Matilda Joslyn Gage Center founder remembered
VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – The late founding director of the local Matilda Joslyn Gage Center, Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, is being remembered for her passion and the lasting impact she left on the community at large.
Wagner, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 82, was awarded one of the first women’s studies doctorates in the country and taught women’s studies courses for decades, most recently at Syracuse University.
Her books include “Sisters in Spirit,” “A Time of Protest” and “The Women’s Suffrage Movement,” the latter containing a foreword from activist Gloria Steinem, a national adviser for the Gage Center. As a historian, Wagner was also tapped for cable news interviews and documentaries over the years as well as quotes in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Time Magazine.
Ciarrai Eaton succeeds Wagner as the Gage Foundation’s executive director, a role she had previously been holding in an interim capacity. Eaton said she aspires to carry forward Wagner’s legacy and vision to the best of her ability while trying to preserve the institutional knowledge base she had.
“Those are some big shoes to fill,” Eaton said. “I was really excited to be working with her, so it’s very sad, but I’m excited to do what I can to continue Sally’s work and I will always cherish that time we did have.”
Eaton said the story of the Fayetteville foundation devoted to the forward-thinking 19th century figure, Matilda Joslyn Gage, is very much Wagner’s story too.
Each room of the museum at 210 E. Genesee St. represents a different social justice issue or topic that Gage and Wagner were both involved with including Haudenosaunee culture, abolitionism, women’s rights, and local history.
Dianne Apter, the president of the Gage Foundation’s board of directors, said it’s to the point that the two women are forever, inseparably merged together.
Apter said that Wagner oversaw the raising of more than $1 million to save the historic house by fixing it up and getting it up to code to be what it is today.
“This place got going because of her, and it’s survived because of her,” Apter said.
Eaton said that researchers, area Native American leaders, and—because Gage was the mother-in-law of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” author L. Frank Baum—people from the All Things Oz Museum are among those who would always ask about Wagner wherever Eaton would go, but now those people and many others have been reaching out to extend their condolences, reminisce about how they met her, and say how much she meant to them.
“It’s almost shocking to me the reach that Sally had and how active she was,” Eaton said. “There are just so many things she was involved in and so many people she touched— she definitely leaves a void.”
Apter said it impressed her how Wagner was always able to tailor her stories to the right audience, whether they were fourth graders, graduate students or senior citizens.
With that, Eaton and Apter compare Wagner to the “quiet eye of a tornado”: soft-spoken but capable of sweeping people up and earning their undivided attention.
Apter said Wagner was a strong-willed idea person who knew how to get things done and never backed down, but also never lost her cool for as long as she knew her, remaining composed with a belief in the power of dialogue and listening.
Calling her “beautiful inside and out,” Apter said she had a knack for facilitating discussions and making sure everyone felt heard without letting the conversation descend into an argument.
Eaton, who knew she and Wagner were “simpatico” after finding out about their shared fondness for lemon cookies, said she likes to think Wagner and Gage are both looking over the foundation still.
Current Onondaga County Legislator Mark Olson, the former mayor of Fayetteville from 2004 to 2024, said that when he first met Wagner he could immediately tell how passionate she was about the museum’s mission and making it a reality.
“She was infectious to work with and always honest and open,” Olson said. “What an incredible woman.”
He said she was responsible for bringing important history to the forefront and educating generations of people.
He also added that she will live on through the center, which has sought to reverse the erasure of Gage’s work from history and further the causes she stood for.
A moment of silence was held out of respect for Wagner at the beginning of the Fayetteville Village Board’s Monday, June 23 meeting.
Article by: Jason Klaiber
Eagle Bulletin Link:
https://eaglenewsonline.com/publications/eagle-bulletin/2025/07/01/matilda-joslyn-gage-center-founder-remembered/
