July | 2015 | Archivist's Attic...

Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York

Thursday July 23, 2015 was a landmark day in my career as an Archivist and a Teacher. Today, I spoke to thirty-eight teachers about President William McKinley. The State University of New York College at Buffalo held a week long conference two weeks in a row for secondary teachers. The conference is held at different locations throughout the city of Buffalo. Thursday’s sessions were held at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site. Jill Gradwell invited our Education Director, Christopher Kenney to speak at this conference both weeks. Dr. Jill Gradwell is the project director for this conference.

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Chris asked if I could speak at the first session, and he would give a similar program the following Thursday. The program is on the life of William McKinley up to the point of his assassination. The program includes an Immersion Experience allowing the participants of the conference (High School Teachers) to be exposed to letters, and telegrams that were exchanged during the time William McKinley is convalescing at the Milburn House in Buffalo, New York. The program concludes with the three funerals given to William McKinley, and his final resting place, the McKinley Memorial. Thank you to Dr. Jill Gradwell for the gracious care you extended to my wife, Alyson and I while we were in Buffalo. Thank you to Christopher Kenney for all of the help, and support to make this presentation possible. Good luck with your presentation this Thursday, Chris!

The Presentation Includes an Immersion Experience

Visiting the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site was a wonderful experience. Lenora Henson gave Alyson, and I a tour of the exhibits in the TR House, and a behind the scenes tour of some of the McKinley highlights in their collection.

Thank you to Lenora for being so generous with her time, and information.

McKinley’s Monument, Buffalo, New York

We also took a side trip to East Aurora, New York. We saw the house where Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States once lived.

Millard Fillmore home, East Aurora, New York

On our last day in Buffalo we were invited to the Margaret L. Wendt Archive and Resource Center. Jessica Johnson, Curator & Director of Community Engagement gave us a tour of this archive. The archive contains 350,000 individual family records they use for genealogy research. Thank you to Jessica for your time and help with this new discovery.