|
Media contacts: Kim Schuette: 614.297.2314 or kschuette@ohiohistory.org
For Immediate Release
Ohio Historical Society Recieves Three Grants For Statewide Services
Awards Benefit Collections, Historic Preservation, Educational Outreach Programs
(COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 24, 2008) – The Ohio Historical Society has been awarded three grants totaling more than $430,000 from public and private sources. The funding will benefit the Society’s digital archives collections, preservation of Ohio battlefields efforts and educational outreach to classrooms respectively.
"As a nonprofit organization, the Ohio Historical Society relies heavily on grants and private contributions to supplement ever-dwindling state funds," said William K. Laidlaw, OHS executive director and CEO. "The three grants will make a significant impact on these programs and will help our organization to continue its mission to preserve and interpret Ohio's history."
The Ohio Newspaper Digitization Project
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded $353,069 to the Ohio Historical Society to begin digitization of Ohio's microfilmed newspapers. The Ohio Newspaper Digitization Project, a part of the National Digital Newspaper Program developed by NEH and the Library of Congress, will digitize 100,000 Ohio newspaper pages between the year of 1880 and 1922 during the two-year grant period. Newspapers digitized as part of the grant award will be included in the Library of Congress' Chronicling America database at www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica.
"The ultimate goal over the next 20 years is to create a national online, searchable resource of historically significant newspapers," said Angela O'Neal, OHS collections technical services manager who oversees the Historical Society's digital collections. "This grant, one of only six awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, will provide the Ohio Historical Society with the infrastructure to digitize the sheer number and volume of Ohio newspapers published during this time period."
The Ohio Newspaper Digitization Project will build upon an earlier NEH initiative, the United States Newspaper Program, which enabled the Society to locate, catalog and microfilm Ohio's newspapers. As a result, the Society holds the most complete Ohio newspaper microfilm collection in the state comprising some 20,000 volumes of newsprint.
Because the initial project will be limited to a small number of newspapers, an advisory group of journalists, historians, educators, scholars, librarians and archivists will select the titles to be digitized, according to O'Neal. "This is just the beginning," she said. "The Society will continue to apply for NEH funds in upcoming grant cycles until we can complete the Ohio Newspaper Digitization Project."
American Battlefield Protection Program
The National Park Service, through its American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP), awarded $45,000 to the Ohio Historic Preservation Office (OHPO) to update its inventory and survey data for nine Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields in Ohio. A part of the Ohio Historical Society, the OHPO is Ohio's official historic preservation agency.
"In order to plan for a battlefield site's preservation, it is first critical to understand its location, size and boundaries," said Lisa Rupple, OHPO survey and national register manager, who will serve as project director. "The American Battlefield Protection Program grant will allow us to achieve this through research, identification of battlefield features, field survey and mapping. The grant also provides an opportunity to build relationships with local governments and battlefield-friends groups and conservancies interested in preservation of these battlefield sites. Future goals for these sites may include nominating them to the National Register of Historic Places."
The nine sites to be studied during this project are: Gnadenhutten Massacre Site, Tuscarawas County; Ft. Meigs (two battlefield sites), Wood County; Pickaway Settlements Battle Site, Clark County; Fort Laurens, Tuscarawas County; Colonel Crawford Battle Site, Wyandot County; Battle of Lake Erie, Ottawa County; Lichtenau, Coshocton County; and Dudley’s Defeat, Wood County.
The American Battlefield Protection Program assists in the preservation and protection of important battle sites from all wars fought on American soil. Funded projects are conducted by federal, state, local and tribal governments, nonprofit organizations and educational institutions.
The Ohio Historic Preservation Office grant is one of 32 ABPP grants totaling $1.3 million. Recipients represent a great variety of wars, ranging from the Colonial-Indian Wars to the Civil War. Funded projects include site mapping, archaeological study, National Register of Historic Places nominations, preservation and management plans and GPS/GIS data collection.
Case Histories
Ingram-White Castle Fund of the Columbus Foundation awarded $33,000 to the Ohio Historical Society to underwrite the revision of their popular Case Histories. An educational outreach project, Case Histories are trunks filled with primary source materials, historical props and content-aligned curriculum that provide teachers with ready-made social studies lessons. Case Histories can be borrowed by classroom teachers, home-school families and other educational organizations.
"History-to-go is the best way to describe these popular cases filled with primary sources, audio visual materials and hands-on objects and artifacts designed to make the teaching of Ohio history both educational and fun," said Jody Blankenship, OHS manager for Educational Outreach Projects. "This grant will make our offerings more flexible so that we can keep up with a rapidly changing educational environment. The revision will allow teachers to customize our resources to meet the unique demands of their classrooms."
This grant will add a significant amount of new content, both physical and digital, according to Blankenship. In addition to the actual cases, the funding will allow for the creation of both a new Web-based user interface that will allow teachers to build their own cases instead of being limited to predetermined topics and a resource-sharing space where teachers can connect with peers and staff at OHS to swap ideas, lesson plans and case inventories.
All cases are available on a first-reserve, first-served basis. Loans are for a two-week period. A $25 fee will be charged per case borrowed to cover administrative and shipping expenses of the cases. Teachers can reserve a case online at www.ohiohistoryteachers.org or call 1-800-850-3245.
The Ohio Historical Society is a nonprofit organization that serves as the state's partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio's history, natural history and archaeology. For more information about programs and events, visit www.ohiohistory.org or call 614.297.2300/ 800.686.6124.
|
