National First Ladies Library

Our tour started at the library — we began in the lower level/​basement seeing some non-​First Ladies related displays and waited in the little theater for another tour group to finish before we could go back upstairs. Once we moved upstairs we watched a clip about the history of the education center and a bit about the current exhibit («Mom in Chief») talking about how the first ladies handled things like marriage, death, etc in the White House. Then it was on to wander around the glass displays of dresses and such.
The second part of the tour is the Saxton house, which was far more interesting as there’s more to see. It was a bit crowded with our group of 13 people, however, and can feel a bit cramped when you’re all trying to fit into the narrow areas to listen to the guide explain the different rooms.

I enjoyed my visit to the First Ladies Library and Saxon House. The library is really a small venue, which doesn’t really need a tour. It should be more of a browse venue. It would be nice if they actually had the library open for visitors to see and utilize.
The Saxon house is the highlight of the tour. It is a restored Victorian style home furnished in period furniture. It contains artifacts from the McKinley family and some artifacts from other presidents wives. The tour guide was really knowledgeable and spoke about the residence, the McKinley family and other president’s wives. I found the visit well worth my time.
The visit was well worth the time.
The venue is not suitable for small children.

Very disappointed that we did not get to see the museum. They have too many rules. As for making an appointment to take the tour. Showed up at the wrong building. Just too many hoops.

The National First Ladies Library is run by a non-​profit organization and is in conjunction with the National Park Service who maintains the Saxon House down the street. You can get a tour of both the Library in the old City National Bank building and the Saxon house for $ 7.
The tour starts in the bank building where one can see many displays of different dresses and gifts to the first ladies. The tour continues to the basement for a renovated theater. The library is mostly for research and is off limits to the public except by appointment.
The tour continues to the Saxon house which was owned by President McKinley’s wife’s sister. The tour of the house is guided by a costumed docent who is dressed as one of the First Ladies. The house is the only structure left that was tied to McKinley. He stayed with his wife’s sister during recess when he was in Congress.
I thought the tour of the bank building took longer than was necessary and wasn’t very interesting. That part alone took almost an hour and didn’t have anything very historical about it. The tour at the Saxon house took another hour and a half. The docent just described the house but didn’t have a fixed script. Sometimes it was very difficult to follow what the docent was talking about.
It was an interesting place, but I don’t recommend going here unless you don’t have anything else to do in Canton.