This grant was made in November 1993 to the
Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board for
a period of two years, beginning 1 December
1993, to revise and update its Statement of
Priorities and Preferred Approaches. The board
achieved its goal of sharing and discussing
its new statement, The Ohio 2003 Draft
Plan, with interested groups, as it will
continue to do to ensure that it reflects
the priorities and concerns of all Ohioans
who value historical records.
An early goal was to blanket the state with
preliminary information about the board's
draft plan, that is, to reach the largest
number of people as quickly as possible. To
achieve that end, the board mailed The
Ohio 2003 Draft Plan to the Ohio repositories
listed in the Directory of Archives and Manuscript
Repositories in the United States, the larger
historical societies, university and public
libraries, and professional associations during
the summer of 1993. The plan appeared in Echoes
and Preview, the Ohio Historical Society's
monthly and quarterly newsletters and in the
Society of Ohio Archivists' The Ohio Archivist.
The board received favorable responses from
this activity.
The board met in Columbus in January, February,
March, and June 1994. The January meeting
initiated a formal point by point discussion
of The Ohio 2003 Draft Plan and developed
a more detailed project timeline. The board
passed a motion to invite a representative
from the Ohio Genealogical Society to attend
meetings in order to establish a link between
the board and one of its largest beneficiary
groups. Janet Kalven met with the board to
discuss her preliminary draft of a proposal
to process photographs in the Grail National
Archives. The Grail is an international movement
of Catholic laywomen begun in 1940 and established
in Loveland, Ohio in 1944. The photos in their
archives relate to topics identified by the
board and the NHPRC as neglected, women's
history and religious history. Board members
suggested ways in which Kalven could improve
her proposal in order to submit it against
the 1 October 1994 deadline.
At the February meeting, the board divided
into subcommittees to develop a workplan,
or implementation schedule, which will suggest
the order in which objectives will be addressed,
assign costs and designate responsibility
for carrying out the tasks. Board members
volunteered to attend Chapter Conferences
of the Ohio Library Council held in their
respective regions of the state in April and
May. Mary Bowman, President of the Ohio Genealogical
Society, and Michael Lucas, the newly appointed
Deputy State Librarian for Library Services,
attended the meeting. Raimund Goerler of the
Ohio State University Archives presented his
idea for a grant proposal to fund a conference
on electronic records issues. Board members
worked with Goerler to draft a proposal which
he submitted against the 1 June 1994 deadline.
In March, the board met with Robert J. Strauss,
the consultant for the Ohio Statewide Preservation
Planning Grant, which is funded by the National
Endowment for the humanities and co-directed
by the George Parkinson of the Ohio Historical
Society and Michael Lucas of the State Library
of Ohio. Mr. Strauss reviewed the status of
the Ohio Model Preservation Action Agenda
as it is evolving. Board members suggested
possible revisions and discussed how the NEH
and NHPRC planning efforts in Ohio might complement
one another. The possibility of OHRAB's implementation
schedule incorporating both planning efforts
was discussed, particularly with regard to
the reformatting and preservation of historical
records in Ohio which are identified as being
vital to ongoing and anticipated research.
Also in March, the board produced a draft
plan brochure which includes the text of the
draft plan, the project timeline developed
in February, NHPRC deadlines, and the board
roster; a copy is attached to this report.
In April and May, Board representatives attended
the Ohio Library Council Chapter Conferences
in Dayton, Columbus, Mount Sterling, Perrysburg,
and Hudson. At each meeting, the representative
board member or members made a brief introductory
statement, distributed copies of the draft
plan brochures and answered questions. The
following board members participated in this
activity: George Bain, Roland Baumann, Alice
Cornell, Barbara Floyd, Dennis Harrison, and
Mike Lucas. In addition, Barbara Floyd and
George Parkinson attended the Local History
Workshop at Bowling Green State University
and draft plan brochures were distributed
at the annual meeting of the Ohio Genealogical
Society.
