This year for the annual Society of Ohio Archivists’ October Archives Month poster we are looking for archival image submissions having to do with nature, outdoor recreation, and outdoor tourism in Ohio, due by April 2. Scroll down for all the details!

For the past year, many have been cooped up indoors and apart from others more than ever before, but the outdoors have always offered an escape! With this in mind, we decided to highlight Ohio’s outdoor spaces in this year’s Archives Month poster.

Does your archive have great images of local parks? People hiking? Picnicking? Enjoying the great outdoors? Ohio is filled with local, state, and federal parks to enjoy, outdoor attractions, and more. Do you have people represented in your archives instrumental to parks development? All of these are examples for wonderful submissions! Continue reading →

This year’s theme for the Ohio Archives Month poster was Ohio Women and the Fight for the Right to Vote, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which expanded the women’s suffrage across the country. We invited repositories and institutions across the state to submit their photographs, documents, or other graphical materials that exhibit a connection to this year’s theme. (Download the poster as 3MB PDF.)

The SOA Advocacy and Outreach Committee received submissions on the theme from 7 institutions, for a total of 13 photographs and documents! The submissions were compiled, and 3 images were selected by the designer for the final poster. Due to COVID-19 and many archivists not having access to their collections, we had considerable fewer submissions this year, but we hope you can submit your images next year.

See our 2020 poster page for more about the images featured on the poster from the Community Archives of Patricia Smith Griffin, and the Ohio History Connection, as well as the others submitted, and the full text of the poster.

2020 Archives Month Poster submissions not included on the poster.

Thank you to the following institutions for their participation: Clark County Historical Society; Case Western Reserve University; Community Archives of Patricia Smith Griffin; Logan County History Center; Oberlin College Archives; Ohio History Connection; and The Ohio State University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.

We hope everyone takes the opportunity this Archives Month to promote their institution and collections. We look forward to hearing from you over the month. Be sure to check the SOA website and Twitter account regularly for updates on the various Archives Month activities throughout the state!

Questions? Contact the Advocacy and Outreach Committee Cochairs Natalie Fritz and Jenifer Baker.

Let Ohio Women Vote poster. Courtesy of Ohio History Connection

With all libraries, archives, and museums closed in compliance with the Governor’s orders to help stop the spread of COVID-19, the deadline for submitting images for this year’s Ohio Archives Month poster will be extended from the original deadline. We realize that with the craziness of the past weeks, it’s likely been the furthest from anyone’s minds, but we hope that we may still be able to keep with the longstanding Archives Month poster tradition.

The new submission deadline is Friday, June 5.

The 2020 theme for the annual Society of Ohio Archivists’ Archives Month poster is the centennial commemoration of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed and protected women’s constitutional right to vote.  Continue reading →

Voting for the top images for the SOA Archives Month poster starts today and runs through Friday April 26. You can vote online for your favorite items. Click the image to enlarge it and click the box around it to select it.

Happy voting and thanks to all the institutions who submitted something!

Lindy Smith Reference Archivist

Music Library and Bill Schurk Sound Archives

313 Jerome Library | (419) 372-7776

[email protected] | she/her

As part of the annual celebration, SOA creates a poster every year to highlight items from collections around the state. This year’s theme was Ohio in World War I, to mark the 100th anniversary of United States involvement in the “War to End All Wars.” Out of the 21 institutions that submitted images for possible inclusion, a poll of SOA members selected six. Only three were included in the final poster, so we wanted to take this opportunity to share all of the winning images and their stories with you. Congratulations to all images chosen and keep an eye out for the call for submissions for next year’s poster!

Congregational Archives, Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, Cincinnati, OH
In 1918, after 46 years in the US, Sister Eutropia was required to register as an Alien Enemy Female. She had to carry her registration card at all times.

Franciscan Sisters Registration Card

National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, OH
Female employees at the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, Plant 1, Motor Department, July 1, 1918.

Dayton Wright Airplane Company, Plant 1, Motor Department, 1 July 1918.

Defiance College, Defiance, OH
Card advertising the Student Army Training Corps on the Defiance College campus, c. 1918.

Defiance Students Army Training Corps Card

Ohio Army National Guard, Columbus, OH
Chaplain John F. Herget serving ice cream to Soldiers of the 1st Infantry Regiment during training in Cincinnati, September 1917.

Chaplain John F. Herget serving ice cream to Ohio National Guard Soldiers

Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH
Photograph of 21,000 soldiers who were stationed at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio, during World War I standing in formation to make the shape of President Woodrow Wilson’s head. In the upper right-hand corner can be seen the tents and buildings of the camp.

Soldiers stationed at Camp Sherman in standing in formation as the shape of President Woodrow Wilson’s head

Mary E. Gladwin Papers, University of Akron Archival Services of University Libraries, Akron, OH

Akron nurse and University of Akron graduate Mary E. Gladwin (back row, center) poses with nurses at the American Red Cross Field Hospital in Belgrade, Serbia during World War I—the only Red Cross hospital then located in a combat zone—where she helped care for over 9,000 soldiers.

Akron Gladwin with Nurses in Serbia

With your Archives Month celebrations wrapped up, don’t forget to check out SOA’s Passport to the Past, it’s a great tool to learn more about historical organizations throughout the state.