Group aims to save derelict Syracuse, NY, home linked to ‘Wizard of Oz’ author L. Frank Baum

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – If it weren’t for one home in Syracuse, there would be no Wizard of Oz.

That’s the contention of the Lyman Frank Baum Foundation, named for the central New York native who wrote “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” The book was the basis for the 1939 Judy Garland film.

The foundation is holding fundraisers this week in Syracuse to try to save a derelict home where Baum’s sister, Harriet Baum Neal, lived in the 1880s. Foundation members tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse (http://bit.ly/132Sd9f ) that Frank Baum met his future wife, Maud Gage, at the home.

The organization says Gage’s mother was a prominent support of women’s rights whose ideas influenced Baum’s vision of Oz, where powerful women such as Glinda the Good Witch act for the betterment of society.

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Information from: The Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com