will be available for future viewing by appointment with Society president, Ross Hetrick.
We will also have a cookout in the back of the building. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and drinks will be provided. Side dishes and desserts are welcomed. If you plan to attend, please call 717-334-1912 or email us at contact@thaddeusstevenssociety.com.
Duel biography of Stevens and Sumner planned
Manisha Sinah, the author of the recently published book, The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition, is now working on a dual biography of Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner. She graciously agreed to answer a few questions about the project. Click here for the story: Sinah.
New book of Civil War Congress will include Steven’s role
Fergus M. Bordewich, the author of seven historic non-fiction books, is now working on a book about the role Congress played during the Civil War. This will include Thaddeus Stevens, who was a powerful congressman at the time. Bordewich graciously agreed to answer the following questions about his project. Click here for story: Bordewich.
Randy Harris receives Stevens bust for efforts to honor Thaddeus Stevens
Randy Harris, an outstanding supporter of the legacy of Thaddeus Stevens, was awarded a bust of the Old Commoner at the Stevens Day dinner on April 8 by the Thaddeus Stevens Society..
Randy’s involvement with Stevens dates back to 2000 when as executive director of the Preservation Trust of Lancaster County he was instrumental in saving the Stevens house in Lancaster from being demolished to make way for the Lancaster Convention Center. In more recent years he was the head of the foundation that oversees the cemetery where Stevens is buried and he helped make the graveyard into a real show place with the repair of scores of tombstones, a new fence along the bottom of the site, an informational kiosk and lighting of Stevens’s grave.
He stepped down from that position earlier this year, but his accomplishments will be long remembered and appreciated.
Stevens artifacts on display at LancasterHistory.org
Thaddeus Stevens’s desk, wig, cane and clubfoot boot will be on display through late 2017 at LancasterHistory.org at 230 N. President Avenue in Lancaster, PA.
The items are part of an exhibit called “Freedom: to Secure the Blessings of Liberty,” which opened in the history society’s main hall on September 24. Besides Stevens, the collections includes items about other fighters for freedom like William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and participants in the Underground Road. For pictures of the Stevens artifacts, click this link: Artifacts
The exhibit is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. There is an admission fee For a newspaper article about the exhibit, click on this link: Exhibit
State pledges reach $15,400
Pledges to erect a statue of Thaddeus Stevens in Gettysburg have reached $15,400 as of October 23. Once we reach $60,000 in pledges, we will begin a search for a location and then a sculptor. Pledges will probably not be collected for three years or more and they are not legally binding. If you are interested in making a pledge, call 717-334-1912 or email us at contact@thaddeusstevenssociety.com.
Book Signing
Terry Webb, the author of Thaddeus Stevens, The Making of an Inconvenient Hero, will be signing her fictional account of Stevens’s childhood for young adults at two Gettysburg locations in November. The first is on November 19, from noon to 4 p.m., at the Book Warehouse, 1863 Gettysburg Village Dr # 9 and the second is on November 26, 1 to 3 p.m., at The Ragged Edge Coffee House, 110 Chambersburg St.
Stevens Quote:
“What an opportunity is presented to this Republic to vindicate her consistency and become immortal. The occasion is forced upon us, and the invitation presented to strike the chains from four million of human beings, and create them MEN; to extinguish slavery on this whole continent; to wipe out, so far as we are concerned, the most hateful and infernal blot that has ever disgraced the escutcheon of man; to write a page in the history of the world whose brightness shall eclipse all the records of heroes and of sages.” – January 22, 1862.