Eleanor Roosevelt: Tivoli "Small Places" site

"Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: The neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” 

—Eleanor Roosevelt to the United Nations,1958


FUND FOR THE  ELEANOR ROOSEVELT “SMALL PLACES”  COMMEMORATION SITE IN TIVOLI, NEW YORK


Dear Friends,

By her own account, the happiest times of Eleanor Roosevelt’s mostly unhappy childhood were spent in a “small place” called Tivoli, the village closest to the country home of Oak Lawn, where she spent many summers with her grandmother, Mary Livingston Hall. On the weekend of October 11-13 , Tivoli will commemorate  Eleanor Roosevelt and honor her singular contribution to the creation and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) with the permanent outdoor installation of a special bronze bust of the First Lady.  

The bronze bust, designed by renowned Czech sculptor Marie Seborova, was  commissioned and donated by Art for Amnesty Founder Bill Shipsey as part of a campaign to honor and promote the UDHR on its 70th  anniversary by placing identical busts in sites of significance around the world—France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Slovenia as of this date. 

In Tivoli the bust will be placed on Woods Road, on a site adjacent to the  St. Paul's Church, where Eleanor Roosevelt's parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles are buried. People who visit the site will find a quiet and accessible spot for contemplating the meaning of Eleanor’s legacy and the rights for which she fought.

The total cost for the creation of the site—re-purposing 150-year-old bluestone sidewalk slabs to create a walkway and patio with benches, clearing away brush and invasive vines and re-introducing native plants to frame the space among massive oak trees, building a stone plinth for the bust, and casting a plaque with the "small places" quote—will be $14,500.  A bank account has been set up to manage these expenses—The Eleanor Roosevelt "Small Places" Fund.  

Even a small contribution to the fund will help make possible this memorial to the small places close to home where universal rights begin.

We are asking for your help.  
Thank you for your support.

Sincerely, 
Emily Majer
Village of Tivoli Deputy Mayor
Town of Red Hook Historian
Eleanor Roosevelt's #1 fan