An Evening with Thomas Jefferson

Oklahoma History Center

March 3, 2011 Doors open at 6pm; Program 7pm 

Mark your calendars and join us for an evening with President Jefferson at the Oklahoma History Center on March 3, 2011. The museum doors will open at 6:00 PM and the program will begin at 7:00 PM.   Seating is first come and open to the public.

Join us for a special living history program featuring one of our nation's founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson.  Bill Barker, one of the country's best Jefferson interpreters will appear for one night only at the History Center.  Barker currently serves as Colonial Williamsburg's Thomas Jefferson and makes appearances across the country.  Bill has enjoyed portraying Thomas Jefferson in a variety of settings over the past twenty years. He first came to Williamsburg in the spring of 1993 to perform as Jefferson in a film made to honor Ambassador and Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg. He has continued to appear as Jefferson for Colonial Williamsburg and assists in the development of Jefferson programs for the Foundation.
 
Over the years he has evolved a repertoire of Jefferson presentations tailored to corporate and government audiences, as well as schools, societies and festivals. Bill performed as Jefferson at the White House, the Palace of Versailles and throughout the United States, Great Britain, France and the Las Vegas Strip! He presented for Chataqua and has been featured as Jefferson in several magazines including Time, People, Atlantic, Philadelphia, Southern Living, Reader's Digest, and the Colonial Williamsburg Journal.

During his visit President Jefferson will visit with museum guests on such topics as life in the new nation, his term as President, and the Louisiana Purchase.  The speech will be followed by a question and answer period. For more information, please visit our website or call (405)522-0765.

For the child in all of us...

Found in Collections

by Jill Holt, Curator of Textiles, OHC
 

Over the first half of this year, we had an exhibit of toys. I have a soft spot in my heart for toys and had a wonderful time putting the exhibit together. So many of today's toys are made of plastic but there was a time when metal was the preferred material for toys.
 

One of the metal toys in the exhibit was the "Corner Grocer." The center panel has lithograph print of the interior of a grocery store and it is flanked with shelves which swing out. The shelves contain miniature canned and boxed goods. There is also a sales counter complete with scales, telephone, and a roll of butcher paper. Wolverine Supply and Manufacturing of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, made this toy beginning in the 1920s.
 

Another metal toy in the exhibit was the Play Steel Colonial Dollhouse. The lithograph of the interior and exterior was done by the National Can Corporation of New York in the 1940s. The house features a living room and dining/kitchen on the first floor with two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor.  I spent many hours playing with similar toys during my childhood and these two toys brought back many happy memories for me. 

For more stories like this, visit Found in Collections.