Hoover-Evacuee Author…

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Author, Ballroom, Children, company, downtown Canton, employees, England, Evacuee, foster families, historic hotel, History, holiday tradition, Hoover, Hoover Historical Center, Hotel Onesto, immersed, Indiana, London, North Canton, North Canton Heritage Society, novel, ohio, old historic building, President McKinley, Ramsayer Research Center, researchers, restoration, sojourner, Stark County, Thanksgiving, threads, transformation, United States, World War II

More often than we can count the Ramsayer Research Center is asked to provide information on an interesting topic concerning either Stark County or President McKinley. We are honored and consider it fun and a privilege to help these fellow researchers “Seek the Threads.” This is the story of one of our visiting researchers and her experiences here.

Hoover Evacuee Author

We were once again given the opportunity to host and help fellow sojourner, Rebecca McVay from central Indiana. We first met Rebecca and her father in 2015. She returned in 2019 to continue her search for the threads of history that tied together people in little North Canton and London, England.

Rebecca is writing a novel on the experiences of children of Hoover Company employees who worked at a branch of the company just north of London, England during World War II. Many children were brought to the United States to escape the war and placed with North Canton foster families. This is Rebecca’s third trip to Canton, Ohio to research in the Ramsayer Research Center, the North Canton Heritage Society, and the Hoover Historical Center, which is now maintained and administered by Walsh University, North Canton, Ohio.

“Boss” Hoover hosted at least one Thanksgiving dinner for the English evacuees in Hotel Onesto’s Ballroom. Rebecca was given the opportunity to visit the building, now known as the Onesto Lofts, located on North Cleveland Ave. and 2nd Street N.W., Canton, Ohio. Steve Coon and his team at Coon Restoration & Sealants were the people responsible for taking an old historic building in downtown Canton. Ohio and bringing it back to its former glory. Much appreciation goes to Brett Haverlick, project manager for the restoration and transformation of the historic hotel into condos. Brett is a good friend of the Ramsayer Research Center and on a Sunday morning he made a special trip from Akron, Ohio to Canton to show Rebecca the former hotel. She was immersed in a location visited by the English evacuees in the 1940’s. Rebecca walked on the same floors where these children had experienced American kindness and holiday tradition some eighty years earlier. There is much more to the story of her latest visit, but we will leave that for another time.

Mark G. Holland
February 14, 2023
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

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Fall of the House of McKinley 2…

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Archives Bring Good Feelings, Front Porch Campaign, Local History, McKinley Presidential Library, Presidential History

McKinley Home as it Sat in Meyer Park

Many years ago I posed the question to my father-in-law who is a long-time Canton resident how President McKinley‘s home was destroyed. He did not know the answer, but the question remained in the back of my mind for years. When I began as a volunteer at the McKinley Presidential Library in 2003, the question resurfaced and I began to gather information on the house itself, who live there through the years, and what happened that the city of Canton did not save the house. Initially I wrote my findings and they were put on a safe place on the library shelf.
Time passes, and one grows old with that passage. Mark Holland, Archivist encouraged me to take another look at what I had written with the idea of expanding it into a book which could be published. We also have the idea that we would form a group of interested local historians to help brainstorm and research. The book and the group began in the summer of 2020.
No one expected COVID…And that made our forward progress crawl at times.
Now the book is at the halfway point. It tells the story from the beginning of Canton, through the building of the house at 723 North Market Avenue. It shares stories of the various owners, and will tell what finally happened to the only home President McKinley ever owned. The group of historians continues to grow and is an exciting adventure—expanding to explore other Canton families and buildings.
Hope to have the finished product soon,
Judy Pocock
Author
The Fall of the House of Mckinley

McKinley Impression by Pausch…

McKinley Assassination

William McKinley was elected to the first of two terms in 1896. He was sworn in on March 4, 1897 as the nation’s 25th president. He won re-election in 1900. Six months into his second term McKinley visited the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

On September 6th McKinley, while at the Temple of Music Hall, was in a receiving line shaking hands. A man named Leon Czolgosz, an avowed anarchist, came to the head of the line, and, pulling a gun from beneath a handkerchief, shot McKinley twice. Some accounts say one bullet hit a button and was deflected. The other bullet entered the president’s body.

