MCGUFFEY HOUSE & MUSEUM

FEBRUARY MONTHLY PROGRAM

TUE, FEB 6, 3 PM

Richard & Carole Cocks Art Museum Auditorium

William Holmes McGuffey lived in his 1833 Oxford house for three years. After he left, it had at least thirteen different occupants until 1958, when it was purchased by Miami with the support of an activist president who cherished Miami traditions. Opened as a museum in 1960 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, for three decades it yet lacked consistent maintenance or staffing. The good fortune of a 1999 award-winning rehabilitation by national specialists in historic property renovation stabilized the structure, created public accessibility, rescued its 19th c. character from earlier private-owner modifications, and brought to it a dedicated public history staff. The Museum is now approaching twenty-five years as Miami’s only 19th c. site regularly open to the public as a museum, yet in an educational environment less inclined to treasure the past we need to ask, what foundations have been laid for a useful and successful future?

Curt Ellison is Professor Emeritus of History & American Studies at Miami, where from 1970 to 2018 he was a faculty member, administrator and dean. While directing McGuffey Museum from 2001 to 2009 he edited and published Miami's bicentennial history. Also an author of books on country music history and African American literature, he lives in Oxford.