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Extra! President McKinley Shot!  Notes

Temple of Music Building, Pan American Exposition

Front of the diorama (painted cardboard)

Upper wall, left to right

  • Robert Lincoln (pencil in painted cardboard frame)

  • Official Logo (North & South America), by  Raphael Beck (painted cardboard)

  • Commemorative Stamp (painting)

Lower wall, left to right

  • Commemorative Stamp (painting)

  • Emma Goldman (painting)

  • Leon Czolgosz in jail (painting)

Floor, left to right

  • Buffalo (painted cardboard)

  • William McKinley and wife, Ida “Be careful how you tell her—oh, be careful!” (painting & pencil drawing)

  • Campaign Top, “McKinley on Top” (painted cardboard)

  • The Strange Fates of Robert Todd Lincoln (front apron)

The San Francisco Call, September 7, 1902, front page 

Denali Renamed Mt. McKinley after Renamed Denali
The back side of the painted cardboard diorama illustrates the gold standard that was instituted along with tariffs by President McKinley. The intention was to insure U.S. economic growth in response to production exceeding consumption. A gold coin was cast in 1896 showing Lady Liberty on one side, the eagle on the reverse. Denali mountain was renamed Mt. McKinley in 1896 by a gold prospector who supported the future President. (McKinley never saw the mountain.) Native and non-Native Alaskans continued to call the mountain Denali–Athabascan for the "high one". After years of controversy, it was officially given back the name Denali during President Barack Obama’s administration. In 2017, President Donald Trump tried but failed to change it back to McKinley.

Sketch for McKinley Diorama

Susan Bercu, watercolor, ink

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