Lady Bird, Laura Bush featured in new literacy exhibit at First Ladies Museum in Canton

Eleanor Roosevelt, Laura Bush, Abigail Fillmore and Jill Biden share more in common than simply being among the country's first ladies.

They also have served in the role of teacher or educator during their time in the White House and throughout their lives. Not always in the traditional classroom sense, but with an emphasis on the importance of education in America.

Education and its benefits will be celebrated and examined in a new exhibit, "Leaders in Literacy: First Ladies as Teachers, Educators, and Librarians," at the National First Ladies Library & Museum in downtown Canton.

"I think this gives us time to reflect upon the importance of education in our society and the importance the founding fathers placed on education as they were building the country," said Patty Dowd Schmitz, president and CEO of the First Ladies Library.

"This is just an important American value," she added. "And it was so important to a number of our first ladies."

How much do tickets cost for Saturday's VIP reception?

The exhibit, presented by Huntington Bank, will be unveiled Saturday at a VIP champagne reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the First Ladies Library & Museum, 205 Market Ave. S. Saturday also marks National First Ladies Day.

Tickets for the VIP event — $75 for single tickets and $125 for couples — are available at firstladies.org.

Also Saturday, the First Ladies Library & Museum will announce the winner of the Mary Regula Memorial Scholarship. The reception's special guest will be Patricia Taft, the great-granddaughter of first lady Helen "Nellie" Taft, who will speak about her great-grandmother's time as a schoolteacher.

The exhibit opens to the general public on Wednesday.

Summer hours at the library and museum begin Wednesday and are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free but donations are accepted. The new exhibit runs through April 2025.

A fee is charged for tours of the First Ladies National Historic Site and Saxton-McKinley House, 331 Market Ave. S. For more information, go to firstladies.org. The museum and library also can be reached at 440-717-3750.

Eleanor Roosevelt artifacts will be on display

The new attraction represents the museum's annual major exhibit, following "Beyond Camelot: The Life and Legacy of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis," which concludes this month.

The literacy exhibit will feature more than a dozen first ladies who have advanced the cause of literacy and education, including Laura and Barbara Bush, Lucretia Garfield and Lady Bird Johnson.

Eleanor Roosevelt championed education through the Arthurdale community experiment.

Artifacts are on loan from the Arthurdale Heritage Museum, recalling Roosevelt's efforts to create a New Deal-era homestead that would provide an opportunity for a better life and an education for impoverished residents in the West Virginia community during the Great Depression.

Established in 1933 through President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, Arthurdale was the first such community. Arthurdale became known as “Eleanor’s Little Village.”

"I would say Eleanor is definitely one of our top favorite first ladies from the public's perspective," Dowd Schmitz said. "She was a trailblazer and she was one of the first first ladies to step outside of the bounds of being defined by her husband in many ways."

Replica one-room schoolhouse for children

Also on display will be artifacts related to Barbara and Laura Bush from the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush Presidential Museums.

For younger audiences, the "Leaders in Literacy" exhibit will feature programs, including "Reading Reimagined," a replica one-room schoolhouse in the children's interactive area, as well as the launch of the "Little Leaders" reading and activity program for children ages prekindergarten to fourth grade.

“Literacy was such an important cause to so many of our first ladies,” said Michelle Gullion, director of collections and research for the First Ladies Library & Museum. “They were inspired to take on the mantle of education and literacy not only for children but for the betterment of all Americans."

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: National First Ladies Museum in Canton opens new literacy exhibit