Jun 1, 2022
Submitted Photo Fred Harold Jensen and Linda Brigance at the Presidential Center in Buffalo.
COLLINS — The Blossom Garden Peace and Education Center has had to undergo a bit of a transformation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was serving as a Quaker-affiliated private school for students at different grade levels, but the pandemic forced the board of leadership to change how they operated.
“They decided they’d call it the peace and education center instead,” said Fred Harold Jensen, the publicity director for Blossom Garden Peace and Education Center. “They may or may not start up educating again, they’re trying to discern what is best, but for now, it’s sort of a community center and education center.”
Because the Center was previously used for education, the library at the facility is extensive. As they’re moving away from education, the library collection is in the process of being culled down, and one outlet they’ve used to depart with some of their books is via donation. Jensen said that in total, eight classic books about various United States presidents were donated to the Presidential Center located in the Central Library in Buffalo.
“We found some interesting books, like old books about Lincoln and McKinley,” said Jensen. “And we started to make a donation of those books to the Presidential center, housed in the Central Library in Buffalo.”
These books include a book about Abraham Lincoln, written by P. Hannaford published in 1895, a book entitled “Grover Cleveland as Buffalo knew him,” published by the Buffalo News in 1926, and a book written by Teddy Roosevelt published in 1925, among others.
“For anybody who is really interested in having a collection of really old books, that’s what they are,” said Jensen. “They’re the actual books. The Abraham Lincoln book is a second edition, and another book by Richard Nixon, that was a first edition book.”
For now, the eight-book donation is all that is planned, though Jensen said if they find any other applicable books for the Presidential Center, there could be a future donation. As for why the Presidential Center was chosen, Jensen said the Presidential Center deserves some attention.
“They are specifically interested in books about presidencies and anybody like a scholar doing research on a presidency, especially on how various presidents have been interpreted differently depending on time and place can find it there,” said Jensen. “It’s not a place you’d find on a billboard. It’s like a one room museum.”
People interested the Peace and Education Center can call 716-532-1004 or email bgfs@roadrunner.com.
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
New York state is poised to end a longstanding policy of charging state prison inmates $1 a week to help cover …
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
Copyright © Observer Today | https://www.observertoday.com | PO Box 391, Dunkirk, NY 14048 | 716-366-3000 | Ogden Newspapers | The Nutting Company
