Tiara update - April 4

Huge boost this afternoon!  THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

Fundraising update

Each diamond on this chart represents $1000.  I'll re-post it regularly to show you how close we are to our goal!

An Evening of Civil War Music with Steve Ball

Announcing our first fundraising event for the Ida McKinley Tiara Fund! 

"An Evening of Civil War Music with Steve Ball" will be held on Thursday June 5 at 7:00 PM at the Museum. The concert will feature authentic Civil War music performed as it sounded in the 1860's, on a true period-correct Civil War era guitar.In addition to a performance, Mr. Ball will display his collection of pre-Civil War guitars and original sheet music.  

Pre-sale tickets are $20 per person, $25 at the door. Mr. Ball is graciously donating his time and talent for this event and will donate 50% of his CD sales that evening to the fundraising efforts as well. 

Steve Ball is a musician and historian from Columbus, Ohio. He started both playing the guitar and studying the American Civil War at the age of twelve. Over the years, Steve developed an interest in older styles of American music, and has performed in Folk groups, Bluegrass and Country bands, Square dance bands, and even a Western trio. 

His interest in Civil War music was generated by tunes he learned while in the Western trio, and eventually he built a repertoire of songs from the 19th century, both before and during the Civil War period of 1861 to 1865. His interest in the history of the war led to learning about the composers, and the events that led to many of the songs of the period being written and composed. As his knowledge grew, he developed a presentation that explains both why the tunes were written, and what was going on in the war at the time. The songs are presented in a somewhat chronological order, and Steve tells the story of each song, and keeps listeners informed of the progress of the war at the same time. 

Call 330-455-7043 for pre-sale tickets!

Remember, you can also make a donation to the Ida McKinley Tiara Fund online on our website!

Online donations are now set up for Ida's tiara!!

We now have the ability to accept donations online for the Ida McKinley Tiara Fund!  Click here to go to our website, where you will find a "donate" button right on the homepage.

The story about our efforts has hit the AP wire and was posted on websites for newspapers and TV stations across the country and around the world!  The story has also aired on WKSU, our local NPR station.

In addition, we are working on two fundraising events -- a high-dollar "Diamond Soiree" in May and a Civil War musical performance in June with a lower ticket price.  More details will be posted about both events next week, when we have the details all worked out. 

We are well on our way to making this thing happen!

More tiara publicity! PLUS "Throwback Thursday"!!

Check out this story in the Akron Beacon Journal this morning!

Our fundraising efforts are really taking off!  It's so exciting to be a part of a community coming together to bring an important artifact back to Canton. 

It reminds me of some of the highlights of the past decade in the Museum's history.  Two specific events come to mind.

First, the community gathered to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the McKinley Monument with great enthusiasm at our "100 Hours Celebration" back in 2007.  Second, we saw an amazing collaboration just this past year with A Secret Gift.

Canton is a wonderful place to work and live.  And the Museum is grateful to be in a community like this one. 

Thank you for all of your support!  People have been coming in all week bringing checks to help us buy the tiara.  We are grateful beyond words.

"Throwback Thursday"!

I'm feeling very proud to be a part of this Museum today, and 100 Hours will always be one of the best community-wide events I've ever been a part of!  The Museum was open for 100 hours -- continuously, all day and all night -- with a full slate of programs and events.  It was absolutely fabulous, in every way.  I worked the Noon to 2AM shift, and it was so much fun!

So here's some "Throwback Thursday" pics for you!

A "Nooks and Crannies" Tour of the Monument

Tethered balloon rides, courtesy of Remax

The penney campaign!  We collected 1.2 million pennies!

Chris and me heading up to the Monument, wearing the volunteer and staff shirts for the event

Butter churning demo in the Cabin

The Monument at night

Mayor Janet Creighton at the official opening ceremony

"Ghost Tours" of the Street of Shops

Our annual Cruisin' Thru History Car Show!

Horse-drawn carriage rides around the grounds and up to the Monument

Haunted History tours with Betty O'Neil Rodderick and smores at the outdoor hearth

A midnight pancake breakfast in the Street of Shops, cooked over the open hearth

An albino wallaby in the Petting Zoo

Ice cream social, the last event of the celebration

Lake Township Historical Society's calliope

Balloon animals!

An old-fashioned baseball game

A baby otter at the Petting Zoo

Did you come to our "100 Hours Celebration"?  Leave a comment if you were there!

Pre-treatment photos of dress 65.135.2

We have received a disk of pre-treatment photos taken by our textile conservator of the first completed dress in the Ida McKinley Dress Project!

The treatment of this dress was funded by the Museum Auxiliary and individual donations.  These important donations allowed us to get this project started while worked on grant applications to fund more dresses.

So far, we have funding in place for 4 additional dresses, which brings the grand total to 5!  We are extremely proud of our fundraising efforts to date -- conservation work is NOT easy to fund.  We have 15 more dresses to go in order to complete this project.

Below are more photos of the conservation issues this dress faced when our textile conservator began working on it.  Post-treatment photos are yet to come, but the current status of this dress is COMPLETELY CONSERVED!  Each issue documented in these photos has been repaired.

I have placed a special label on its box to record the date on which treatment was completed.  I'm looking forward to adding lots more of those labels in the future!

If you are interested in supporting this project, we welcome donations of all sizes!  Please send your donation to:

Ida McKinley Dress Project

McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

800 McKinley Monument Dr NW

Canton OH  44708

Thank you for any help you can provide!  We also appreciate those who spread the word about this project, so feel free to link to this blog post or "like" us on Facebook for updates on this project and information about Ida McKinley.

Help us spread the word about Ida's tiara!

Click here for an article in today's Repository about our fundraising efforts to purchase Ida's diamond tiara!

We scanned our original of Ida's portrait with the tiara and blew it up on the screen to get a better look at how she wore it.  Since the wings are detachable and can be worn separately from the tiara as pins, Ida chose to wear them both on one side of her head for this photo.  The feather is not part of the tiara.

If you are interested in helping us raise the $43,000 needed to purchase this tiara and bring it back to Canton, please send a check to:

Ida McKinley Tiara Fund

McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

800 McKinley Monument Dr. NW

Canton OH  44708

If you would prefer to make a donation via credit card, please call 330-455-7043.

It is equally important that we spread the word to as many people as possible!  Please share this blog post -- on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else people will see it!

With your help, we will bring this important piece of history to the Museum, where it will be preserved for generations to enjoy.