The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum celebrated the dedication of the building at 230 East Frederick Street as the birthplace’s gift shop and administrative offices.
WWPL President and CEO Robin von Seldeneck said Thursday afternoon that the building previously served as the birthplace’s gift shop.
“And now it has reopened even better than before,” she told a crowd of community members, staff and board members.
Von Seldeneck’s office moved to the second floor of the Frederick Street building and looks out on Mary Baldwin University campus. She said the view has already given her a fresh perspective and the opportunity to see Woodrow Wilson’s birthplace from a new angle.
“And it’s a constant reminder of the history we are so fortunate to have right here in Staunton,” von Seldeneck said.
On December 28, 1856, Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in the Manse on North Coalter Street in downtown Staunton. WWPL carries the mission to bring his work and life into present day.
“It’s easy to take for granted how remarkable it is that a United States president and one so influential was born in our backyard,” von Seldeneck said.
When Wilson was a few months old, he and his family moved to Augusta, Georgia, but as a newly elected president of the United States, he returned to visit the city in the Shenandoah Valley on his birthday in 1912. Von Seldeneck said she believes that visit was a “testament to the deep ties he felt to this city.”
The era between the American Civil War and World War I is considered by historians to be the modern era of American history. Wilson’s time as president was during the modern era and he introduced many reforms which continue to shape American life in the 21st Century, including the League of Nations (now the United Nations) and the federal reserve.
“Wilson’s deep roots in Staunton remind us that great leaders can emerge anywhere and that our local history is entwined with both national and global events. His transformational presidency shows how a small city like ours has the opportunity to make a profound impact on the world,” von Seldeneck said.
Wilson said: “We are not here merely to make a living. We are here to enrich the world.”
The building at 230 East Frederick is where visitors will begin their tours of the birthplace.
Von Seldeneck said visitors come from 45 countries around the world. In the last week, visitors came from Italy, Brazil, the Netherlands, Zambia, Russia and the United Kingdom.
“It’s through these doors behind me, we look forward to welcome many more in the years to come,” von Seldeneck said.
WWPL Board of Trustees chair Michael Quillen said the dedication is a “significant step in the life of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library birthplace and Museum” and the first tangible step toward a reimagining of the birthplace.
Past Board of Trustees Chair Greg Robertson said that the journey to yesterday’s dedication began 10 years ago.
“We were sort of confronting a number of rather difficult realities,” Robertson said.
After 2009, federal law prohibited federal funding to go toward presidential museums. State funding also ceased at the time.
“Those were really necessary dollars,” Robertson said.
Although historians consider Wilson to be the 4th or 5th most influential American president, the 21st Century also brought criticism of Wilson, who was born and raised in the American South and witnessed as a child the American Civil War, and his political policies regarding race.
The Board began to look at the realities 10 years ago, Robertson said, and determined what to do. They examined who the board and the birthplace were in Staunton.
“We decided at that point that we were going to move forward, we were not going to stand still,” Robertson said. “We were going to do what it took to reimagine who we were, to put us in a place where we would attract visitors, as Robin suggested, from all over the world.”
However, the WWPL and the Board needed the right individuals to make the right changes happen. Mary Shockey of Clarke County was hired to reimagine the library and the museum. The building at 230 East Frederick is dedicated in her honor for her work and commitment.
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Rebecca Barnabi
