SOA Strategic Plan 2023-2026 Now Available

Message from the Strategic Planning Committee Chair

I’m pleased to announce that SOA has completed our strategic planning process, and the 2023-2026 strategic plan is now available on the website. This plan has strategies for success across the organization to help SOA meet its vision to be the primary provider of professional development for archivists and historical records professionals in Ohio. You can follow our progress towards these goals by checking the task tracker on the site, which will be updated regularly.

I’d like to thank all the members of SOA’s leadership in 2022-23 and 2023-24 for their work in creating the plan and helping refine the goals and tasks. We would not have this plan without their active participation. I’d especially like to thank the members of the strategic planning committee over the past 18 months: Melissa Dalton, Sherri Goudy, Collette McDonough, and Nick Pavlik for their work every step of the way. Finally, thanks to Rob Colby for helping us start the process and Jennifer Souers Chevraux for helping us bring this plan to fruition.

I hope you take the time to read the plan and see what SOA hopes to achieve for our profession!

Best,
Amy Rohmiller
Past-President & Chair, Strategic Planning Committee

Last Updated on August 30, 2023 by Emily Gainer

OLHA/SOA Fall Meeting 2023

OLHA/SOA Fall Meeting, October 6-7, 2023

The Society of Ohio Archivists is partnering with the Ohio Local History Alliance for the fall meeting, History as Necessity.  Join us on October 6-7, 2023, at Quest Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio.Ohio Local History Alliance and Society of Ohio Archivists brochure first page.

Registration is now open through September 22 September 30 (extended)! Sessions will discuss a wide array of ways in which collecting, sharing, and commemorating Ohio’s local history can, and perhaps should, become more central in the operations of our organizations.

The SOA track will take place on Friday, October 6. The Fall Meetings page includes more details on these tracks. View full details on the conference brochure.

Questions? Contact the Educational Programming Committee Cochairs Sara Mouch and Michelle Sweetser.

Last Updated on September 25, 2023 by Emily Gainer

SOA Council Minutes for June 2023 Available

The Society of Ohio Archivists most recent leadership meeting minutes from  June 27th 2023, 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 August 8, 2023 by Amber Bales

Archives Month Poster Reveal 2023

2023 Poster Unveiling – Sept 7

The Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee invites all SOA members and lovers of history to an online event where we will unveil the 2023 Archives Month poster!

Join us on Thursday, September 7, 2023, from 3 – 4pm (ET) on Zoom for the poster unveiling, along with fun trivia. Please register by September 4.

Each year, SOA creates a poster to recognize and celebrate Archives Month. This year’s theme is transportation. We had more than 20 Ohio institutions contribute images, and the SOA membership voted to pick the top ten images. View the 2023 top ten images on the blog.

Questions? Contact the committee at [email protected].

 

Last Updated on August 3, 2023 by Emily Gainer

SOA Election Results 2023

SOA Election Results 2023

During the recent Annual Meeting at the Dayton Metro Library new council members were elected.

SOA would like to welcome the following new leaders:

  • Melissa Dalton, Preserve It, LLC, President (2023-2024)
  • Matt Francis, Ohio Northern University, Vice President/President-Elect (2023-2024)
  • Shelby Beatty, Sinclair Community College, Secretary (2023-2025)
  • Kristen Newby, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Council Member (2023-2025)

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

Continue reading

Last Updated on October 24, 2023 by Emily Gainer

SOA Council Minutes for May 2023 Available

The Society of Ohio Archivists most recent leadership meeting minutes from May 12, 2023, 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 June 28, 2023 by Emily Gainer

Save The Date!

Save the Date for the Ohio Archives Month Poster Unveiling!

creative commons stock photo of post it note saying Save the Date!

(cc) save the date by lisa.scheer.stbv

On Thursday, September 7 at 3pm, the Advocacy and Outreach Committee will also host an unveiling event online (through Zoom). Mark your calendars and please join us!

 The top 10 photographs selected by you (SOA membership) can be viewed on the SOA blog: https://ohioarchivists.org/2023-archives-month-poster-results/. Congrats to The University of Akron Archives and Special Collections for having the top images and thanks to everyone that submitted. We could not create the poster without your help.

 These 10 photographs are sent to the designer for consideration in the final poster design. Posters will be mailed to SOA members by the end of September.