At its June meeting, the board met in a joint
session with the Council of the Society of
Ohio Archivists. In the morning, the two groups
discussed how they might work together to
shape the future of the Ohio Network of American
History Research Centers and the other parts
of the draft plan which call for collaborative
efforts. In the afternoon, the board met alone
to evaluate the joint session, share reactions
to the draft plan which were received at the
OLC conferences, and hear reports from each
subcommittee on the progress of their implementation
schedules.
There were several other collateral efforts
not included in the grant proposal but which
relate to board activities and goals. Board
member Roland Baumann chaired an open session
on the draft plan at the spring meeting of
the Society of Ohio Archivists where the plan
and its implementation were discussed at length.
A quorum of the board and a good mix of Ohio
archivists participated. Roland also chaired
a formal session at the Midwest Archives Conference
meeting in Chicago in May, "To Plan or
Not to Plan," regarding the NHPRCs long-range
planning work in the midwest. Session participants
included David Haury, Assistant Director,
Kansas State Historical Society and Deputy
Coordinator, and Sandra S. Clark, Director,
Michigan Bureau of History and State Coordinator,
as scheduled speakers (representatives of
the Indiana program were no shows). John Daily,
George Parkinson, Gerald George, among others
were unscheduled participants. Finally, Jonathan
Dembo agreed to develop a program on gaps
in Ohio's documentary record for the spring
1995 meeting of the Ohio Academy of History
in order to focus OHRAB activities in terms
of documentation strategies.
One board member, John Fleming, resigned due
to conflicts with other commitments, and the
terms of three board members, Diana Synadinos,
Bill Crowley and Dennis Harrison, expired
in April. Mike Lucas is expected to replace
Crowley, and plans are for Harrison to serve
another term. Two other appointments to the
board are anticipated. Also new to the planning
effort is Elizabeth Nelson, who prepares materials
for board meetings, handles requests for information
about the board and NHPRC, and helps manage
grant related activities. Her vita is attached.
In terms of costshare, her time replaces that
of Jill Harris as specified in the grant proposal.
The board has accomplished the tasks outlined
in its plan of work for the first six months
of the grant period. Publications of the Ohio
Historical Society and the Society of Ohio
Archivists printed the draft plan. Members
of the Ohio Genealogical Society, the Society
of Ohio Archivists and the Ohio Library Council
received copies of the board's new brochure
and provided feedback. The board held four
meetings, one more than planned. One meeting
was held with the consultant to the statewide
preservation project, and another was held
jointly with the Council of the Society of
Ohio Archivists. Board members attended the
Chapter Conferences of the Ohio Library Council.
Work on the implementation schedule of the
draft plan is underway, and the board has
achieved goals and objectives outlined in
The Ohio 2003 Draft Plan. It has endorsed
the "Archives 101" workshops which
the Society of Ohio Archivists offers to professional
staff of historical and genealogical organizations
who have no formal archival training, but
who deal with archival materials. Another
program developed by the Society of Ohio Archivists,
"Archives Week," mentioned in the
draft plan as a means to raise public awareness
of the benefits of historical documentation,
was successfully launched in 1993. "Archives
Week 1994," will focus on sports and
recreation in archives and will coincide with
the broadcast of Ken Burns' mini-series "Baseball"
in September. The board met with the executive
director of OhioLink, an online network serving
Ohio academic libraries, to consider how historical
records could be made accessible online. Two
potential applicants brought ideas before
the board which closely relate to the priorities
identified in the draft plan. In addition,
Dr. Deborah Van Broekhoven of Ohio Wesleyan
University plans to work with the board in
developing a project focusing on the antislavery
movement in Ohio which might be included in
the board's implementation schedule. Van Broekhoven
is currently seeking funding for the project
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Lastly, the Ohio 2003 Draft Plan sparked
an idea for creating an online network to
link the catalogs of the Cincinnati Historical
Society, the Western Reserve Historical Society
and the Ohio Historical Society. This idea
is in the preliminary planning stage.
The Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board
made significant strides toward achieving
its goals during the last six months, and
it is progressing steadily toward the final
goal, implementation of the Ohio 2003 Draft
Plan.
