The Wall That Heals Vietnam Veterans Commemoration

The Ohio History Center in Columbus is hosting The Wall That Heals

From Tuesday, March 26 to Friday, March 29:

*The Wall That Heals will be open 24 hours a day and admission is free.

*The Ohio History Center Museum will be free and open to the public, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.

The Wall is a 250-foot replica of the original memorial in Washington, D.C. It’s display at OHS is part of the first state-level commemoration of Vietnam Veterans Day in Ohio after Governor John Kasich signed Vietnam Veterans Day, officially March 30, into law in 2012. The original memorial has an interesting connection to Ohio. It was designed by artist and architect Maya Lin who was born in Athens, Ohio.

See the OHS web site for more information about the Vietnam Veterans Commemoration schedule of events.

The Catastrophe on the Mississippi: Finding the S.S. Sultana on Chronicling America

Early in the morning on April 27, 1865, the worst maritime disaster in American history occurred when the S.S. Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis, Tennessee. Some historians have estimated that over 1,700 lives were lost—most belonging to Union soldiers who were traveling home after the end of the Civil War. According to the Columbus Daily Ohio Statesman, the ship had been transporting “1,996 Federal soldiers and 350 officers, lately released from Cahawba and Andersonville prisons” (April 29, 1865, Image 6, Col. 3, via Chronicling America).

“The Tragic Steamer Sultana.” Source: Chicago Eagle, March 26, 1898, Page 6 (via Chronicling America).

The explosion resulted from a series of hasty repairs to the wooden steamship’s faulty boilers. An investigation held in the months following the disaster concluded with the ship’s captain, Fredrick Speed, being found guilty of neglect on June 9, 1866.

Newspapers available through the Library of Congress’s digital newspaper website, Chronicling America, allow you to see firsthand what people living at the time would have read about the S.S. Sultana incident. Though reports on this tragedy by the American press were largely overshadowed by other historic events happening at the time, such as the progress of President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train, Ohio newspapers covered the disaster extensively. At over 500 men, Ohio had the largest contingent of troops aboard the ship.

Those who did not die in the explosion drowned in the flooded, cold waters of the Mississippi. After living in the harsh prison camp conditions, few lacked the strength to swim to shore or await rescue efforts from nearby Memphis. Some accounts of what the soldiers—both those who died and those who survived— experienced have been recorded in the newspapers. The Tiffin Weekly Tribune, for example, reports, “The scene following the explosion was terrible and heart-rending in the extreme….The survivors represent the screams as agonizing beyond precedent” (May 4, 1865, Image 3, Col. 5, via Chronicling America).

“Explosion of the Sultana.” Source: Chicago Eagle, March 26, 1898, Page 6 (via Chronicling America).

The S.S. Sultana made the news long after its tragic end in 1865. Anniversaries, reunions of survivors and even similar disasters—such as the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in 1898—prompted the press to write about the steamship again and again. Several memorials have been erected around the nation in remembrance of those who needlessly perished with the ship.

Interested in learning more about the S.S. Sultana? Click here to see it featured in one of the Ohio Historical Society’s Chronicling America Search Strategy Videos available through YouTube! This short video will not only show you how to find information about the S.S. Sultana from the over six million pages of historic American newspapers available on Chronicling America, but it will teach you why and when to use the “any,” “all” and “phrase” search options when performing other searches on the website. You may also want to view the S.S. Sultana Subject Guide, available through the Ohio Digital Newspaper Portal Subject Guide Collection, for even more information.

The Chronicling America Search Strategy Videos was developed by the Ohio Historical Society with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program in Ohio staff. Please visit the Ohio Digital Newspaper Portal for more information.

By Jenni Salamon, Project Coordinator, NDNP-OH

Ohio Historical Society in the News

OHS programs, activities and staff are getting attention!

Man in US Bicentennial-inspired clothes, 1976.

See previews for tonight’s Way Back Wednesday program about the 1970s on Good Day Columbus with Dana Turtle.

More coverage of Faces of Appalachia, Photographs by Albert Ewing in (614) Magazine.

There are 2 Ohio Sites Up for National Historic Register

Good news! Ohio Historical Society Receives NEH Grant for Native American Project

Putting the Clues Together: Learning More about Your Family Photographs

Have you ever wished you could find out more about the old photographs you’ve collected?

Daguerreotype portrait of an unidentified family.

There maybe information captured in those images that can tell you more than you realize. Learning to sharpen your observation skills and picking up some pointers on how to date a photograph can give you new tools to use when doing family genealogy and research. Plan to bring a photograph or two and see what can be learned from the images. This class will be hands on and focus on 19th and early 20th century photography.

Date: Saturday, March 23

Time: 10 AM to 12 PM

Location: Ohio History Center, 800 E. 17th Ave., Columbus, Ohio

Cost: $15 for members; $25 for non-members

Click here to register online or call 614-297-2510.

