Local History Corps

Regional Local History Corps Members

Williams, Fulton, Lucas, Wood, Hancock, Henry, Defiance, Paulding, Putnam, Hardin, Allen, Van Wert

Deb Wickerham
Hancock Historical Museum, 422 West Sandusky Street, Findlay, OH 45840
Email: redwick80@aol.com
Phone: (419) 306-9723

I have recently retired from 36 years of teaching. I have always had a love of children and history. When I saw the opportunity to serve at the Hancock Historical Museum and work with their educational program, I was very excited. This will give me a chance to do what I love - teach children about history. By doing this, I will be able to give back to my community. I am looking forward to creating hands-on history for teachers and students, along with helping to create exciting historical events within the community and surrounding areas.

Ottawa, Sandusky, Erie, Seneca, Huron, Wyandot, Crawford, Richland, Ashland, Morrow, Marion

Brenna Walker
Sandusky Maritime Museum, 125 Meigs Street, Sandusky, OH 44870
Email: cw150region2@gmail.com
Phone: (419) 624-0274

I am now entering my second year with this program. I am the Region 2 Local History Corps Member. I took this position to network and gain experience. This year I hope to work on volunteer recruitment, events and grant writing. Overall, I hope to accomplish a lot this year and be able to help out the communities of Region 2. 

Lorain, Cuyahoga, Medina, Summit, Lake

Richard Donegan
Oberlin Heritage Center, 73 ½ South Professor Street, Oberlin, OH 44074
Email: cw150@oberlinheritage.org
Phone: (440) 774-1700

I am the Local History Corps Member for Northeast-Central Ohio, comprising the counties of Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina and Summit. I am happy to return to my host site, the Oberlin Heritage Center, from my previous year of service as a Civil War 150 Leadership Coordinator. After living in Ohio for a year, I feel a strong connection to the communities in my area, and I look forward to fostering collaborative efforts with other historical organizations. During my term I will be a member of a committee focused on promoting tourism through barn quilts in Lorain County, conducting a survey of Civil War monuments with the Lorain County Historical Society, as well as helping my host site with oral history projects and developing programs regarding the temperance movement in Oberlin. 

Ashabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage, Geauga, Columbiana, Jefferson

Jonathan Kinkead
Center of Labor and Industry/Youngstown State University, One University Plaza, Youngstown, OH 44555
Email: kinkeadjd@gmail.com
Phone: (330) 718-3408

I graduated from Youngstown State University in 2008 (BS Secondary Education) and 2012 (MA History). I have worked in the museum field as a graduate assistant intern and in education as an educator and coach. I am extremely passionate about working with people of all ages. Joining AmeriCorps is a great opportunity to get out into communities through various channels and promote local history! I look forward to working with Youngstown State University’s history department and the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor (YHCIL) to help promote, communicate, and discover local history throughout northeast Ohio. Some of the larger projects I will be working on throughout the year are educational outreach for YHCIL, District 4 History Day, and training tour docents.

Mercer, Auglaize, Logan, Champaign, Shelby, Miami, Darke, Preble, Montgomery, Greene, Clark

Melissa Luthman
Logan County Museum, 521 East Columbus Avenue, Bellefontaine, OH 43311
Email: melissa.luthman@gmail.com
Phone: (419) 604-9057

This year will be my second as an AmeriCorps volunteer for the Ohio History Service Corps in Region 7 hosted by the Logan County Historical Society. With a new term comes a new title, Local History Service Coordinator, and an expanded position. I am excited to continue working with local historical societies in my region on commemorations, volunteer recruitment, Kindergarten-12th grade education outreach, especially working with teachers and students on National History Day projects, and heritage tourism efforts.

Franklin, Delaware, Union, Madison, Fayette, Pickaway, Fairfield, Licking, Knox

Misti Spillman
Ohio Historical Society, 800 East 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211
Email: mspillman@ohiohistory.org
Phone: (614) 297-2344

I am very excited to serve in AmeriCorps at the Ohio Historical Society as my host site. As a Local History Corps Member, one of the projects I will be working on over the next year is creating a toolkit for cemeteries. This toolkit will focus on what steps individuals need to take in order to receive a headstone for a veteran. I will also be planning a cemetery workshop for next spring on how to repair and clean headstones. I will be handling the Ohio & the Civil War: 150 Years Later traveling exhibit and assisting with Ohio History Day next April. Another goal is to assist Habitat for Humanity in creating a historic walking tour of Westerville next summer.

Wayne, Stark, Carroll, Harrison, Tuscarawas, Holmes, Coshocton, Guernsey, Belmont, Muskingum

Jacob R. Masters
Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, P.O. Box 11, 400 Center Street, Dennison, OH 44621
Email: civilwar@dennisondepot.org
Phone: (740) 922-6776

As an AmeriCorps representative, I hope to leave a lasting impact on the counties I interact with throughout Ohio. By focusing on event planning and marketing, I hope to create a lasting connection between organizations and people to their area’s rich history. Furthermore, I will strive to create consistent systems within organizations and help them work on capacity building and sustainability.

Perry, Hocking, Vinton, Jackson, Gallia, Meigs, Athens, Washington, Morgan, Noble, Monroe

Dayton Edward Willison
Sunday Creek Associates, P.O. Box 97, Shawnee, OH 43782
Email: willisondayton@gmail.com
Phone: (740) 394-2660

I am serving the Sunday Creek Associates for the Little Cities of Black Diamonds. I am serving because my family is from these areas, and I feel that these areas have so much to offer to the public. They do not deserve to be forgotten after everything they have done and given to us. I am most excited about the Tecumseh Theater restoration that will give the public another place to experience history in an engaging way.

