Meet the Curators

History Object Curators

Cliff Eckle

Cliff Eckle is the senior history curator at the Ohio Historical Society. He received a bachelor's degree in history from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Cliff has worked at the Ohio Historical Society since 1987, as a cataloger, collections specialist and curator for history collections. He has worked extensively with political memorabilia, currency, military collections, commemorative items, firearms, and flags.

Mr. Eckle has contributed to numerous exhibits at the Ohio Historical Center, including: Ohio and the Civil War; Controversy: Pieces We Don’t Normally See; the traveling exhibit Ohio and the Civil War: 150 Years Later; and Controversy 2: Pieces We Don’t Talk About. He lead the exhibit team for Follow the Flag, an exhibit showcasing Civil War battle flags carried by Ohio troops. Currently, he is heading the exhibit team for the upcoming exhibit The War of 1812: Ohio on the Front Line.

Cliff assisted restoration projects and exhibit development at multiple OHS sites, including the Adena Mansion and Visitor Center in Chillicothe; Fort Meigs Visitor Center in Perrysburg; the Ulysses S. Grant Birthplace in Point Pleasant; the Grant Schoolhouse and the Grant Boyhood Home, both in Georgetown.

Cameron Wood

Cameron Wood is a history curator at the Ohio Historical Society where he has worked since 2006. He is a curatorial generalist with experience managing aviation, transportation, early technology, military, mining, and decorative arts collections. He received his masters degree in museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program where he specialized in collections and programs evaluation.

He contributed to the exhibits: Controversy: Pieces We Don’t Normally See; Over Here, Over There: Ohioans in Times of War; Controversy 2: Pieces We Don’t Talk About; and the traveling exhibit Ohio and the Civil War: 150 Years Later. Cameron curated the What is it? exhibit and is currently lead curator for the upcoming exhibit on Ohio in the 1950s.

Manuscript Curators

Matt Benz

Matthew Benz has a master's degree in library science from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ohio Wesleyan University. Since joining the Ohio Historical Society in 1994 he has held the positions of reference archivist, business collections archivist, and manuscripts curator. Matt has worked on archival projects for White Castle Systems, Inc.; the Columbus School for Girls; Columbus City Schools; and the University District Organization.

John Haas

John Haas has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Maryland and a master's degree in history from the University of Arizona. From 1980 to 1988 he worked in the University of Arizona Library System. Since joining the Ohio Historical Society in 1989 he has worked on the Ohio Newspaper Project; in the State Archives; and as a reference archivist in the Research Services.

John’s specialty is military history and he regularly gives presentations about how to research the military service of Ohioans. He co-edited the book To Battle for God and the Right: The Civil War Letterbooks of Emerson Opdycke. He has contributed to the exhibits: Follow the Flag; Controversy 2: Pieces We Don’t Talk About; and the traveling exhibit Ohio and the Civil War: 150 Years Later.

Visual Resources Curator

Lisa Wood

Lisa has a bachelor's degree in history and public administration from Ohio University and a master's degree in library and information science from Kent State University. She began her career at the Ohio Historical Society in 1997 and held the positions of customer service representative, archives research assistant, and digitization specialist. As a digitization specialist she was part of the development team for the Fight for the Colors web resource and the OhioPix online image database.

Lisa has been the visual resources curator since 2001. She has contributed to many exhibits at the Ohio Historical Center, including It Happened in Ohio: The Kent State Shootings; Over Here, Over There: Ohioans in Times of War; and Controversy 2: Pieces We Don’t Talk About. Lisa regularly contributes to the Ohio Historical Society collections blog and the Society’s print and electronic newsletters. She has published articles in Timeline magazine and the Midwest Archives Conference newsletter.