Gage Center to host anniversary, birthday celebration

VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – The Matilda Joslyn Gage Center will be holding a combined celebration July 10 to commemorate the 20 years since its founding along with co-director Sally Roesch Wagner’s 80th birthday, which falls on the following day.
The upcoming event inside the historical Fayetteville home at 210 E. Genesee St. is set to run from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon. It will be limited to 50 attendees, and all guests are required to RSVP by calling or texting 315-436-5800 or by emailing [email protected] with mention of allergies or accessibility needs.
As Wagner pointed out, the real 20-year anniversary of the foundation would have taken place in 2020 had it not been for the COVID pandemic, but the postponement still lines up in that respect with her purchase of the house in April 2002.
Her interest in the endeavors of Matilda Joslyn Gage—an all-in-one women’s suffragist, abolitionist and advocate for Native American rights—began much earlier, though.
After spending a chunk of 1973 learning from the stories of Gage’s granddaughter, who happened to be a family friend, Wagner went on to further her research into the 19th century feminist’s life and carry on her commitment to free thinking, eventually establishing a motto at the center that tells visitors to leave their dogma at the door.
Along the way, Wagner has made it a goal to elevate recognition and credit for Gage’s work in academic circles and elsewhere out in the world.
“We want people to consider her ideas, but we also want to have a dialogue and stay open to conversation around things we differ about,” Wagner said. “When you come to the Gage Center, we don’t automatically expect you to believe the way that Gage believes.”
Now approaching her 80th birthday, the founder of the museum said she feels like a “poster child for aging” and a woman at the top of her game.
“It’s been incredibly amazing to work with somebody who’s that energetic and sharp,” said Heather Waters, who shares the executive director title with Wagner. “I don’t know many people who can keep up with her, me included.”
Wagner additionally teaches in the women’s studies program she helped to build at California State University, Sacramento and in the honors program at Syracuse University. She is also the author of an intersectional anthology of writings on women’s suffrage and a book called “We Want Equal Rights,” which documents the Haudenosaunee influence on the same movement.
For her birthday gift, Wagner has asked for anyone interested to leave a recorded video snippet or a story touching on how Gage inspired them and how they used her message to strengthen the Fayetteville foundation.
Forming a “collective memory for the future,” these messages are being submitted to the webpage tribute.co/sally-and-matilda/
The videos will be played during the birthday celebration and later shared to the Gage Center’s main website.
“Sally talks about how she has been the spark here but that the reason the consciousness about Matilda has grown is because people decided to give oxygen to that spark and that fire,” Waters said. “It shows we need this organization more than ever.”
The July 10 event will feature traditional Haudenosaunee food served by a chef from the Onondaga Nation as well as the unveiling of a surprise exhibit described by Wagner as “priceless.”