McKinley was taken by ambulance to the fairground hospital. A doctor cleaned and closed the wound. McKinley convalesced for a few days and it was thought he might recover.

On the morning of September 13 his health quickly deteriorated as gangrene developed and he died on the morning of September 14th, 1901. Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President of The United States. Czolgosz was quickly tried for murder, found guilty and executed on October 29, 1901.

Sculptor Edward L. A. Pausch Background

Here is where a famous turn of the century sculptor named Edward L.A. Pausch enters into our story. Sculptor Edward Ludwig Albert Pausch was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and immigrated with his family to Hartford Connecticut as a small child. He apprenticed with various sculptors for eleven years in Hartford and New York City. In 1889 he joined with sculptor, James G.C. Hamilton at the Smith Granite Company in Westerly, Rhode Island. James G.C. Hamilton is known to Cantonians as the stone sculptor of the beautiful historic pediment above the entrance of the present Stark County Courthouse, in Canton, Ohio.

Edward Pausch’s most ambitious work, created at the Smith Granite Company is the George Washington Memorial (1889-91) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This is a one and a half-life size equestrian statue depicting Washington as a 23 year old colonel in the French and Indian War.

Pausch is also credited with creating at least seven of the numerous monuments in the Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

According to an article that appeared in the Columbus Dispatch newspaper in 1923 upon William McKinley’s death on September 14, 1901, a New York sculptor, Edward L.A. Pausch, immediately wired McKinley’s secretary, Mr. George B. Cortelyou. He was requesting permission to make a death mask of the dead President. With Mrs. Ida McKinley’s permission, the request was granted and Pausch took the first train that he could catch, reaching Buffalo in time to make the mask in the morning after the death.

Pausch made a mold from a plaster of Paris application to the president’s facial features. The casting was immediately locked up in a safety deposit vault in Buffalo, New York. No photographs were permitted. Three days later it was delivered to Mr. Cortelyou at the White House and was transferred to the Smithsonian National Museum.

Pausch had made a clay model from the plaster of Paris impression and, later in early 1902, Pausch was commissioned by the Postal Union workers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to make a bronze casting bust of the McKinley death mask affixed to a granite pedestal to be displayed inside the post office in Philadelphia. This commission was paid for by the postal employees who wished to honor President McKinley for his pioneering work in civil service.

When the post office relocated a few years later there was no suitable spot in the new building for displaying this work of art, so it was placed in storage at the Philadelphia Arsenal for 30 years.

The Arsenal was slated to be demolished in 1959 and the question arose as what to do with the bust and pedestal. Several cities sought to obtain it but City of Canton officials heard about the situation and made a pitch to the post office to obtain it. The post office offered the art work to the City of Canton on condition that the City would pay all transportation costs. The Canton Lions Club, a service club stepped up and paid all transportation costs.

The McKinley bust now gracing the front walk of the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum is getting a refurbishment. The Museum contacted a company of Canton and they sandblasted the bust and treated the surface of the bronze with 3 coats of preservative.

The beautiful Pausch sculpture commissioned by the Philadelphia Postal Union workers in 1902 will hopefully celebrate the memory of President William McKinley for many more generations to come.

George Washington Memorial by Edward Ludwig Albert Pausch (1856-1931) – Allegheny Commons Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Dedicated on Feb. 23, 1891. The head of this piece copied after Houdon’s George Washington in the Virginia State House in Richmond, Virginia.

(This artwork is in the public domain because the artist died more than 70 years ago. Smithsonian SIRIS information: http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?

