Archaeology staff are currently not available to identify objects such as flint tools, ancient ceramics, stone tools, etc., and we do not appraise collections for monetary value. We've compiled some of our favorite resources to help you with your research in our online resource guide.
The collections of Ohio History Connection exist for the benefit of present and future generations. Therefore, the public shall be granted reasonable access, by appointment, to exhibited or stored collections on a non-discriminatory basis for research and other educational uses. These research procedures are designed to provide access to the collections, coordinate research with other collections activities, provide for an outcome for the research, and safeguard the collections. Please contact us for more information.
Effective immediately, Ohio History Connection has instituted a moratorium on all research access to ancestral human remains. No new research requests will be considered at this time. The moratorium will remain in effect until we have updated our procedures for research on ancestral human remains, in line with federal law and in consultation with the historic Tribal Nations affiliated with the State of Ohio. We expect that new procedures will be shared in summer 2022. For additional information, we have prepared answers to some frequently asked questions.
General questions regarding Ohio archaeology, history, or natural history, can be directed to the Research Services Department at 614.297.2510.
To request permission to use images or video from Ohio History Connection's collections, see Audiovisual and Graphic Reproduction Services.
Ohio History Connection accepts archaeological collections with educational and/or research potential and that fulfill collecting guidelines. If you are interested in donating material, please contact us at [email protected] Ohio History Connection also curates collections resulting from Cultural Resource Management (CRM) projects required by Federal and/or state laws, a service for which Ohio History Connection will normally assess a fee. View the procedures outlining the steps in the acquisition/donation process. Pages 1-8 of the appendix are also available in an Excel document.
Linda started at Ohio History Connection after receiving her BA in Anthropology from Ohio State University. As Curator, she is responsible for the creation and upkeep of department databases and records creation and upkeep, cataloging and other collection care and research duties. In the course of her work, she has had the opportunity to conduct investigations at several Ohio History Connection holdings, including Pickawillany; Fort Ancient; U.S. Grant Boyhood Home, Schoolhouse, and Birthplace; John Rankin House; Miamisburg Mound; Fort Meigs; Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries & Nature Preserve; Newark Earthworks; Leo Petroglyphs and Nature Preserve; William Henry Harrison Tomb; Quaker Yearly Meeting House; Zoar Villiage; Paul Laurence Dunbar House; and the Ohio River Museum.
Linda is an avid scuba diver and has managed to mesh her passion for archaeology with diving right here in Ohio. She is a founding member of the Maritime Archaeological Survey Team (MAST), a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to the documentation of Ohio's underwater cultural resources, otherwise known as shipwrecks. Efforts of MAST have resulted in the instruction of hundreds of scuba divers from Ohio, surrounding states and Canada on underwater survey techniques; Ohio, national and international shipwreck law, research and report writing. The outcomes have been the listing of shipwrecks as Ohio archaeological sites with the State Historic Preservation Office, project reports, and Ohio's first underwater dive slates (maps) of shipwrecks.
In addition to MAST, Linda's other memberships include the American Anthropological Association, Association for Great Lakes History, Midwest Archaeological Conference, National Speleological Society, Ohio Archaeological Council, Ohio Council of Skin and Scuba Divers, Save Ontario Shipwrecks, Society of American Anthropologists, Society for Historical Archaeology and several Ohio dive clubs.
She was born and raised in Marion County, just north of Waldo, Ohio. She presently resides in Delaware with her husband Scott, Dee Dee the dog, and Zoë the cat.
Marie Swartz earned her A.A.S. degree in archaeology from Hocking College and her B.A. degree in anthropology from the Ohio State University. Before coming to OHC, she worked extensively in cultural resource management, in the collections of universities and local history museums, as well as library and special archive preservation. As a curator, she works to make the OHC archaeological collections more accessible to both the public and researchers. In her off time, she enjoys film photography, reading poetry and existential philosophical works, and bird watching with her cat, Wolfgang.
