In June, Governor Voinovich reappointed Jonathan
Dembo, Barbara Floyd, and James Oda to the
Ohio Historical Records Advisory board for
three-year terms beginning 26 June 1995. The
board met on 11 August 1995 in Cleveland at
Case Western Reserve University. At that meeting,
the board approved a draft of the regrant
application "Homefront and Battlefront:
Ohioans Serve the Nation," against the
1 October 1996 deadline. A representative
of the Cincinnati Art Museum attended the
meeting to discuss the museum's draft grant
proposal. Board members made suggestions for
improvement, many of which the museum incorporated
into its final grant proposal.
Also at the August meeting, the board endorsed
the creation of the Interim Preservation Office
(IPO) in fulfillment of a recommendation in the
action agenda To Outwit Time. The IPO will
be supported and administered by the Ohio Historical
Society and the State Library of Ohio. Its first
activities will be the creation of a preservation
listserv for Ohio and a World Wide Web home page
that provides information of use to Ohio's archival
and library communities. In cooperation with the
Ohio Preservation Council, the IPO will also develop
an educational program to teach interested professionals
how to preserve library and archival materials.
The board reviewed three grant proposals during
the reporting period. In July, Barbara Floyd coordinated
the evaluation of the Ohio Historical Society's
proposal "Establishing the Ohio Electronic
Records Archives." In November, the board
reviewed "Arrangement and Description of
Cincinnati Art Museum Archival and Special Collections
Materials" and "Archives and Records
Management Program at the Toledo Museum of Art."
In October, the board submitted its "Homefront
and Battlefront" regrant proposal to NHPRC.
The project would distribute funds to Ohio institutions
to inventory, process, catalog, microfilm or digitize,
and produce descriptive guides to collections
documenting Ohio's involvement in our nation's
wars.
Board member George Bain organized the observation
of Archives Week in Ohio, held 8-14 October 1995.
This year's theme, "Letters Home: Documenting
World War II in the Archives," tied in with
the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war.
Highlights of the commemoration included exhibitions
at the University of Toledo, Wright State University,
and the Ohio Historical Society, a lecture at
the Cincinnati Historical Society, and a film
festival at the Youngstown Historical Center of
Industry and Labor. Ohio Veterans of Foreign Wars
provided support for the Archives Week 1995 poster,
a collage of letters home from Ohio University's
Archives and Special Collections and the Meigs
County Pioneer and Historical Society.
At the end of two years, the board had spent
$9,455.71, only slightly more than half of the
total grant award of $18,524. The board expended
$5,744.65 on travel and meetings, $7,809.35 less
than anticipated, and $3,711.06 on supplies and
services, $1,258.94 less than budgeted. NHPRC
granted a twelve-month extension of the grant.
Remaining funds will support four or more meetings
in 1996, distribution and printing of The Ohio
2003 Plan, and services and supplies.
Submitted by
George Parkinson, Deputy Coordinator