Library Volunteers, Rochelle and Thomas Haas

McKinley Presidential Library, Canton, Ohio

Freak Accident (The Death of Grace Vicary Pottorf)

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C. N. Vicary Company, Canton, Canton Board of Education, Canton Chapter of the American Red Cross, Charles Vicary family, city directories, Daughters of the American Revolution, Dr. C.E. Manchester, Find A Grave, First Presbyterian Church, Freak Accident, Grace Vicary Pottorf, interns, John Pottorf, LeRoy, Louise, McKinley High School, men’s clothing, New York, North Lawn Cemetery, ohio, photograph, retail, Reverend Walter B Purnell, Steuber, The Great War, Union Clothing Company, Union Vicary, Vicary, West Lawn Cemetery

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Last month one of our interns, Hannah Beach, met with one of our longtime researchers in the library Judy Pocock. Judy taught Hannah various skills in researching county history. Judy and Hannah spent a lot of time studying a photograph that was taken between 1905 and 1910. The photograph was a portrait of the employees of the C.N. Vicary Company. The C.N. Vicary Company was well noted as a high class men’s clothing and men’s furnishings retail store in Canton, Ohio.

The photograph is 16 ½” x 12” and identifies eight of the eleven people who appear in the portrait. Some of the spellings were wrong but by using the city directories Judy and Hannah were able to clear up the errors in the identification. Through looking on Find-A-Grave Judy found an obituary for a Grace Vicary Pottorf. Which leads me to a Freak Accident.

On April 1, 1891 the Charles Vicary family moved from LeRoy, New York to Canton, Ohio. Grace was born in LeRoy on Sunday August 9, 1885 to Charles and Louise Vicary. The couple would have two more little girls, Margarete and Caroline, and one little boy, Arthur. Charles Newell Vicary along with his business partner L. W.  Steuber also from LeRoy, New York were in the clothing business together.  

In Canton in 1892 the Union Clothing company folded, and the two businessmen were put in charge of administering the liquidation of the company. During the panic of 1893 Steuber left the company and Vicary to deal with the hard times in business. The hard times proved to be a boon for Vicary and he established his growing business first as Union Vicary, and then the C. N. Vicary Company.

Mr. Vicary’s daughter, Grace, attended Canton Central High School in Canton, Ohio and was graduated in 1904, and attended Lasell Seminary of Auburndale, Massachusetts in 1907. During the Great War, World War I she was in charge of the knitting department of the Canton Chapter of the American Red Cross, along with other activities to support the war. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was the Sunday School Superintendent for the primary department for eight years in the First Presbyterian Church.

On December 26^th, 1918, Grace and John L. G. Pottorf announced their engagement. The two were married Thursday June 26^th, 1919. Mr. Pottorf was the first principal of McKinley High School. He served as principal for Central, North (later Lehman) and McKinley High Schools for thirty-six years. The couple had a little girl on Sunday September 26, 1920 whom they named Louise in honor of her grandmother.

On Monday October 18^th John went to a Canton Board of Education meeting in the evening. While preparing baby Louise for bed and a bath for herself Grace received a visit from her mother Louise, and one of her sisters Margarete. The visitors left Grace’s house at 702 13^th Street N.W. between 8:15 and 8:30 pm. and around 8:45 pm Mr. Pottorf returned to his house to find his wife dead. Grace had apparently slipped in the tub striking the base of her brain on a faucet that was bent. There was also a heater that was found in the tub which could have caused her to be electrocuted. Thirty-five year old Grace Vicary Pottorf left behind her family, including her husband John and her twenty-two day old daughter Louise Carolyn. Mr. Pottorf never remarried.

The funeral services for Mrs. Pottorf were held at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Vicary, at 1253 Cleveland Avenue, N.W., Thursday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock. The service was conducted by Dr. C.E. Manchester and Reverend Walter B. Purnell. She was originally buried in West Lawn Cemetery then disinterred and reburied beside her husband in North Lawn Cemetery on Cleveland Avenue.

