Council Meeting Minutes from April 25 and May 16, 2025

The Society of Ohio Archivists most recent leadership meeting minutes from April 25, 2025, and the Annual Business meeting minutes from May 16, 2025, can now be found on the Council Meeting Minutes page.

Interested in SOA over time? Also on that page are minutes dating back to 1997. In addition to documenting actions from the leadership meeting, minutes include reports from the treasurer as well as from committees and task forces.

Questions about minutes? Contact SOA Secretary Shelby Beatty.

Last Updated on July 14, 2025 by Emily Gainer

Ohio Archivist: Call for News & Notes, Fall 2025

News editor, Jessica Heys, is now collecting submissions of News and Notes for the Fall 2025 issue of the Society of Ohio Archivists’ newsletter Ohio Archivist.

You do not have to be a member of SOA to submit your news – all Ohio archives, records, and special collections news is welcome!

Think you don’t have anything to share? Think again!

  • Upcoming events: Did you create a great new exhibit or host an interesting conference or program?
  • Institutional news: Did you receive an important collection or write a successful grant? Did you embark on a digitization project or do something cool with social media?
  • Personal news: Did you change jobs? Did you earn a promotion or award? Did you speak at a major conference or have an article published?

These are just a few examples, but you get the idea! You can check the News section of previous issues of the Ohio Archivist to get ideas of the kinds of things we are looking for.

Make sure to include who, what, when, where, and why, as well as how readers can access more information. Please see the Ohio Archivist Submission Guidelines.

Also, the more photos to illustrate your news, the better! Please send images in high resolution of at least 300dpi.

Submissions should be under 250 words and are due to news editor Jessica Heys, [email protected], no later than Friday, July 11, 2025.

Last Updated on June 12, 2025 by Emily Gainer

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Celebrating 150th Anniversary

by Collette McDonough, Advocacy and Outreach Committee member.

This year, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden are celebrating their 150th anniversary.  Since June is National Zoo and Aquarium Month, it seems the perfect time to shine a light on the history of this amazing zoo in our state. They were created in 1873, but the zoo itself did not open until September 1875.  It started with only a handful of animals including, two grizzly bears, three deer, six raccoons, two elk, a buffalo, a tiger, an elephant, eight monkeys plus a few other animals. In this 150-year period, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has risen to be one of the top-rated zoos in the country.

Historical poster promoting the Cincinnati Zoological Garden. A lion with a large mane is featured in the center with small images of various animals around it.

Cincinnati Zoological Garden poster. Courtesy of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

The Cincinnati Zoo was first known as the Cincinnati Zoological Garden and was founded by German immigrants that longed for the beauty of the gardens in their homeland.  The main person behind the creation of the zoo was Andrew Erkenbrecher, whose family moved to the Cincinnati area in the 1830s. He then went on to become a wealthy merchant. Mr. Erkenbrecher and other well-off German families wanted to have a zoological park like they had in Germany that would be like the zoos of Berlin and Cologne.

Continue reading →

Last Updated on June 17, 2025 by Emily Gainer

SOA Election Results 2025

During the recent Annual Meeting at the University of Toledo, new council members were elected.

SOA would like to welcome the following new leaders:

  • Jennifer Long Morehart, Bowling Green State University, President (2025-2026)
  • Kristen Newby, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Vice President/President-Elect (2025-2026)
  • Shelby Beatty, Sinclair Community College, re-elected Secretary (2025-2027)
  • Darrell Blevins Jr., recent Public History graduate, Wright State University, Council Member (2025-2027)
  • Michelle Ganz, Dominican Sisters of Peace, Justice, Equity, Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (JEDAI) Committee Co-Chair with voting rights (2025-2027)
  • Hannah Kemp-Severence, University of Akron Archives and Special Collections, Justice, Equity, Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (JEDAI) Committee Co-Chair with voting rights (2025-2026)

A big thanks to the Nominating Committee. Also, thank you to everyone who participated!

Officer Transitions:

  • Jennifer Long Morehart, Bowling Green State University, transitions from Vice President to President. Thanks to Jennifer for her commitment to SOA.
  • Matt Francis, Ohio Northern University, transitions from President to Past-President. Thanks to Matt for his continued leadership.
  • Melissa Dalton, Preserve It, LLC, completed her term as Past-President. Thanks to Melissa for her work on Council.
  • Kristen Newby completed her term as Council Member. Thanks to Kristen for her continued service to SOA as she moves to Vice President/President-Elect.

