Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / AASLH
Pages: 224
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-5381-5663-6 • Hardback • March 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
978-1-5381-5664-3 • eBook • March 2023 • $42.50 • (£33.00) (coming soon)
Kimberly A. Kenney became Curator of the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in October 2001 and was promoted to Executive Director in 2019. She graduated summa cum laude from Wells College in Aurora, NY with a major in American history and minor in creative writing. She earned her Master of Arts degree in History Museum Studies at the Cooperstown Graduate Program.
Exploring the American Presidency through 50 Historic Treasures is Kim’s ninth book. Her other books include Interpreting Anniversaries & Milestones at Museums & Historic Sites, Stark County Food: From Early Farming to Modern Meals (with co-author Barb Abbott of Canton Food Tours), and Murder in Stark County. Her work has been published in The Public Historian, the journal of the National Council for Public History; White House History, the journal of the White House Historical Association; The Repository; The Boston Globe; Aviation History; and the literary magazine Mused. Kim has appeared on The Daily Show, First Ladies: Influence & Images, and Mysteries at the Museum. Her program “The 1918 Influenza Pandemic” was featured on C-SPAN’s series American History TV.
“From George Washington’s dentures (not made of wood), to James Madison’s gold-capped cane (Thomas Jefferson's lovely gift), to Ronald Reagan’s piece of the Berlin Wall (a well earned souvenir), 50 historic treasures indeed they are. The photographs are striking, and Kimberly Kenney’s interesting narrative gives them life, depth, and relevance with unusually revealing insights about the presidents who owned them.”
— James B. Conroy, author of the prize winning Lincoln's White House: The People’s House in Wartime
"What makes a president? Kimberly Kenney’s vignettes of the men elected to lead our nation use carefully chosen objects—some famous like Washington’s dentures and others unknown—that connect these, sometimes towering figures, to the ordinary challenges of human beings. Through their possessions we are privy to their triumphs and their failures. Open the book to your favorite President and discover him anew."
— Gretchen Sullivan Sorin, Director & Distinguished Service Professor, Cooperstown Graduate Program
- Full color text and pictures
- Two color timelines
- Has a chapter on each President