Since joining the Ohio History Connection staff in 1961, Martha Otto has served in a variety of capacities from Student Assistant to Senior Curator of Archaeology. During her tenure, she has participated in numerous excavations of Adena, Hopewell, Late Woodland, and Late Prehistoric sites in central and southern Ohio. She has participated in the development and installation of all the exhibits at the Society's archaeological site museums as well as the archaeological exhibits at the Ohio Historical Center, including The First Ohioans and Windows To Our Collections: Ohio's Ancient Past.
As a steward of the Ohio History Connection's extensive archaeological collections, Martha works with staff and volunteers to physically maintain the collections and to make them more accessible to the public. Martha coordinates loans of Ohio History Connection artifacts for exhibition at other institutions, most recently with the Art Institute of Chicago to which a number of objects were loaned a number of objects for the critically-acclaimed, multi-venue show,Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand. She also enjoys working with colleagues from other museums and universities who frequently examine portions of the archaeological collections as part of their own research projects. The Ohio History Connection's Late Woodland collections formed the basis for her Master's degree in anthropology from the Ohio State University.
In the area of public education, Martha teaches DISCOVER ARCHAEOLOGY!, a program that introduces elementary school classes to the science of archaeology in an interactive, hands-on program including both field work and laboratory experience. She assisted in the production of and provided content for two CD-ROMs produced by the Ohio History Connection, The Hopewell Mound Group: Its People and Their Legacy, and What's the Point? Identifying Flint Artifacts.
Her personal research interests focus on the development of ceramics and of agriculture in the Ohio Valley. Her study of the effigy pipes from the Tremper mound is documented in: Masterworks in Pipestone: Treasures from Tremper Mound, Timeline, 1(1), Ohio History Connection, Columbus (1984); A Prehistoric Menagerie: Ohio Hopewell Effigy Pipes;Proceedings of the 1989 Smoking Pipe Conference: Selected Papers, Rochester Museum and Science Center Research Records No. 22, Rochester, NY (1992)
She also recently contributed a chapter, A Brief History of Archaeological Investigations at Fort Ancient, Warren County, Ohio, in The Fort Ancient Earthworks: Prehistoric Lifeways of the Hopewell Culture in Southwestern Ohio, edited by Connolly and Lepper, and published by OHS (2004).
Martha has served as president of the Archaeological Society of Ohio, the Ohio Archaeological Council, and the Eastern States Archaeological Federation.
Martha and her husband, Frank, are active in a number of local ASO chapters. Leisure-time activities include traveling with Frank, particularly to other museums and archaeological sites.
Dr. Lepper earned his B.A. degree from the University of New Mexico and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Ohio State University. His primary areas of interest include the Ice Age peoples of North America, Ohio's magnificent mounds and earthworks, and the history of North American archaeology. Dr. Lepper has written extensively on these subjects for both technical journals and magazines intended for a general audience. He is the author of the book, Ohio Archaeology: an illustrated chronicle of Ohio's ancient American Indian cultures, published in 2005 by Orange Frazer Press. He also writes a monthly column on archaeology for the Columbus Dispatch.
Especially noteworthy research includes the excavation of the Burning Tree mastodon in December of 1989 (named one of the top 50 science discoveries of 1990 by Discover magazine in their January 1991 issue) and the discovery of the Great Hopewell Road, first reported in 1995 (see Archaeology magazine, November/December 1995). Dr. Lepper's research on the Great Hopewell Road was featured in the public television documentary Searching for the Great Hopewell Road first broadcast in April of 1998.
Dr. Lepper was born and raised in northeastern Ohio, and now lives in Newark, in the vicinity of the extensive ancient earthworks of that region, with his wife Karen, two children, one dog, and four cats.
Dr. Lepper has been visiting professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Denison University in Granville and the Department of Anthropology at The Ohio State University at Newark.
We appreciate the hard work of the interns and volunteers who have spent hundreds of hours of their time working on projects both in the lab and out in the field. For more information on volunteer opportunities, visit the Volunteer page.
