The Society of Ohio Archivists most recent leadership meeting minutes from June 20, 2024, 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.
The Marketing and Communications Committee invites you to takeover the SOA Instagram account! An Instagram takeover is when someone takes over the posting on an Instagram account for a limited time to share content and interact with the account’s audience.
Read over the guidelines below and then sign up for a week that works for you. These takeovers are intended to promote and share archives throughout the state! Continue reading
The Society of Ohio Archivists is partnering with the Ohio Local History Alliance for the fall meeting, Truth and Consequences. Join us on October 4-5, 2024, at Quest Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Registration is now open through September 23! Sessions and speakers will discuss how the theme of Truth and Consequences relates to the work of our member organizations in collecting, sharing, and commemorating Ohio’s local history.
The SOA track will take place on Friday, October 4 and will feature the following sessions:
View full details on the conference brochure. Attendees are welcome to attend any of the Local History Alliance sessions, luncheons, and other special events on both Friday and Saturday.
Questions? Contact the Educational Programming Committee Cochairs Sara Mouch and Michelle Sweetser.
by Collette N. McDonough, CA. Collette is a member of the SOA Advocacy and Outreach Committee.
As a young person, the summers meant many things to the city pool, mowing the grass, but the peak of summer fun was the fair. I was a 4-H kid, and the county and state fairs were a big deal for me. I participated in the animal science program, specifically the equine division. I loved going to the Washington County Fair each year and to the Ohio State Fair when I qualified. So, I’m happy to contribute this blog post about the Ohio State Fair that features materials from the Ohio History Connection.
Most Ohioans would assume that our state fair has always been held in Columbus, but the fair bounced around the state well into the 1880s, taking place in Cincinnati, Dayton, Newark, Toledo, Zanesville, Cleveland, Mansfield, Sandusky, and Springfield before its permanent and current home in Columbus was finished in 1886. The first Ohio State Fair was held in 1850, just outside of Cincinnati. Continue reading
During the recent Annual Meeting at Capital University, new council members were elected.
SOA would like to welcome the following new leaders:
A big thanks to the Nominating Committee. Also, thank you to everyone who participated!
Officer Transitions:
New co-chairs:
Thanks to outgoing co-chairs: Collette McDonough (Advocacy and Outreach Committee); Penelope Shumaker (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (JEDAI) Committee); Jane Wildermuth (Marketing and Communications Committee); and Jennifer Long Morehart (Membership and Awards Committee).
For more information see the Officer and Council Member roster, Committees & Task Forces page, and the Nominating Committee page.
The Society of Ohio Archivists most recent leadership meeting minutes from April 5 and May 17, 2024, 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.
It’s time to vote for Society of Ohio Archivists Leadership!
All current members of SOA should have received an email with a link to the ballot for officers and Council members on April 26. The ballot will be available April 26-May 17 (noon). If you did not receive one, and you have checked your junk folder, check with SOA Liaison Betsy Hedler at ohioarchivists@ohiohistory.org regarding your membership status.
Please see the Candidates’ Statements on page 4 of the Ohio Archivist, spring 2024.
2024 Slate of Candidates
Thank you to the Nominating Committee for their work.
April is volunteer appreciation month, a great time to acknowledge those who give their time, talent, and energy to support our missions and day to day operations.
Depending on what kind of organization you are from, you may interact with, utilize and depend upon, and find your volunteers differently. I want to share a bit about my own experience with volunteers as the Archivist and Outreach Director for the Clark County Historical Society in Springfield, Ohio.
The Clark County Historical Society is housed in the Heritage Center.
First a bit of background on our organization. We are a county museum, founded in 1897. Since 2001 our home has been the Heritage Center, built as Springfield’s City Hall and Marketplace in 1890. The Heritage Center has a museum on the first and second floor, of the original building and we added an annex for more exhibits, the Expo Hall, in 2003. We have collections storage throughout the building, but primarily on the second floor, and our research library and archives are on the third floor on the east end of the very long, very narrow building. There are other tenants in the building, including Clark County Veterans Services, United Way, ODOT, and Un Mundo Café. We are grateful to have support from our community for a levy, which mainly helps with major upkeep and capital projects in our 130+ year old building. Continue reading
Help select the images used for the 2024 Ohio Archives Month Poster!
This year for the annual Society of Ohio Archivists’ October Archives Month poster the theme will highlight Ohio connections to Olympic competitions with “O-H-I-Olympics: Competitors from the Buckeye State.”
The submitted images from around the state include not only those related to the summer and winter international Olympic Games, but also those connected to the Special Olympics and Senior Olympics. Continue reading