Thaddeus Stevens Chronicles No. 57

 How to keep the Thaddeus Stevens museum open forever

September 2025

By Ross Hetrick

If you want the Thaddeus Stevens museum in Gettysburg to survive forever, you should contribute to the Thaddeus Stevens Society "forever fund" during the Adams County Community Foundation's Giving Spree . 

The Giving Spree is an annual event that raises money for 111 charities in Adams county. The Thaddeus Stevens Society is one of those organizations and we are asking people to donate to our endowment fund with the Community Foundation, which is called the "Forever" fund. The big day for the Giving Spree is November 6 when people can make donations at the Wyndham Hotel in Gettysburg or online at ACCFGivingSpree.org. 

Before the event, donors can get donation forms and mail them in. Forms are available at the Thaddeus Stevens Museum at 46 Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg or by emailing info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com with your name and address.  You may also want to consider making donations to the other worthwhile charities listed on the form. You do not have to be rich to donate. The Community Foundation will take donations as small as $1. 

It is absolutely necessary that the museum endowment fund continues to grow to ensure the long term survival of the museum. Due to the generosity of our supporters, the Stevens fund now stands at $31,000. We get a small percent of this each year with the rest continuing to grow from investment returns. But we need a lot more in order to substantially support the museum. It is something that should have been done a hundred years ago.

People living from the 1860s to the early part of the 20th century, would have thought  Thaddeus Stevens would be remembered as well as Abraham Lincoln. Major newspapers devoted their entire front pages to his death, schools throughout Pennsylvania were named after him, veteran clubs were named in his honor and for a brief period of time there was a Thaddeus Stevens Club in New York city. Music was written about him. He was a super star.

 But no statues of Stevens were erected and no museums to his memory were created. At the same time, ex-Confederates, their descendants and supporters were actively vilifying Stevens through books and movies. And they won. By the middle of the 20th century Stevens was all but forgotten.

This has turned around somewhat in the last 25 years and there are now two statues of Stevens in Gettysburg and Lancaster and a museum in Gettysburg and another one slated to open next year in Lancaster. But the Gettysburg museum, which is essential to preserving Stevens's memory, could disappear in future decades if it does not have a strong financial foundation.

So to all you Thaddeus Stevens admirers, affectionately called Thaddites, please take the time to get the donation form either from the museum or by sending an email to info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com. Then write down your donation and check off the "Forever" box and mail it in. Future Thaddites will thank you. 

Ross Hetrick is president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society, which operates the Thaddeus Stevens Museum at 46 Chambersburg St. in Gettysburg, PA. The Society also participates in the Adams County Giving Spree, which will be held on November 6. More information about the Great Commoner can be found at the society's website: https://www.thaddeusstevenssociety.com/