Most Interesting People 2016: Holly Witchey

The Wade Project director has spent more than 1,400 hours going through journals, book and more of Cleveland's Wade family for an upcoming book.

by Jason Brill | Dec. 22, 2015 | 5:00 AM

Eric Mull

Why she's interesting: Since 2009, the art historian, college professor and author has spent roughly 1,400 hours combing through more than 9,000 pages of journals, letters and papers of Cleveland's Wade family for an upcoming book. The famous family's contributions included donating 75 acres for University Circle's Wade Park in 1881, founding the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1916 and helping establish Lake View Cemetery and Hathaway Brown School. Witchey also just released her first work of fiction, Cocktail at the Museum,last month.

Living color: She started the project by transcribing the travel journals of Jeptha H. Wade's son Randall. Although she came across a trial from the 1880s that left him disgraced — he called a woman loose — that wasn't her most interesting discovery. "The most moving moment for me was when I found Randall's passport. I've only ever seen black-and-white pictures of him, and it said that his eyes were gray."

Coffee break: She recently discovered a quirky personal connection to the family. "I found the newspaper advertisement where Jeptha H. Wade set up his portrait painting business in his hometown [of] Trumansburg, New York. My husband's favorite cup of coffee in the whole country is in Trumansburg, and it turns out Wade's studio was above this coffee shop."

Live scribe: The protagonist for Witchey's novel is Joe Cocktail, a curator investigating the death of his museum director. Witchey, who served as new media director at the Cleveland Museum of Art, jokes that she cooked up the mystery after her department was eliminated in 2009. "I felt like I needed to kill a museum director."

Tube time: Witchey and her husband like to binge classic TV shows after work. "We're watching The Man From U.N.C.L.E. — the original 1960s series."

History lessons: Witchey hopes the Wade Project will serve as a guide for future philanthropists. "The fantastic thing about this for me is to tell the story and hope that it catches the ear of the next person who wants to raise Cleveland."