Updates about programs and opportunities from the Buffalo Presidential Center
2019 Issue #3/Fall
A Special Thank You
Tribute to Maryann
More than 20 years ago, over coffee with a couple of friends, an idea was born. Attorney Maryann Saccomando Freedman and former Erie County Legislator Joan Bozer realized that there was a lack available information about the national figures who have called Buffalo and the surrounding area home. Specifically, they wanted to increase public awareness of the contributions of the two US Presidents, Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland, who both got their starts in Western New York. After much discussion and many informal wine and cheese mixers with business people, politicians, academics and historians, The Association for a Buffalo Presidential Center was created with Maryann at the helm as President of the Board of Trustees.
While the composition of the board has changed over the years, Maryann has remained the stalwart leader of the organization. She has steered the association through its early growing pains (certification by the state of New York as a museum, acquisition of artifacts and collections, and funding challenges) up to today, when we can boast of a home at the Central Branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Library; a growing collection of presidential artifacts; an impressive schedule of educational programming; and the support and financial backing of Erie County.
Recently Maryann has decided to step down from the presidency and take her seat as the Emeritus President and Trustee. While she is no longer responsible for the daily details of the work of the Buffalo Presidential Center, her vision and leadership continues to inform our work. The Board of Trustees, membership, supporters and BPC’s many community partners, thank her for her long and dedicated service.
Where To See Us
Uncle Sam at the Library
In July our Uncle Sam exhibit was at the Orchard Park Library. Now through October you can see it at the Crane Branch Library at 633 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo NY. These historic
Uncle Sam artifacts are from the Buffalo Presidential Center’s Richardson Family Collection. Be sure to bring the children to see these unusual pieces of Americana.
Can’t make it during library hours?
You can just walk by outside and check out the exhibit in the display cases visible
from Elmwood near the library entrance
Grover Cleveland Exhibit on Display at Buffalo & Erie County Central Library
In our ongoing mission to share presidential artifacts from our collection with the general public, the Buffalo Presidential Center presents a remarkable exhibit on President Grover Cleveland.
After serving as Buffalo Mayor and Governor of New York, he was the only President elected to two non-consecutive terms as 22ndand 24thPOTUS.
The display will feature a small but broad range of political campaign material, as well as a thought-provoking, hand-written letter to the headmistress of the Presbyterian Children’s Home (orphanage). It is located on the second floor of the Buffalo and Erie County Central Library, near the WWI exhibit.
Events
Inside the White House: Over 200 Years as Home, Office, and Stage
On September 17th, Buffalo Presidential Center Trustee Courtney Speckmann gave a presentation about the White House as part of the C-SAAHN Image Series at the Buffalo Central Library.
Speckmann has recently returned to Buffalo from Washington, D.C., where she served as the Director of Education at the White House Historical Association. She will explored the history of the White House with special focus on Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland's time spent there.
Thank you to all who attended!
Thank You Erie County!
ERIE COUNY AWARDS FUNDING TO THE BUFFALO PRESIDENTIAL CENTER
The Buffalo Presidential Center thanks County Executive Mark Poloncarz and members of the Erie County Legislature for including us in their 2019-2020 budget. According the BPC Trustee and Treasurer Scott Gehl, this investment by Erie County “has permitted us to expand programming and to plan for a more significant future in the County and Region's cultural tourism landscape.” We are most appreciative for this endorsement of the important work we do to tell the story the Buffalo and Erie County’s unique U.S. Presidential history.
Thanks to
Anne Eisenberg and Bob Hochberg
for their valuable volunteer contributions.
