CLS: Celebrate Ohio: Presidential Museums

This week showcases the U.S. Presidents who called Ohio home. Discover the unique items each presidential home and museum has in its collection.

Joshua Dubbert

Monday, June 10, 10:30 a.m. | Orchestra Hall
“Rutherford B. Hayes & the Western Tour of 1880”

President Hayes’ Western Tour was the first time a sitting U.S. president traveled to the West Coast. General William Tecumseh Sherman organized the 71-day journey at the president’s request.

In this lecture led by Joshua Dubbert, learn about who accompanied the president, the cities and towns visited, and the types of activities that took place. This session will also discuss the trip’s ultimate goals and its significance within the Hayes Administration.

When Dubbert was a fourth grader at Danbury Elementary School in Marblehead, his class went on a field trip to the Hayes Home. That was the beginning of a life-long interest in presidential history and President Hayes.

Dubbert is now a historian at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums in Fremont, Ohio. His research focuses on Victorian America and presidential history.

He has a culinary degree from Johnson & Whales University in Providence, Rhode Island, and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in history from Bowling Green State University. Dubbert has also worked for the Rhode Island Historical Society and Wisconsin Historical Society.

Todd Arrington

Tuesday, June 11, 10:30 a.m. | Orchestra Hall
“Let Us Not Shrink Now: James Garfield, Civil Rights & the Civil War’s Legacy”

James A. Garfield was, in the words of one historian, “the last Lincoln Republican” to become President of the U.S. What exactly does that mean? Garfield was the last Republican president who harkened back to the party’s origins as one who sought equality for all — labor, economic, social and, at least to some degree, racial — and saw an active and activist federal government as the best means to achieve it.

Had he not been assassinated early in his presidential term in 1881, the history of the late 19th century might read very differently today. If the history of the late 19th century read differently, perhaps the histories of the 20th and early 21st centuries might, too.

This presentation, led by Todd Arrington, examines Garfield’s life and record as an abolitionist, Civil War general, congressman and President of the U.S. and place him in context with the major civil rights issues of the era in which he lived.

Arrington is a 25-year career employee of the National Park Service (NPS). He grew up in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which fueled his passion for American history and his desire to have a National Park Service career.

Since his first temporary NPS job in the summer of 1994, he has worked in seven different national park sites in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Montana and Ohio. He’s currently the Site Manager of James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio.

Arrington holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Nebraska. In 2020, the University Press of Kansas published his book The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880.

He’s currently working on book projects for the University of Nebraska Press and the University Press of Kansas. He’s a U.S. Army veteran and lives in northeast Ohio with his wife and children.

Gullion holds a bachelor’s degree from Hiram College as well as a master’s in information and library science from Kent State University.

She began her professional career at the Akron Art Museum before taking her position at the National First Ladies Library & Museum in 2005.

She has taught Introduction to Archives & Collection Management for the Museum Studies program at Walsh University.

Gullion’s published works are found in the essay, “The Eight Wives of the Ohio Presidents” in Snapshot of Democracy: The Eight Ohio Presidents, the forward in Presidential Campaign Letters and Speeches of James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and William Howard Taft, as well as Party Politics: Entertaining at the White House, A Fascinating View of Presidential China. 

Gullion is passionate about women’s history and enjoys sharing her studies about the lives and contributions made by the First Ladies of the U.S. She creates all the exhibitions at the site as well as cares for the growing collection.

Sherry Hall

Wednesday, June 12, 10:30 a.m. | Orchestra Hall
“The Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites: Three Ways to Explore History”

For many people visiting the Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites in Marion, Ohio, the experience is an opportunity to immerse themselves in the story of one of our lesser-known chief executives.

Harding was the last Ohioan to assume the presidency, and he and his wife, Florence Kling Harding, have fascinating stories to tell. Against the site’s rich backdrop of original historical objects and documents, Site Manager Sherry Hall will introduce you to the Hardings and the newly restored Harding Home, Harding Memorial Presidential Gravesite and new Harding Presidential Library & Museum.

Hall has been Site Manager of the Harding Home Presidential Site since 2009. Prior to that, she managed the education programs for nine years.

An historian who specializes in the lives and times of Warren and Florence, Hall is the author of the 2014 book, Warren G. Harding and The Marion Daily Star: How Newspapering Shaped a President. She also authored a video script about the Hardings, designed education programs about the Harding era for schoolchildren and adults and has written numerous newspaper and magazine articles.

Hall is a former journalist, working as a reporter and editor at The (Canton) Repository, The Marion Star and The Alliance Review in Alliance, Ohio. She is a graduate of Heidelberg University and a native of Marion.

Mark Holland

Thursday, June 13, 10:30 a.m. | Orchestra Hall
“Stellar Interpretations: A Unique Presidential Library & Historical Society”

The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum has the distinction of holding the largest collection of archives connected to William McKinley and his family. We use these archival and three-dimensional objects to interpret the story of our 25th President from his forbearers and his death to how our nation continues to memorialize him in the McKinley National Memorial in his adopted hometown of Canton, Ohio.

The museum is blessed with the Hoover-Price Planetarium built in 1963 and still uses its original star-ball projector. Since 1963, science has been a part of the museum’s program. Discover World has grown from a modest corner to a truly wonderful place of learning, hands-on activities and habitats for rescued animals.

Stark County history is preserved, conserved and shared by the Education Department, The Ramsayer Research Center and McKinley Presidential Library. Learn about this dynamic educational destination for Ohioans, the U.S. and the world.