Redlining…

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demographics, Federal Home Loan Bank Board, foreclosures, Great Depression, Home Owners Loan Corporation, New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Redlining, revitalization, segregated communities, U.S. Congress, Urban renewal

In 1933, in an effort to forestall foreclosures during the Great Depression, Congress established the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC). In a bid to obtain Southern support for the measure, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal supporters allowed for certain provisions within the act to discriminate against Blacks and other minorities. For example, when it came to mortgage assistance, neighborhoods were color-coded for certain racial, ethnic, and economic indicators to maintain a pre-existing de facto segregation of neighborhoods. The use of a red marker to designate majority black neighborhoods gave the practice its name: red-lining.

The map above is a 1937 copy of the HOLC map for Canton. Four different colors highlight sections of town from “First grade” to “Fourth grade.”  For example, those neighborhoods shaded in green (Harter Heights and Ridgewood) were in the First Grade; the most desirable and “exclusive” housing which were attractive to home-buyers even in the most dire economic conditions. The grading was based on statistics gathered by the Division of Research and Statistics under the auspices of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and included general descriptions and numerous demographic characteristics such as foreign-born families, “negro” population, “relief families,” the nature of those moving in (also referred to as “infiltration”), construction patterns, three year mortgage and price ranges, and other numbers and factoids. In the HOLC analysis for Canton, the Harter Heights neighborhood was described as an area that had paved streets, but was also ‘highly restricted.” Most inhabitants were “professional men and junior executives.” There was also an “infiltration” of “desirable.” The estimated income of residents in the Heights was between $3,000 – $10,000 at a time the national income average was $1,780.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Fourth Grade sections of Canton, described as an area in Canton’s southeast neighborhood with factories and railroads to the north, was on a “downward” trend of desirability. Primarily, inhabitants were laborers with a 10% population of Italians and 80% “Negro.” In its clarifying remarks, the appraisal mentions that this is a “colored section” with a “lower class of Jews and Italians.” The annual income was between $800 and $1200 with only $0% of the residents owning their homes. The infiltration of new residences was characterized as “undesirables.”

The residual effects of redlining was to reinforce and solidify a segregated city through the decades. Obviously the pattern was set before the HOLC appraisal, but in 1937 redlining was federal policy. In the absence of favorable and fair bank mortgages, the ability for individuals or others to transform or improve neighborhoods became restrictive and virtually impossible. Likewise, home ownership and home improvements were rare and the cycle of poverty in these areas became even more stubbornly entrenched with race-based government policy, restrictive covenants and reluctant financial institutions. Absent economic and political growth lead to a decades-long, gradual abandonment of basic retail, medical and other basic resources vital for the well-being of residents in these neighborhoods. For example, the disappearance over the years of grocery stores resulted in what has become “food deserts,” i.e. areas absent of any fresh, nutritious food. Likewise, the mortality rates, health standards, education standards and other “quality-of-life” indicators all suffered accordingly. Even today, many of these houses still have lead-based paint on their walls with the resulting negative effect on child development.

These patterns exist throughout urban areas in the U.S. with the same results of negative health, education, income disparity with surrounding neighborhoods. The likelihood of crucial health concerns such as cancer and obesity, food deserts, mortality rates, and other outcomes are closely tied to zip codes which, in turn as the redlining map reflects, is likely to be based on race or ethnicity.  Though redlining has become illegal, other policies at both the federal and state levels have reinforced this de facto segregation. Urban renewal in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s oftentimes reinforced the boundaries of segregated communities. Construction of interstate highways such as Route 30 divided and physically isolated once vibrant communities. Today, the risk of default on low apprised housing allows banks and other financial institutions to refuse mortgages. Hence, the possibility to begin the revitalization of neighborhoods becomes an even more Herculean task as the past history of redlining reverberates into our present.

David Swope, Library Volunteer

The McKinley National Memorial…

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archivesbringgoodfeelings, Canton Ohio, findyourquest, History, McKinleyPresidentialLibraryandMuseum, Monumentconstruction, photographthoundswords, seekthethreads, Thenandnow

Then & Now in Canton, Ohio. Then The McKinley National Memorial weeks before it is dedicated. Now The McKinley National Memorial maintained for 113 years.

