VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – The Matilda Joslyn Gage Center in Fayetteville hosted a tea party fundraiser March 23 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its foundation’s creation and what would’ve been Gage’s 199th birthday. The event also included a recognition of the longtime historian for the town of Manlius Barbara Rivette, who was named the first-ever recipient of the Matilda Effect Award. Because Rivette was unable to attend, her daughter Barbara E.R. Lucas accepted the award on her mother’s behalf. The recognition of Rivette, who was town historian from 1967 until last December, included a bouquet of orchids with a note of love and thanks for all she’s done over her decades of work researching and highlighting what makes the communities of Fayetteville, Manlius and Minoa special. Always interested in the growth of the local museum and center for social justice dialogue since day one and forever intent on spreading information on local people and events far and wide, Rivette was also president of the New York Press Association and a reporter and editor for the Eagle Bulletin. She has previously been named the state’s historian of the year and a Fayetteville parade marshal, and she even had a day named after her. Ciarrai Eaton, currently the interim executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, said that over the years Rivette made sure to uphold the memory of Gage, who lived at the house at the corner of East Genesee and Walnut streets that contains the center from 1854 until her death in 1898. In 1970, Rivette put out her educational booklet “Fayetteville’s First Woman Voter,” the first published history of Gage, a once-overlooked suffragist, abolitionist and advocate for Native American rights who was influenced particularly by the Haudenosaunee. Copies of the 10-page biographical study were offered to everyone in attendance at the March 23 tea party, held the day before Gage’s actual birthday. Dianne Apter, the president of the Gage Center’s board of directors, said the event was “real special” because it took place during Women’s History Month too, adding that having the house filled with people made the museum “feel more alive.” Board member Valerie Luzadis said the center functions as a place where people can come together to have difficult but necessary discussions while “creating collective action and standing up for what we need to see in the world.” She said the celebratory gathering over the weekend was “relational and very person-to-person,” giving a foundation of support for the attendees at the same time they supported the foundation. “It’s so important that we have this beautiful physical space,” said Betty Lyons, another board member. “It’s been here for 25 years, so just to let people know that we’re still here, that we’re still inviting people in, and that we’re standing on the shoulders of the folks who came before us to make this place what it is means a lot.” Lyons said that Gage should never be lost to history, nor should the center’s founding director Sally Roesch Wagner or Barbara Rivette, considering the impact and “ripple effect” they’ve all had on the local area and beyond. Eaton said the purpose of events like the tea party is to get Gage’s name out there, tell more people her story, and write her back into the history books after her undeserved erasure. Eaton said it’s also the goal to make the center a welcoming, safe space for anyone to talk about anything under the sun. The tea party featured auction items, a birthday cake for Gage, and other bites to eat. There was also attention put on the newly displayed center exhibit by artist Lynette Charters called “The Matilda Effect Series,” which focuses on the phenomenon of systematic under-recognition of women’s contributions to the sciences and other fields of study, their work often attributed to male colleagues instead. More information about the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center can be found at matildajoslyngage.org. ...read more read less