Ohio Memory Madness

In the spirit and fun of college basketball’s March Madness, the Ohio Historical Society invites you to participate in the first annual Ohio Memory Madness – a bracket of sixty-four historical Ohio figures, including astronauts, athletes, Presidents, and more, all competing for the unique distinction of being named the 2013 Ohio Memory Madness Champion! What could be more exciting than that!?

The bracket features images of historical figures culled from Ohio Memory, the collaborative digital library project of the Ohio Historical Society and the State Library of Ohio, with digital collections from 360 cultural heritage institutions, representing all 88 counties. Scroll over the image to view a description and bio of the historical figure. Click on the image to visit the Ohio Memory image page with more information.

Since our figures are unable to play basketball (unfortunate, since imagining a game of HORSE between Florence and Warren G. Harding had the staff asking quite a few “what-ifs”…) the winner of this unique bracket will be determined by you – the voter! Visit http://www.ohiohistoryhost.org/madness/ and cast your votes for each round and, ultimately, the winner of Ohio Memory Madness!

The tournament voting will open as follows:

Round one: open voting 3/19 – 3/21 @5pm
Round two: open voting 3/22 – 3/25 @5pm
Round three: open voting 3/26 – 3/28 @5pm
Quarters: open voting 3/29 – 4/1 @5pm
Semis: open voting 4/2 – 4/4 @5pm
Finals: open voting 4/5 – 4/8 @5pm

Voting for each round will close at 5pm on the day before the next round of play. Have any questions? Send an email to ohiomemory@ohiohistory.org. Happy voting!

The 1913 Flood in Ohio Historical Society Archives

Easter week of March 1913 the state of Ohio received 6-11 inches of rain in a four day period. The already saturated ground and lack of a modern system of dams caused severe flooding in over 100 communities across the state and 430 deaths. As Ohio’s worst weather related disaster to date, the Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library holds materials that document the destruction of the 1913 Flood across Ohio.

Photographic postcard depicting flood damage on Third St. in Dayton, Ohio.

Examples of photographic materials include the Carman Family Album (call number AV 222) that contains 32 “real photo” postcards depicting high water and extensive damage in Marietta, a city in southeastern Ohio that sits at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers. Some views are very dramatic, such as a building that is standing on its roof. The Mayme V. Johnston Photograph Album (call number AV 7) contains photographs of the 1913 flood in Portsmouth, also a town on the Ohio River. The Norris Schneider Collection (call number P 259) and the Pioneer and Historical Society of Muskingum County Photograph Collection (call number P 28) both contain photographs of the 1913 flood in Zanesville, a city that sits at the meeting point of the Licking and Muskingum Rivers. There is also a collection of postcards (call number AV 121) created by Columbus photographers that documents damage in the capital city. One famous photograph (call number OVS 4352) shows the destruction of all the bridges that connected downtown Columbus with the western side of the city. A Columbus photographer and postcard publisher, Whedon Storrs Harriman, captured photographs of the flooding in both Columbus and the southwestern Ohio city of Dayton in his collection (call number P 340). Dayton was particularly hard hit by the 1913 flood. More images of the flooding in Dayton and small towns, such as Eagleport, Lowell, Malta, McConnelsville and Shawnee, are found in the small picture collections.

In addition to photographs, there are also first-hand accounts of the flood in the manuscript collections. The Owsley family of Dayton wrote about their experience living through the 1913 flood (call number VFM 5676). The recollections of another Dayton resident, Ruth Beard, are found in the Mary Beard Parrett Papers (call number MSS 1111). There are also letters of Charles B. Prugh of Columbus (call number VFM 2962), and William A. Pepper of Portsmouth (call number VFM 2557), describing their flood experiences to family members. A ledger book for the West Side Social Center in Columbus (call number VOL 187) also contains a description of the flood. Flood damage across the state is reported in a special edition of the Marietta Register Leader (call number VFM 5684).

There is also evidence in the collections of the efforts of public agencies and private organizations to assist with flood relief. The records of the Columbus Federation of Women’s Clubs (call number MSS 528) contains information about flood relief work by that organization. There are letters to the Ohio Relief Commission that contained donations to help flood victims (call number VFM 2970), and a log book of Ohio National Guard efforts to provide flood relief in Zanesville (call number State Archives Series 2192).
Postcard views of flood scenes were widely published in booklets and can be found in the pamphlet collection. Detailed coverage of the flood can be found in the Society’s extensive collection of historic Ohio newspapers. The historic newspapers are available on microfilm and hard copy in the Archives/Library research room. A growing selection of the newspapers are digitized and keyword searchable via the Ohio Digital Newspaper Portal. Digitized flood materials from the Ohio Historical Society collections and those of participating institutions from all over the state are available in the Ohio Memory digital library.

Harlem Shake: OHS Style

The Harlem Shake meme is everywhere and museums have joined the fun (along with athletes, news anchors, skydivers and Grumpy Cat). This week our staff decided to “get down with history” and create our own Harlem Shake video with Conway! Watch the video below to see how a tour of the museum quickly turns into a contagious dance party – instigated by one of our very own Village people!