Ryan Quinlan ’14: Pictures of America’s 44 presidents line the wall of the Upper School’s second floor. Below each president’s face lies a document with his autograph. Some, like those of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and George W. Bush, are addressed specifically to EA; others are documents detailing the purchase of supplies or are letters of correspondence. As Cassandra Keith, Upper School librarian and archivist stated, “What has been put in the Upper School is a set of archival copies.” The originals themselves “exist in the EA archives,” which are on the second floor of the Campus Center. “After we moved from the Merion campus, many of the documents were replaced with facsimile copies,” adds Linda Smith, Middle School Librarian. The originals have been appraised and vary in value accordingly. “Virtually all the signatures were attained during that individual’s presidency,” Smith continues, “we request the documents directly from the office of the president.” Because this tradition has been going on since the school’s establishment, there are not many people who know how the early signatures were attained.
Photo Courtesy of Jenna Cooley ’17
Some documents have been purchased; however, there is one autograph the school currently lacks. According to Keith, “I still don’t have President Obama’s [signature]. I have tried to follow the guidelines on the White House’s website to send an email.” However, after three tries, the school still has no autograph. In an official video produced by the White House, Mike Kelleher, director of the White House Office of Correspondence, states that the president receives approximately 65,000 letters every day as well as upwards of 100,000 emails per day. In addition, exactly ten a day are chosen by President Obama to be read and responded to with a handwritten and signed letter. The price of authenticated autographs by Obama can vary greatly in price with $200 being the price for an autographed book or baseball. For better chances at actually receiving a signature of the president, Keith said, “I need to actually draft a letter and hopefully get a signature back. I have three more years to do that.”