Meet Rochelle Haas…

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Akron, Archivist’s Attic, Artful Living and Learning Program, Brady, Canton, Canton City Schools, Ceder, Clarendon, Columbus, Early Childhood School Psychology, Elementary, Flannery, Haas, Johnnie’s Pastries, Kent State University, Lincoln High School, Margaret Shipley Child Health Clinic, Mckinley Museum, Mottice, Myers Industries, North Canton, ohio, Pat, Peter, Plain Local Schools, Planetarium, Ramsayer Research Library, Rochelle, Roller Monthly, school psychologist, Souers, Stark County Educational Service Center, Stark County history, Waynesburg/Sandy Valley, WHBC

Podcast 

What is your name and where are you from? 

     My name is Rochelle Haas and I was born and raised in Canton, and have lived in        North Canton with my husband Tom since we were married. Our daughter Flannery Haas and son-in-law Pat Brady live in Columbus and are expecting a baby girl (our first grandchild) in February!

Where did you attend school?

     I attended Clarendon and Cedar Elementary Schools and Souers Junior High, and graduated in 1976 from Lincoln High School. Upon graduation I attended and worked at KSU Stark Campus, eventually transferring to the KSU Main Campus. I graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in English. I went back to graduate school at KSU and received a Master’s in Education and an Educational Specialist’s Degree in Early Childhood School Psychology in 1989.

Work experience/military service/etc?

     My very first job was as a clerk at Johnnie’s Pastries in 1976. I was employed as a copywriter and salesperson at WHBC from 1981-1983. I also worked as an account representative and technical writer in the in-house advertising department of Myers Industries in Akron. After receiving my graduate degree in school psychology, I was employed as a school psychologist for Canton City Schools, Plain Local Schools, and the Stark County Educational Service Center, eventually retiring.

When did you start volunteering here?

     I began volunteering in the McKinley Research Library in June of 2016, following the lead of my husband. Having grown up in Canton and with fond memories of field trips to the McKinley Museum and Planetarium, I was very interested in Stark County history. As a volunteer, I’ve researched, written and recorded blog posts for the Archivist’s Attic on a variety of subjects. I’ve helped to document donations to the library. I’m currently documenting articles from a former local publication called The Roller Monthly dating back to 1898! It is truly fascinating to catch a glimpse of how dynamic our community was, and to note the things that have evolved over the course of time. I really enjoy the camaraderie, interaction, and passion of all of the staff and volunteers. Every day at the Library is an adventure, with everyone bringing their curiosity and inquisitiveness to the table in their quest for historic information.  I’ve even learned that my great-great-great grandfather, Peter Mottice, was an important figure in the early development of Waynesburg/Sandy Valley and was a member of the first grand jury convened in Stark County.

When you are not volunteering, what are some of your hobbies or commitments?

     I am also involved in a number of activities to support education, early childhood, and the arts. I currently serve on the Advisory Board for the Artful Living and Learning Program, which provides arts immersion instruction to nearly a thousand preschoolers in Stark County. I previously served on the Margaret Shipley Child Health Clinic and the KSU Stark Alumni Boards. Other interests include travel, writing, oil painting, photography, hiking, reading, and music. Also, I am a very social person and especially enjoy spending time with family and friends.

Favorite things about being a volunteer?

     To me, volunteering is a way to stay engaged with my community.

What values and/or lessons would you pass along to someone?

     I believe that knowing and understanding our history is an essential part of being an informed citizen. The perspective of knowing where we’ve been helps to guide us going forward and gives me a sense of pride in our community’s diversity and vibrancy.

We want to thank Rochelle for letting us interview her and allowing us to share her story on our social media. Our team at the McKinley Presidential Library loves being able to share stories of our volunteers with people outside of the museum and we want you to be apart of that too! 

