Recent appointments to the National Advisory Board include William and Rita Haines of Canton, Ohio and Craig Schermer , an avid collector of First Lady memorabilia, from Cleveland, Ohio. The First Ladies of the States Committee welcomes new members Bea Romer of Colorado , Brenda Edgar of Illinois , Theresa Racicot of Montana and Martha Sundquist of Tennessee . The Hoover Company, a division of Maytag Corporation, has been a philanthropic friend of the National First Ladies' Library for several years. The Library is now pleased to welcome them as a Founding Sponsor. Maytag Chairman and CEO Leonard Hadley chaired the Grand Victorian Gala in June.
Women are an important part of our nation's history.
Tonight we honor the women who have devoted their lives to making our nation strong. From its January launch in Washington, DC to a White House press conference when Hillary Rodham Clinton inaugurated its Web site, to its June dedication in Canton, the National First Ladies' Library has enjoyed extensive media exposure as the Fourth Estate realizes the academic, social and historical value of this important new archive. Stories have run on all the major networks and CNN, and national print outlets such as USA Today, The Washington Post, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Houston Chronicle, Arizona Republic, Orange County Register and Victoria Magazine have covered the Library in their pages. And reporters from the local Canton Repository and Akron Beacon Journal have produced some of the most interesting, in-depth coverage of all. It introduces the country to a new and important national resource.