Thank you,

Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee

Questions? Contact the committee at [email protected].

Last Updated on June 22, 2023 by Amber Bales

2023 Ohio Archives Month Poster “Top 10” Voting Results

This year for the annual Society of Ohio Archivists’ October Archives Month poster we asked for archival images having to do with the theme of Transportation in Ohio.

The Advocacy and Outreach Committee is happy to announce the top ten photographs selected by you (SOA membership)!  These ten photos are in the running to be included in the final poster. Stay tuned for this year’s poster as we get closer to October and Archives Month. Posters will be mailed to members by the end of September.

Thank you to all that submitted! We could not do this without people / institutions who submit such interesting photographs.

Congrats to the University of Akron Archives and Special Collections and to Dayton History for their images being in the top 3.

The top ten images as selected by you were:

  1. Members of the Akron Chapter of the NAACP pose in front of a bus used to transport Akronites on a freedom ride to Anniston, Alabama. In 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) undertook Freedom Rides by racially integrated groups through the South to test the enforcement of a newly enacted court order prohibiting segregation in interstate bus terminals. The riders met fierce resistance and hostility in several states with the worst violence occurring in Alabama where the riders were attacked and badly beaten after their bus was bombed and set on fire. While CORE called off the ride, other civil rights activists—including this contingent from Akron—rushed to Anniston and other parts of the Deep South to support the Freedom Riders and helped continue their cause.

    Historic black and white photograph. Group of people sitting and standing by an NAACP freedom bus.

    NAACP Freedom Bus, 1961. Photograph from the Opie Evans Papers, The University of Akron Archives & Special Collections.

  2. The Goodyear blimps Reliance, Puritan, and Enterprise fly over downtown Cleveland including Terminal Tower during the Great Lakes Exposition. The Exposition, which occurred in 1936-1937, coincided with the centennial of Cleveland’s incorporation. It attracted 7 million visitors to downtown Cleveland and helped draw the city out of the Great Depression.

    Three Goodyear Blimps flying over Cleveland, Ohio skyline. Black and white photograph.

    Blimps Over Cleveland, 1936. Photograph from the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Records, The University of Akron Archives & Special Collections.

  3. Group of men racing their horse-drawn sleighs down West First Street in Dayton, Ohio, after a heavy snow in 1910.

    Black and white photograph. Three sleighs pulled by horses on a snowy road.

    Sleigh racing in Dayton. Courtesy of Dayton History.

  4. The bicycle has a long history of being an important mode of transportation on the Oberlin College campus. This rider appears to have mastered the “wheelie” trick, although we do not have any photos of the aftermath!

    Black and white photograph of a man operating a high wheeler bicycle.

    High Wheeler Bicycle, Oberlin College Campus, 1937. Courtesy of Oberlin College Archives.

  5. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower waving from a Baltimore and Ohio railroad’s special train’s caboose as he leaves Defiance after a visit to Defiance College to lay the cornerstone for the College’s new library on October 15, 1953. The Baltimore and Ohio was one of the oldest U.S. railroads, reaching the Ohio River from the Atlantic coast in 1852. It merged into CSX in the 1980s.

    Black and white photograph of a man standing on a train platform and waving his hat.

    U.S .President Dwight D. Eisenhower waving from train in Defiance, OH. Courtesy of Defiance College.

  6. Head Librarian at Dayton Public Library, Electra C. Doren, established one of the first book mobiles in the United States. Staff members are from left to right: Janet L. Hannaford, Mildred Adams Linskey, Grace Althoff, Electra C. Doren, Reba Boomershine, Emma Davis, Helen M. Tattershall and Mayer Griswold who was also the driver of the wagon.

    Black and white photograph of seven women gathered around a mobile library.

    Dayton Public Library Book Wagon, c. 1924. Courtesy of Dayton Metro Library.

  7. The first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight on December 17, 1903, by Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio.

    Black and white photograph of an airplane on a beach. A man stands on the right facing the airplane.

    First flight, 1903. Courtesy of Wright State University Libraries.

  8. Defiance College owned a hot air balloon in the late 1960s and 1970s, and used it to teach Ohio’s first college course on ballooning. CBS News filmed a story on it which aired on national television in 1970.

    A red and white hot air balloon inflated with the basket on the ground. A group of people standing by the balloon's basket.