If you would like information on how to become a volunteer, be sure to private message our page or call the museum at: (330) 455-7043

 

Epoch Midwest Tour of President McKinley…

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Canton, Cleveland, Epoch, Evening World-Herald, exhibition, Exposition, financial, First Lady, Fuller, George, Hayes, Ida, Indiana, Indianapolis, International, James, Jubilee, Leader, major, Marshall Barber, Mary Barber, Mckinley, Midwest, Milligan, Mississippi, Nebraska, ohio, Omaha, panic, peace, Presbyterian, President, Rutherford, Saxton, Special, Statehouse, tour, Train, Trans, Webb, William

Podcast

On the morning of October 10th 1898 President McKinley and his First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley woke up in the home of Marshall C. and Mary Barber, Ida’s sister. The home is now known as the National First Ladies Historical Site. According to the Monday October 10, 1898 Evening World-Herald of Omaha, Nebraska the couple passed as comfortable a night as possible. After breakfast the President took a short walk for exercise and smoked a cigar. They held a private funeral for George Dewalt Saxton brother of Ida McKinley and Mary Barber at the Barber home. Rev. O. D. Milligan of First Presbyterian Church in Canton, Ohio officiated. At 9:27 the President would meet the rest of his cabinet at the Pennsylvania Railroad Station for the trip to Omaha Nebraska while the first Lady would remain in Canton for a few days. President McKinley was bound for Omaha to attend the Trans Mississippi and International Exposition. James Fuller McKinley nephew of the President attends the exhibition with him.

The following evening a short parade welcomed President McKinley to Omaha, Nebraska, and the next day Wednesday October 12, 1898 he attended the exhibition. Looking for a way to show the progress of the country since the financial panic of 1893 twenty-four states combined forces and put on an exhibition containing 4062 exhibits with over 2.6 million people in attendance.

The President’s Special Train then heads back to Chicago to attend a Peace Jubilee. The Wednesday, Oct 19, 1898 Cleveland Leader spoke of President McKinley being greeted by five thousand people in the jubilee’s auditorium. The crowd called for President McKinley to speak after the keynote was through with his speech. The President expressed how deeply moved he was with the reception he has received in Chicago. There was a call for three cheers for President McKinley and the exercises concluded with a rousing rendition of “America” sung by the crowd. Mrs. McKinley made the trip to Chicago escorted by Major Webb Hayes, son of the late President Rutherford B. Hayes.

The Presidential train moved southeast from Chicago and headed for Indianapolis, Indiana where it would stop for two hours. The train much like today was met by rain, rain, and more rain. The train stopped at East Washington Street where the President and his party would disembark and board seven carriages for the ride to the Indiana Statehouse. The President and First Lady were seen having a grand old time in the parade, and Mr. McKinley posed for the cameras with his hat off. As the party neared the capital the crowds grew larger. The President was ushered into the capital and reappeared through a window onto a platform. The crowd applauded for several minutes before they were ordered to quiet down, and even then Mr. McKinley first words were inaudible. He thanked the crowd for the warm welcome. He said “We met with in no party name, we meet in common country and patriotism and peace.”

One hundred and twenty years ago today President McKinley stopped briefly in Indianapolis, Indiana to speak to his fellow citizens.

#onthisdayinhistory #PresidentialHistory #PresidnetialTrip #midwesttrip #FirstLady #WilliamMcKinley #IdaSaxtonMcKinley #Canton #Ohio #Chicago #Illinois #Omaha #Nebraska #archivesbringgoodfeelings #livingoutthewhy #Indianapolis #Indiana

Meet Briant Bowman…

Tags

Advice, Akron, archivist, Canal Fulton, Canton, Catalog, Cleveland State University, findyourquest, findyourwhy, Genealogy, high school, History, Kent State Stark, Local, mckinleypresidentiallibrary, morethanamonument, Northwest, ohio, seekthethreads, Stark County, volunteers, welcome, William McKinley

Podcast

Name: Briant Bowman

Position: Cataloger 

Hometown: Canal Fulton

College: Kent State Stark, Cleveland State University

Major/Minor: History with museum concentration

Where did you attend school (elementary, junior high, high school/college)?

