From the Mailbag: “Another Wonderful Symposium”

We received a lovely note in the mail this week—along with a kind donation—from longtime Symposium attendee Mary Ellen Mitchanis. For years, Mary Ellen has made the trip from Wisconsin, accompanied by her sister Joan, full of laughs, great questions, and fun conversation. They’ve become treasured friends of ECW.

“She and her sister are the epitome of that family reunion feeling the Symposium has taken on,” Jon-Erik Gilot told me when I shared Mary Ellen’s note with my colleagues. “I look forward to seeing them every year.”

Me, too!

Mary Ellen was kind enough to grant us permission to share her note:

Dear Chris,

I wanted to thank you & your staff for another wonderful symposium. The speakers were exceptionally good this year. It did seem strange not to see Dwight Hughes, and I was glad that there was a memorial for him. Several years ago, I won an auction item that was his book and also a glass reproduction of a half pint aquamarine flask manufactured by the Baltimore glassworks. The bottle has been on my living room fireplace mantle ever since and now it will remind me of him. (Although the navy man would probably wish that I would keep the area a bit more dust free and “ship shape”!)

My sister and I are already looking forward to next year’s event!

Keep doing what you’re doing to keep history live—we appreciate it and also the work you do as an educator in these uncertain times for education. It also was great to see Sarah Kay Bierle on Friday—would love to see her there again next year.

— Mary Ellen Mitchanis

Financial gifts like Mary Ellen’s are an important way for ECW to keep the lights on. If you’d like to make a tax-deductible contribution to ECW, you can donate here. We are a 501(c)3 as defined by the I.R.S.

And of course, if you’re looking forward to next year’s event, August 7–9, 2026, you can find out more information, and order your tickets, here. Early bird pricing is now underway.