McGuffey Moments Museum Objects Tell a Story

McGuffey House & Museum

401 E. Spring St.

Oxford, OH 45056

(513) 529-8380

Thursday-Saturday 1-5 PM

McGuffeyMuseum@MiamiOH.edu

MiamiOH.edu/McGuffey-Museum

BY STEVE GORDON, ADMINISTRATOR

To the casual observer, the top hat and leather box might just be seen as period museum pieces. Yet both objects come with a compelling story. They tangibly tell the remarkable saga of Peter Bruner (1845-1938) who, after freeing himself from enslavement, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, then made Oxford his home for 73 years. Born into slavery in Clark County, KY, Bruner escaped bondage and repeated torture by enlisting in the US Heavy Artillery at Camp Nelson, KY. After moving to Oxford, Bruner married Fannie Procton in 1868 and worked as a farm laborer and quarry operator. Later, he worked as a night watchman, building maintenance engineer, and laborer for Western Female Seminary and Oxford Female College, and from 1893-1906 for Miami University.

Bruner was a beloved figure in Oxford. In 1893, Oxford College hosted a celebration in honor of the Bruner’s 25th wedding anniversary and gave the couple a set of silver. Later, in appreciation of Bruner’s service to Miami, President Thompson and Professor Roger Johnson reportedly gave Bruner the top hat and hatbox now displayed in the McGuffey House and Museum. Bruner proudly wore the hat on numerous occasions, including William Howard Taft’s visit to Miami’s Commencement in 1905.

Bruner died in 1938, five years before the Oxford NAACP was chartered. His daughter Stella Bruner Hasty placed the application for Bruner’s military headstone for his grave in Oxford’s Woodside Cemetery. Bruner’s life story is notable, beginning when the nation was half enslaved, passing through civil war and racial segregation, and ending with his being recognized by Verlin Pulley as Oxford’s “Mayor for a Day” in 1938.

Bruner’s life story is compelling because of his fortitude in overcoming brutality while enslaved, his hardships during the Civil War, and the years of demanding physical labor. “You certainly have a wonderful disposition,” wrote President Hughes to Bruner in 1925, “to be the cheerful optimistic fellow you have always been after living the first twenty years of your life as you did.” Whether among family, friends, and students, Bruner was able to touch many people, black and white. He epitomized Lincoln’s memorable words “With malice toward none; and charity for all…”