In celebration of America250, the Taber Museum presented ‘An Afternoon with Thomas Jefferson” on Saturday, July 11, 2026. Portrayed by Tom Pitz, Thomas Jefferson received visitors from Lycoming County as if he was at the Swann’s Tavern in Charlottesville, Virginia, February 18, 1817. Mr. Jefferson reminisced about events from forty-one years prior to 1817, leading up to the writing of the Declaration of Independence.
Long an aficionado of Revolutionary Era history, Tom Pitz has been performing as Mr. Jefferson since 1987. He considers it an honor and a privilege to bring one of America’s greatest historical figures back to life for audiences. His performance sites include Michie Tavern, Denver Museum of Natural Science, the College of William and Mary, Keswick Hall, the United States Treasury, University of Virginia, Virginia Genealogical Society, Hampden Sydney College, Carthage College, the National Geographic Society, and Mount Rushmore on the Fourth of July. As a graduate of Mr. Jefferson’s University, he is well aware that John Adams’ dying statement, “Jefferson survives” is as true today as it was on July 4th, 1826. Mr. Pitz returned to the Lycoming County Historical Society after performances in 2017 and 2019.
Thomas Jefferson, the “American Sphinx”, as he has been called, enlightens 21st century Americans with his potent words to explain the motives for our forefathers to fight for a government based upon reason rather than force, a novel concept. At the same time he fails to “first take the log out of his own eye” because slaves are forced to serve this new country he helped to form.