Clinton, Highland, Adams, Scioto, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Warren

Cathy Harrelson
Quaker Heritage Center at Wilmington College, Pyle Center, Box 1182, 1870 Quaker Way, Wilmington, OH 45177
Email: cathy_harrelson@wilmington.edu
Phone: (937) 382-6661 x718

I just moved here from Fort Worth, Texas, but am a born and bred native of the Buckeye State. I have a long work history in non-profit organizations including nearly ten years as a volunteer. Non-profit work is my passion, and volunteering for AmeriCorps not only seemed like a good opportunity while I am attending graduate school, but it was a way for me to return to and serve in my beloved Ohio! I am most excited to travel to the different counties to meet like-minded people who also love serving Ohio and to experience the beauty of the various Ohio landscapes.

Hamilton, Butler, Clermont, Brown

Michael J. Craft
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 50 East Freedom Way, Cincinnati, OH 45202
Email: mcraft@nurfc.org
Phone: (513) 333-7697

Hello, my name is Michael Craft, and I’m proud to serve as a member of the Local History Corps, representing Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio. The wonderful people from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, located on the banks of the Ohio River in Cincinnati are hosting me during my service. My first mission, here at the Freedom Center, will be hosting a regional symposium for the area’s museums, historical sites, and places of learning that will focus on information-sharing and identifying where collaboration and facilitation can occur. I am also happy to be assisting in coordinating events for the 150th Anniversary of Morgan's Raid, to be celebrated in July, 2013. And finally, I will work directly with the Interpretation and Education staff at the Freedom Center in creating programming for school age visitors involving this unique area’s importance in our nation’s history.

Collections and Digitization at the Ohio Historical Society

Tennile Jackson
Ohio Historical Society, 800 East 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211
Email: tennilejackson@ohiohistory.org
Phone: (614) 297-2570

I am serving my first year as a Local History Corps Member at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus. My service will be focused on facilitating digitization and cataloging practices for select sites that are overseen by OHS. I am particularly excited to launch collections management workshops, which will provide site managers and their volunteers with information regarding proper object handling techniques. Over the last several years, I have volunteered and worked at a number of organizations, which include but are not limited to, Everglades National Park, the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, and the Syracuse University Special Collections Research Center. I am thrilled to have been provided with the opportunity to give back to yet another great institution in the historically rich state of Ohio.

Carolyn Wavrin
Ohio Historical Society, 800 East 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211
Email: cwavrin@ohiohistory.org
Phone: (614) 297—2581

I joined the Local History Corps in September 2012. I came to Ohio from New York State, where I was a graduate student at the University at Albany SUNY. A native Minnesotan, I was a staff member at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities for 26 years before moving to New York for graduate school. My areas of interest are in public history and digital media as a tool for “doing history.” I have a strong interest in helping local history organizations with collections work and in using digital media to document and preserve history (especially oral history and aural/visual documentary). I am eager to learn about Ohio’s history, people, and landscapes.

Community Revitalization and Preservation

Christie Chapman
Heritage Ohio, 846 ½ Main Street, Columbus, OH 43205
Email: cchapman@heritageohio.org
Phone: (614) 258-6200

Christie Chapman has joined Heritage Ohio as a Local History Corps Member this year. Christie has worked in the field of historic preservation for both the private and non-profit sectors, state and local governments, and as an independent contractor. Prior to joining AmeriCorps, she worked as a project designer for a 650,000 square foot historic tax credit project in North Carolina, specializing in historic preservation design for tax credit projects. She holds a BA in Interior Design from Michigan State University and a MS in Interior Architecture & Historic Preservation from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualifications Standards in Architectural History. At Heritage Ohio, Christie will be acting as a preservationist in the field, reaching out to communities across Ohio helping to connect them to the preservation resources available through Heritage Ohio. She plans to bring her knowledge of interior design, historic tax credit projects, and hands-on preservation techniques to facilitate preservation education and assist in protecting Ohio’s cultural resources.

Devin Miles
Heritage Ohio, 846 ½ Main Street, Columbus, OH 43205
Email: dmiles@heritageohio.org
Phone: (614) 258-6200

Devin is a 2010 graduate of Antioch University – New England with a MBA in Organizational and Environmental Sustainability. He also holds a BA in History from The University of Findlay. Devin decided to serve in AmeriCorps to perform his civic duty. He’s looking forward to working on projects to cultivate and promote cultural tourism around the state.

Jennifer Gray
Preservation Ohio, 101 ½ North Main Street, Mansfield, OH 44902
Email: jenniferg@downtownmansfield.com
Phone: (419) 522-0099

I am very excited to be part of the ongoing collaboration between AmeriCorps, Preservation Ohio, and Downtown Mansfield Inc. I hope to aide all three of these organizations in their continued quest for community revitalization, preservation and economic stimulation. I have always had a passion for history and architecture and am finally at a point in my life where I can turn these obsessions into a profession! More importantly, I look forward to reaching out to individuals in this community and promoting the importance of economic revitalization and the preservation of our past. My thinking – how can we move forward if we don’t remember and honor the past?

Doug Versaw
Downtown Mansfield, Inc., 101 ½ North Main Street, Mansfield, OH 44902
Email: dougv@downtownmansfield.com
Phone: (419) 522-0099

As a member of the Local History Corps, I am excited to be working with my host organization, Downtown Mansfield, Inc. Together, we will be working to promote historic preservation and community revitalization through the Operation Uplift program in the St. Peter’s and Westinghouse Districts in the near downtown Mansfield area. Throughout my tenure in AmeriCorps I hope to promote historic preservation as a means for community and economic development. I also hope to help citizens build community by taking pride and becoming accountable for their neighborhoods.