Natural History Archives - Ohio History Connection

December 17, 2025

Were Rudolph’s Ancestors from Ohio?

Reindeer often evoke thoughts of the holiday season or distant northern landscapes, but did you know they used to live right here in Ohio?

November 5, 2025

The Turkey Wishbone, or Five Ways to Be a Nerd This Thanksgiving

Do you want to know what the turkey wishbone really is and what its function is inside the bird? If you’d like to teach about the bird skeleton to your family and friends while car

August 11, 2025

Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Benefit Natural History Collections?

Or: How a Comment About iNaturalist Led Me Down an AI Rabbithole Rather than an exhaustive report, this blog is intended to give a brief overview of the topic and jumping off points for further investigation. This blog was written without the assistance of AI writing tools. While identifying a butterfly on a social media […]

July 21, 2025

A Brief History of the Golden-winged Warbler: Part II

Author’s Note: Be sure to catch up with A Brief History of the Golden-winged Warbler Part I, here. The Golden-winged Warbler was seemingly never common in Ohio. It had been variously described as a "transitory visitor" by Jared Kirtland in 1838; a "rare summer resident" by John Wheaton in 1879; and "irregular in distribution" by […]

July 11, 2025

Welcome to Our Summer Interns!

Meet Grayson and Grace—two of our outstanding summer interns at the Ohio History Connection!

May 12, 2025

A Brief History of the Golden-winged Warbler: Part I

By Erin Cashion, Curator of Natural History At first glance, it appears to be only a brownish wad of grapevine bark strips and old beech leaves. Its age alone (and the person who collected it) make it a specimen of high historic and scientific significance. But this plain-seeming clump of old leaves has an even […]

April 14, 2025

Did We Really “De-extinct” the Dire Wolf?

By Erin Cashion and David Dyer On April 7, the story in Time magazine was posted everywhere: we had brought the extinct Ice Age Dire Wolf, Aenocyon dirus, back from the dead. Alongside this unbelievable headline came the video of two adorable white, fluffy canines in the hands of a human caregiver. These two pups […]

March 5, 2025

Itacolumite, the “Gumby Stone”!

By Dave Dyer, Curator Natural History

June 27, 2024

An Ode To Caterpillars

July 28, 2023

Birds of a Feather: The Smithsonian and OHC Natural History Collections

Join Dave Dyer, Natural History Curator, and Marie Swartz, Archaeology Curator, on a journey that intertwines ornithology, archaeology, and natural history, revealing the significance of collaborative research in unraveling the secrets of the past. One of the basic tenets of a scientific collection is that the data associated with the specimens is as important […]