McKinley artifacts

This morning I received a telephone call from a gentleman whose grandmother was President McKinley's niece. He would like to donate a piece of furniture that was in the White House, as well as a set of encyclopedias signed by the President's sister, Anna McKinley.

How exciting!

He asked me if many McKinley artifacts come in anymore.

I admitted it is few and far between these days. Mostly what we receive are commemorative items and campaign memorabilia. Personal property of the President is far more rare.

Most people only have a "family story" that their item belonged to McKinley, with no concrete evidence to back that up. They often come to us looking for evidence to substantiate their claim, but the truth is, it is extremely difficult to prove!

As much as we wish we had a document listing everything the President ever owned, no such list exists. The probate inventory of the house contents after Ida's death is so vague, it really isn't all that useful. It lists things like "chair" -- no descriptions!

So, the best we can offer is to have the person come in and search through our photograph collection, hoping to find the President sitting in that chair, or at that desk, or whatever the case may be. Like searching for a needle in a haystack! As far as I know, we haven't been able to substantiate any artifact that way, and that is the only way we can (in the absence of any other evidence).

Also, since the President did not have any direct descendants, items were given to many different branches of the family, instead of following a single family line. Today, the family is spread out all over the country. In addition, it wasn't until FDR started his presidential library that presidents started saving things and planning for a museum. Since FDR, presidencies are extremely well documented. But in McKinley's time, people weren't thinking like that.

Still, there are a few things that we have recently received with a reliable provenance.

Last year, the First Christian Church donated a table to us that had been donated to them by a man who had worked with McKinley as a young lawyer. We were able to prove that he had in fact worked at the same office, at the same time McKinley was there. The table is now on display in the McKinley Gallery.

Last year too, you may recall the French poster that was donated after the exhibit we did on the Monument for its 100th anniversary. (I blogged about it back in November) It was from a fundraiser in France to contribute to the Monument fund.

Those are the two biggest highlights in recent memory!

We are looking forward to receiving this new donation.