The Frontenac Historical Society & Museum mourns the passing of a friend of the museum. Dr. Wagner, Founder of Matilda Gage Joslyn Center for Social Justice came to the museum in Spring 2023 to speak during Women's Recognition month. She was scheduled to return November 18, 2025 for a program entitled Women Voted Before the Revolution sharing how women of the Haudenosaunee people influenced the women's suffrage movement.
The National Women's History Museum issued a statement regarding Dr. Roesch shared in part in this recognition. "Dr. Wagner was a towering figure in the field of women's history. As one of the first individuals in the United States to earn a doctorate in women's studies, she devoted her life to amplifying the stories of women whose contributions had been erased or sidelined. Through her scholarship, teaching, and advocacy, she reshaped the narrative of American history to be more truthful, inclusive and just."
"She was founding director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation and Social Justice Dialogue Center, created to honor and restore the legacy of the radical suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage. Dr. Wagner once said, 'I fell in love with a dead woman, followed her right across the country, and it changed my life.' That love and relentless pursuit of justice led her to establish the Gage Center in Fayetteville, NY, a vibrant home for truth-telling, activism, and community engagement."
In the Syracuse Post Standard, her family shared that "one of her most powerful legacies was uncovering the work of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a suffragist who they said was erased from history for being too radical."
Continuing from the Post Standard: "Her work on Gage started with a meeting in 1970 in Wagner's hometown with one of her mother's friends, Matilda Jewell Gage. Matilda Jewell Gage had a collection of letters and papers from her grandmother. Wagner made it her mission to restore Gage, a forgotten member of the suffrage movement, to her rightful place in history."
Rest in Peace Sally Roesch Wagner.