I went to Voris CLC Elementary School from kindergarten until 3rd grade. From 3rd grade, we moved to Canal Fulton and I transferred to Northwest Canal Fulton. For junior high, I went to Northwest Intermediate school and graduated from Northwest High School in 1983. 

After graduating high school, I wanted to stay local so I went to Kent State Stark and I majored in history. In the fall, I am going to Graduate School at Cleveland State University. I am majoring in history with a concentration in museums. After graduating, I want to become an archivist and work with history and records. 

How did you hear about The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum?

I had always known about the museum because I grew up in Stark County, but didn’t become a volunteer until this year. 

How/When did you become a volunteer at our library?

One day while I was visiting the museum, I decided to set up an appointment with the volunteer coordinator. I met Mark, the archivist, and visited the archives. I really liked what I saw and heard so I became a volunteer at the library in May of this year. 

What is your favorite part of being a volunteer in the library?

I really enjoy learning about local history. I go through old photographs of Stark County so I get to see various aspects of what life used to be like compared to how it is today.

Do you have any hobbies or other commitments?

I love to read. I specifically like to read about Colonial America, ranging from the 1700s to the 1800s. 

What values and/or lessons would you pass along to someone?

Find out more about history. Local, national, or anything else, history can teach us so much. 

We want to thank Briant for letting us interview him and allowing us to share his story on our social media. Our team at the McKinley Presidential Library loves being able to share stories of our volunteers with people outside of the museum and we want you to be apart of that too! 

If you would like information on how to become a volunteer, be sure to private message our page or call the museum at: (330) 455-7043

Meet Tom Haas…

Tags

Advice, Akron University, archivist, Canton, findyourquest, findyourwhy, Genealogy, high school, History, mckinleypresidentiallibrary, morethanamonument, ohio, Radio, Researcher, seekthethreads, St. Michaels, Stark County, Taft Middle School, The Ohio State University, volunteers, welcome, WHBC, William McKinley

Podcast 

Name: Tom Haas

Position: Research volunteer 

Hometown: Canton, Ohio 

College: The Ohio State University

Major/Minor: History

Where did you attend school (elementary, junior high, high school/college)?

I went to St. Michael’s school for elementary. I used to walk to and from school while listening to my radio. I attended Taft Middle School and graduated from Glenwood High School in 1968. I went on to Akron University for a year, but then I transferred to The Ohio State University as a history major. I graduated in 1972 with my B.A. in history.

How did you hear about The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum?

I first got involved with the Stark County Historical Society, which is located in the library, when I became the Canton Bicentennial Director in 1975. 

How/When did you become a volunteer at our library?

I became a volunteer at the library in 2014. I had been researching my own family history since I retired in 2010 and spent a lot of time in the library trying to piece my own history together. One day, Mark (our archivist), asked if I would like to be a volunteer since I spent a lot of my time in the library anyway. I’ve been here ever since.

What is your favorite part of being a volunteer in the library?

I enjoy working with other researchers and volunteers. The ability to learn and grow doesn’t have a limit, we can always expand our knowledge in many ways. 

What has been one of your favorite projects to work on?

One of my favorite projects recently was when I worked on researching the oldest house in Stark County, it has been around since 1812. 

Do you have any hobbies or other commitments?

I used to do stone carvings, but I really enjoy making wood carvings lately.

What values and/or lessons would you pass along to someone?

Always have an open mind and a sense of humor. Don’t take yourself so seriously.

We want to thank Tom for letting us interview him and allowing us to share his story on our social media. Our team at the McKinley Presidential Library loves being able to share stories of our volunteers with people outside of the museum and we want you to be apart of that too! 

If you would like information on how to become a volunteer, be sure to private message our page or call the museum at: (330) 455-7043