    Defiance College hot air balloon. Courtesy of Defiance College

  9. The canals lining the streets of Cincinnati created transportation hubs, odd jobs, and a reputed “rough crowd” during the whole of the 19th century. Although the usage of the canals was mainly discontinued due to the continual flooding of the early 20th century, and the advanced changes in the city’s transportation developments; the canals continue to hold a special place in the hearts of Cincinnatians to this very day.

    Black and white photograph of five men standing on a canal boat. Building line the canal in the background.

    9. Cincinnati Canal Boat and Crew, c. late 1880/early1890s. Courtesy of Cincinnati Museum Center.

  10. Defiance College’s men’s glee club on tour of New England in 1926, in an early form of bus. Defiance College holds other photographs from the same trip of the men having to push this vehicle out of the mud. The sign inside the spare tire says “Defiance College Men’s Glee Club.”

    Black and white photograph of two men standing in front of a long car with men inside the car.

    Defiance Men’s Glee Club bus, 1926. Courtesy of Defiance College.

Thank you,

Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee

Questions? Contact the committee at [email protected].

Last Updated on June 22, 2023 by Emily Gainer

Meeting Scholarships Awarded for 2023

The Society of Ohio Archivists Membership & Awards Committee is pleased to announce four scholarships awarded at the Annual Meeting on May 12, 2023.

Scholarship awardees are:

  • Student Scholarship Award: Kirsten Dilger, Wright State University
  • Student Scholarship Award: Jacob Stickel, Wright State University
  • Ohio Preservation Council Scholarship Award: Colleen Badenhop, Kent State University
  • New Professional Scholarship Award: Paige Kinzer, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky
Four people posing for a photograph. They are the scholarship winners.

2023 Scholarship Awardees pose at the Society of Ohio Archivists Annual Meeting on May 12, 2023 (L to R): Jacob Stickel, Kirsten Dilger, Paige Kinzer, and Colleen Badenhop

The scholarship consists of registration to the SOA annual meeting (including lunch), a one-year SOA membership, and a $100 travel stipend. Look for articles sharing their meeting experiences in the fall issue of the Ohio Archivist newsletter.

Last Updated on May 30, 2023 by Emily Gainer

Merit Award Recipients 2023

The Society of Ohio Archivists Membership & Awards Committee is pleased to announce two Merit Award recipients. The awards were presented at the Annual Meeting on May 12, 2023.

Photograph of three people holding plaques. These are the SOA Merit Award winners.

2023 Merit Award recipients: Warren County Records Center & Archives, accepted by Jennifer Haney Conover and Jenifer Baker, and Adam Wanter

Adam Wanter is honored for his outstanding service and dedication to ensuring that the Society of Ohio Archivists thrives. For the past several years, Adam has gone above and beyond to lead SOA through challenging times. Elected as Vice-President/President Elect in 2019, Adam stepped up to serve as president for an additional year when the current president
resigned. In his first year, Adam shepherded SOA through a transition in its leadership structure. In 2020, he directed SOA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to the murder of George Floyd. Under his watch, SOA pivoted to an online conference, increased its free offerings to members, began its hardship program, and oversaw the creation of the Social Justice Black Lives Matter Task Force. After finishing his extended term as president and time as past-president, Adam co-chaired the Educational Programming Committee which planned the 2023 Annual Meeting. For his efforts to lead and improve SOA, it is fitting that the Society of Ohio Archivists presents Adam Wanter with the 2023 SOA Merit Award.

The Warren County Records Center & Archives is honored for its work to make vital records such as birth, death, Commissioners’ Journals, and Common Pleas Court indexes available to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working from home, staff cropped, transcribed, and added metadata to these records, ultimately making well over 30,000 records accessible. Once back in the office, staff added metadata and images to the first twenty-four Commissioners’ Journals, which are key records to understanding the history of Warren County. They also finished a multi-year project to place all the Old Common Pleas Estate Packets online, a collection which included over 90,000 searchable images and is frequently requested by researchers.  For its efforts to make important county records more accessible to researchers, it is fitting that the Society of Ohio Archivists presents the Warren County Records Center & Archives with the 2023 SOA Merit Award.

Congratulations to the 2023 Merit Award recipients!  Visit the Merit Award page for more information and past award winners.

Last Updated on May 30, 2023 by Emily Gainer