By MATT CHANDLER
mchandler@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1654

For attorney Maryann Saccomando Freedman, it's a chance to recognize the rich history of a city that she sees as overlooked by far too many.

Freedman is inaugural president of The Association for a Buffalo Presidential Center, a newly chartered group that aims to capitalize on Buffalo being the only city in the United States to lay claim to being the home of two presidents (Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland).

Though the group has been in unofficial existence for a decade, with the charter under its belt, supporters will begin raising funds to grow what they hope will be both an educational and inspirational organization.

"It began with a small group of us getting together and talking about the memorabilia and documents that are out there deteriorating, and wanting to do something to preserve them," said Joan Bozer, a charter member. "But the most important thing, we felt, was that we need to tell the story about Buffalo's presidents."

Saccomando Freedman said securing a charter - a process that took a year to complete - was a key step in advancing the organization.

"We are ready now to go out to the broader public and spread the word," she said. "We want to hold events, sponsor events, raise money and grow the group."

Despite its name, members of the association don't expect to build a presidential center anytime soon - at least in the traditional sense.

"We are realistic enough to know that we aren't going to raise tens of thousands of dollars to have an immediate museum," Saccomando Freedman said. "But we are all committed to a virtual museum, at least initially."

That museum would include a collection of artifacts relevant to the Buffalo presidents, she said, and would offer visitors a chance to not only take virtual tours of hotspots in Buffalo's presidential history but plan for area tours to study the presidential history firsthand.

"The virtual museum may be the thing of the future," said board member David Gerber, professor of history and director of UB's Center for Disability Studies. "A brick-and-mortar museum can be visited by relatively few people, while a virtual museum can be visited by the world."

Saccomando Freedman also wants to draw from what she called the great minds of Western New York to further study the impact that Cleveland and Fillmore had on the national stage.

"I hope at some point we are going to be able to interest some scholars in doing some really serious research about our guys," she said. "I think it is overdue."

The group also hopes to push an educational element to what they do. Bozer and Saccomando Freedman both said they see a lack of local political history being taught in the public schools. That's a disservice to the students, many of whom grow up having no idea about this area's rich presidential history. Part of the blame, according to Saccomando Freedman, lies at the feet of the city and county leaders, who she said haven't done enough to capitalize on the political notoriety.

"I don't think they push the education component enough in the schools," she said. "I also think that our civic leaders, by omission, by ignoring our history, have done damage to our history."

That is an element of Buffalo's past that the association hopes to change through community outreach.

The first such effort since earning its charter will be Nov. 17 when the group hosts "The People Rate the Presidents," an event at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Buffalo. It will feature UB professor and author James Campbell. Saccomando Freedman said she hopes it is the first of many such events to build interest in the association.

Though it may be in its infancy stage as a chartered organization, word has made its way hundreds of miles east to the tiny town of Tamworth, N.H., home of George Cleveland, grandson of the late president.

"I can't say enough about the proposed presidential center. It's so important for local students and visitors to have a chance to learn more about these men, their families and their times," Cleveland said.

"It's equally important to have a repository of archival material for scholars. The center will be boon to the country and the region," he said.

For more information about the Association for a Buffalo Presidential Center, contact attorney Maryann Saccomando Freedman at 881-3010.