Library visitors celebrate Wilson's 155th birthday

Visitors to the manse at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum on Wednesday saw a holiday table much like the Wilson family enjoyed on young Woodrow’s first birthday in 1857.

The table was full of pound cake and fruitcake and other 1850s holiday delights, and the mantle next to the table had holiday greenery much like the 1850s mantles did, said Marcy Molinaro, director of the library’s museum operations.

Wednesday was a day to celebrate the 155th birthday of the Staunton-born Wilson, America’s 28^th president.

Visitor admission fees were waived for the day, and the open house kicked off with an official U.S. Postal Service Wilson postmark.

Most of the letters leaving Staunton over the next month will bear the postmark.

Of the more than 300 entries, the winning entry was put together by Shelburne Middle School eighth-grader Carmella Pyanoe, who offered a work showing Wilson’s eyes, part of his face and a hat.

Don Wilson, the library’s CEO and president, said entries for the postmark came from as far away as Virginia Beach and Covington.

Wilson said local professional artists judged the postmark entries.

 Pyanoe’s Shelburne art teacher, Susan Gutshall, said her students drew the entries last spring after she showed them pictures of Wilson and other visuals from the early 20th century.

Gutshall’s students used either colored pencils or watercolors to draw their postmark images.

She describes Pyanoe as "a very gifted art student." "She used her imagination to capture him,” said Gutshall, who said there is a hint of sadness in the eyes of Wilson.

Gutshall said her pupil is "very bright and self-motivated."

Don Wilson spoke briefly of the many promotions planned for 2012, which is the 100th anniversary of Wilson’s initial election as president.

 A September symposium led by historian John Cooper is planned.

In June, an exhibit of the 1912 presidential election is planned at the library.

Molinaro said the exhibit would be interactive, and would contain audio from Wilson and his two other noted opponents in the 1912 election -- former Presidents William Howard Taft and Teddy Roosevelt.

Democrat Wilson earned 42 percent of the vote, defeating his nearest rival Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party nominee and garnered 27 percent.

Molinaro said visitors would also get the chance to cast their own ballot for the 1912 election, with a likely tabulation to happen in November 2012.

Still to come but with no announced date of publication is a biography of Wilson by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Scott Berg.

Don Wilson said Berg has been working on the Wilson biography for several years, and he anticipates publication in either 2012 or 2013.