The Monday After: McKinley Museum gets up close and personal with president
An application for life insurance by
"We think people will be interested in seeing it," said
Still, McKinley museum was able to obtain the relic of a president's personal life only because of donations from friends of the museum and supporters of its mission to preserve as much as possible the history that surrounds the 25th president of
Online fundraising
A crowdsourcing campaign began in July, not long after museum officials found out about the application. The document is dated
The two-page "application for insurance to the
Operators of the company agreed to pull the McKinley item, which had been framed with a plaque and picture of the president, from public sale for a period long enough for museum officials to raise money to purchase the unique artifact.
The private nonprofit museum, which operates formally as
A substantial portion of the money raised came from Kathleen Hillibish, a volunteer in the museum's
Private viewing
After the application was shipped to the museum, a private showing of the artifact to donors was held in October.
"They were really excited to be able to see it in person," Kenney said. "We pointed out some of the personal information on the application and they spent a lot of time inspecting it. They all said they were so happy that they were able to help us get it so people in the community would be able to see it."
The application now is displayed near one of the two entrances to the second-floor
Near the case, beneath a sign identifying it as a "New Acquisition" is a laminated copy of the actual artifact, which visitors to the museum can use to more closely inspect the contents of the application.
"It was an oral evaluation by a doctor and the doctor wrote the answers to questions posed to McKinley, then McKinley signed it," explained Kenney. "It says right on the form that it is to be filled out by a doctor."
Questions include queries about parts of McKinley's lifestyle -- smoking and drinking alcohol "to excess" are among them -- that might influence the president's health. McKinley answered no to both questions, although Kenney noted that he was known to smoke cigars.
Kenney said that museum officials are unsure of the complete history of the "application for insurance to the
"We're going to try to track down if the applications ever was submitted," said Kenney, "and if the policy was cashed in on at the time of McKinley's death. We don't yet know that side of the story."
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