For more information see the Officer and Council Member roster, Committees & Task Forces page, and the Nominating Committee page.

Last Updated on May 29, 2025 by Emily Gainer

Spring 2025 Election of Council and Officers

SOA’s 2025 elections are now open!

Voting is open from May 1 through noon on May 16, 2025. Voting has now closed. Please click here to access the ballot for the spring election. Candidate statements are included in the spring issue of the Ohio Archivist (starting on page 12) and online.

In order to verify that you are an eligible voter, we are asking that you provide the email address associated with your SOA membership. If you would like to change your email preference, please send an email to [email protected]. Please include the original email address and the one you’d like to change to.

Questions? Contact the Nominating Committee chair, Melissa Dalton.

Last Updated on May 19, 2025 by Emily Gainer

Ohio Archivist Spring 2025 Issue Available

The spring 2025 issue of Ohio Archivist, SOA’s biannual publication, is now available to download as a PDF!

In this issue you will find a information about the Spring meeting to be held at the University of Toledo and online, 2025 candidate biographies, a feature on the archivist as collector, an article on archival trauma, and much more!

Contents:Screen capture of the front page of the SOA Newsletter.
– Annual Spring Meeting Preview
– President’s Message
– Fall Meeting Recap
– Feature:  Archivist as Collector by Emily Ahlin
– DEIA: Archival Trauma by Michelle Ganz
– Meet the 2025 Officer & Council Election Candidates
– News & Notes

See all past Ohio Archivist issues on the publication’s page.

Questions? Contact Ohio Archivist Editor-in-Chief Jessica Heys.

Last Updated on April 30, 2025 by Emily Gainer

Council Meeting Minutes from March 28, 2025

The Society of Ohio Archivists most recent leadership meeting minutes from March 28, 2025, can now be found on the Council Meeting Minutes page.

Interested in SOA over time? Also on that page are minutes dating back to 1997. In addition to documenting actions from the leadership meeting, minutes include reports from the treasurer as well as from committees and task forces.

Questions about minutes? Contact SOA Secretary Shelby Beatty.

Last Updated on April 29, 2025 by Emily Gainer

Ohio Archives Month Poster 2025 – Voting Open

Help select the images used for the 2025 Ohio Archives Month Poster!

This year, the annual Society of Ohio Archivists’ October Archives Month poster theme will highlight Ohio-born companies.

The submitted images from around the state include internationally, nationally, and locally known companies that were born in Ohio. Thank you to all our submitters for sharing these pieces of history!  We had great submissions this year from many wonderful Ohio institutions.

Now YOU can help us narrow down the field for the final poster! Please look through the images and their descriptions and vote for up to 10 images. The top 10 images to receive the most votes will be sent on to the designer for consideration in the final poster design.

Use the Google form to vote between April 22 and May 6, 2025. Please only vote once.

On behalf of the SOA Advocacy and Outreach Committee, we thank you for participating!

Questions? Contact the Advocacy & Outreach Committee cochairs Sarah Aisenbrey and Jim McKinnon.

Last Updated on April 22, 2025 by Emily Gainer

SOA Constitutional Amendment – Revision Proposal

Revision Proposal

Edit (April 25, 2025): Thanks to member feedback, proposed language changes linked below to the SOA Constitution will be modified and presented at the annual meeting before voting takes place.

After reviewing our governing documents, SOA Council recently approved an amendment to the SOA Constitution to align the Constitution with current SOA Council meeting practices and Ohio’s Revised Code. The proposed language change, rationale, and information from the Ohio Revised Code can be found here. The amendment will be voted on by members during the business meeting at the SOA Conference (Friday, May 16th, 2025), with a majority vote in the affirmative being required for approval. If desired there will be time for discussion of the proposed amendment during the business meeting. I also welcome all thoughts and questions by email prior to the meeting.

Thank you everyone, and I look forward to seeing many of you at our annual meeting in just a few weeks.

Matt Francis
SOA President

Last Updated on April 25, 2025 by Emily Gainer

Council Meeting Minutes from Feb. 28, 2025

The Society of Ohio Archivists most recent leadership meeting minutes from February 28, 2025, can now be found on the Council Meeting Minutes page.

Interested in SOA over time? Also on that page are minutes dating back to 1997. In addition to documenting actions from the leadership meeting, minutes include reports from the treasurer as well as from committees and task forces.

Questions about minutes? Contact SOA Secretary Shelby Beatty.

Last Updated on April 3, 2025 by Emily Gainer