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.

Fundraising to purchase Ida's tiara!

UPDATE!! We now have online donations set up! Click here to go to our website and make your donation!

THANK YOU!!!
 

A few weeks ago, Ida McKinley's diamond tiara (seen in the photo above) was sold on the History Channel's show Pawn Stars.  We have seen it in person before, because we've borrowed it to display for special events.  It is two diamond-crusted wings on a plain band.  In the picture you can see one of the wings clearly at the base of the feather.  The wings are removable to be worn as pins.

The day after I saw the show, I called the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas to see if we could acquire it.  I was told it was not for sale.  So I sent Rick Harrison a letter, letting him know if he ever changed his mind about selling it, we would be interested.

Well, last week he called me back!  He said that he would be willing to sell it to us for what he paid for it.  He wanted it on the show because he is the national spokesman for the Epilepsy Foundation, and since Ida suffered from epilepsy, he wanted to help raise awareness for the disease.

The catch is he paid $43,000 for it.  We don't normally purchase artifacts, but this is such an important piece, we really, really want to be able to add it to our collection.  Since it is not typical for us to buy artifacts, we needed to discuss the possibility of raising that kind of cash with the staff and board.

I got a green light so I called Rick back yesterday.  He said he would put it aside, and he would give us three months to raise the money for it.

That's a much shorter timeline that I was expecting!  But we feel like we can pull this off.  There is a sense of urgency now that just might work in our favor.

WE JUST NEED YOUR HELP!

If you would like to contribute to our fund for Ida's tiara, 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.

No donation is too small!  With your help, we can put all of the donations together to get to our goal!

Check back for updates on how much we've raised and additional fundraising plans.

HELP US BRING THIS TIARA BACK TO CANTON!

Down for the count

I have spent the past two days lying in my bed with my cats trying to fight a nasty cold.  I'm back in the office today, and I haven't blogged in awhile.  So here's a list of some of the things that I'm working on:

• The Bridal Show script is almost finished.  I got the last bits of information I needed today, so by the end of the day on Monday, that project will be DONE.  There are only 11 tickets left, so we're sure to sell it out again this year!!
• I'm also finishing the program and stage design for the Bridal Show.  I'm waiting for a few final lists of donors, volunteers, dressers, etc. so I can finish the program. There wasn't any good paper to fit our travel theme, so I've made the cover myself and will have to print it in-house.  That is best done when I can leave my office for awhile and just let my printer run!
• I'm working on brand new PowerPoint programs for our Preservation Workshops coming up in April.  I'm doing textiles and furniture, and our Archivist Mark Holland is doing paper and photographs.  I've been wanting to offer this type of program for a long time.  I have an idea for an exhibit in the future about why people collect that will also address these types of themes.
• I packed up the second pair of Ida McKinley slippers that are going to the Hoover Presidential Library & Museum for their exhibition on First Ladies.  They will depart next week.
• I received a small wall mounted case that I ordered for the Gold Medal Pulitzer Prize we recently received that was awarded to the Canton Daily News after Don Mellet was shot.  It will be displayed in the Ramsayer Research Library.  Look for more details soon, once I have that "mini exhibit" finished!

I was fortunate to get sick for two days where my calendar was relatively open.  That doesn't often align quite so nicely.  Thank you to everyone who held down the fort while I was asleep on NyQuil!

Ohio Memory Madness Tournament begins TODAY!

McKinley Presidential Library & Museum to Participate in Second Annual Ohio Memory Madness

Does your favorite Ohio history object have what it takes to make it to the championship?

(Canton, OH) – In the spirit and fun of college basketball’s March Madness, the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum and the Ohio Historical Society invite you to participate in the Second Annual Ohio Memory Madness – a bracket of sixty-four historical objects from across the state all competing for the unique distinction of being named the 2014 Ohio Memory Madness Champion. Since the historical objects featured in the bracket are unable to play tournament style basketball, the winner of Ohio Memory Madness will be determined by public online voting at: http://www.ohiohistoryhost.org/madness/.

The Ohio Memory Madness bracket features images of iconic historical objects culled from Ohio Memory, the collaborative digital library project of the Ohio Historical Society and the State Library of Ohio, with digital collections from 360 cultural heritage institutions representing all of Ohio’s 88 counties. Voters can learn more about each object by scrolling over each image to view a description, or click on the image to visit the Ohio Memory image page with more information.

The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum is proud to have a 1918 Hoover vacuum cleaner represent Northeast Ohio in this exciting statewide competition. In1908, inventor J. Murray Spangler was working as a night janitor. While cleaning rugs, the dust aggravated his asthma. He modified some existing equipment to collect the dust and dirt into a pillowcase. Spangler asked Susan Hoover, a family friend, to try the equipment. Her husband, W. H. "Boss" Hoover, was impressed with the "suction sweeper." At the time, the Hoover family business produced mostly horse harnesses and equipment. As the automobile grew in popularity, the leather shop began to fail and they were seeking new business opportunities.

Hoover bought the patent from Spangler in 1908, retained him as a partner, and soon had six employees assembling six units a day in a corner of the leather goods shop. At the time, most homes had no electricity, and they had difficulty selling the sweepers. Once W.H. Hoover took out an ad in the Saturday Evening Post offering a 10 day free trial, they were inundated with requests. The Hoover Company went on to become a nationally-known manufacturer of vacuum cleaners.

Objects will go head to head beginning March 18, and the voting is scheduled as follows:

First round: March 18-21

Round of 32: March 22-26

Sweet 16: March 27-31

Elite 8: April 1-3

Final 4: April 4-5

Championship: April 6-7

Not only can the public vote throughout the tournament to ensure their favorite object makes it to the championship – they can also enter to win a prize pack from the Ohio Historical Society including tickets to the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, a Retro Ohio t-shirt, and an assortment of Ohio munchies to enjoy while watching that other sport.

Don’t miss your chance to vote for the Ohio Memory Madness Champion! Your vote can make one of Ohio’s historical objects go all the way this March.

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About the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum:  The McKinley Presidential Library includes the McKinley National Memorial, the McKinley Gallery, Street of Shops, The Stark County Story, Discover World, the Hoover-Price Planetarium, and the Keller Gallery for changing exhibitions.  We are located at 800 McKinley Monument Dr NW in Canton.

About the Ohio Historical Society: Founded in 1885, the non-profit Ohio Historical Society (ohiohistory.org) provides a wide array of statewide services and programs related to collecting, preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology and natural history through its 58 sites and museums across Ohio, including its flagship museum, the Ohio History Center in Columbus. For information regarding OHS, contact Shannon Thomas, Communications Dept., Ohio Historical Society: 614.297.2317, sthomas@ohiohistory.org.