Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization

“At an annual meeting, members approve through motion, a slate of new board members.”

“Presented to the ohc board of trustees by auditors”

“SIGNED ANNUALLY”

“The executive director is evaluated by each board of trustees member on an annual basis using an anonymous survey based on the job description of the director. This job description was updated in 2012 by vote of the board in public session and is recorded in the board minutes. After reviewing the survey results, the executive committee of the board recommends compensation adjustments within the approved annual budget for the organization. This recommended adjustment is approved by the full board in public session and is captured in the board minutes.”

“Provide a copy upon request within 3 working days and may charge $0.10 per page.”

“Oberlin history: making new connections in 2016, staff and volunteers of the oberlin heritage center set their sights on strengthening programming that would engage the public and lead to greater community involvement. These efforts led to exciting collaborations, varied programming, and newly uncovered histories. Connecting people with history ohc offered numerous programs in 2016 in collaboration with community partners and in places that took history on the road. We brought the history of dave, an early 19th century enslaved potter who acquired the rare skills of reading and writing, to children at prospect elementary school, residents of welcome nursing home, and to the campus for a free public program at oberlin college. Volunteers from the kelton house museum and gardens in columbus were invited to present not on our watch: the oberlin wellington rescue of 1858 at mount zion baptist church's fellowship hall. Ohc worked with kulture kids of cleveland to host the last fugitive slave at the first church in oberlin, u.c.c. And staff helped answer questions during the accompanying school outreach programs. The oberlin african-american genealogy and history group invited ohc to present on the oberlin oral history project, and the allen memorial art museum requested a program on african-american business owners from oberlin's history. A few programs took us further afield, including to an alcoa aluminum plant, mckay lodge fine arts conservation laboratory, and vermilion valley vineyards. Perhaps a favorite of the year was the new every good story has a plot tour of westwood cemetery, in which three ohc board members presented as costumed interpreters the less-often told stories of oberlin historical figures. Other tour highlights included a special free presentation of the "radicals and reformers" tour of westwood cemetery on memorial day, during which participants were also able to learn more about the friends of westwood cemetery organization as they enjoyed a refreshment break. Museum education and tour coordinator amanda created a new music in the home tour to help visitors experience ohc's historic buildings as homes once filled with song and music. Ohc also knows that preservation begins at home, and so offered two public programs intended to give members of the public the skills they need to save their family heirlooms: collections care & preservation and caring for your historic photographs," each presented at the oberlin public library. These pilot programs and new connections already have spurred projects in 2017 and reinforced the idea that everyone's history matters, that everyone's actions affect the historical record, and that we can do more by working together. Please refer to our calendar of programs to see additional ways residents and visitors, children and adults, connected with history. Expanding the timeline the heritage center regularly interprets defining moments in oberlin's early history, but that leaves out many equally powerful individuals, events, and social movements from more recent years. In 2016, we broadened the timeline and scheduled several public presentations about events of the 20th century, which also prompted us to augment our research holdings. Mary manning, an americorps member serving her second year at ohc, started the year with the community program great city, great war: oberlin's response to world war i and created newspaper archives, biographies, and an online listing of known soldiers. Norm craig, oberlin college professor of chemistry, emeritus, took us into the air with a presentation about the wright brothers and their personal connections to oberlin through their sister, oberlin college graduate and trustee katharine wright haskell. Collections manager maren mckee prepared a mini exhibit of swimwear from the early- and mid- 1900s. Guest speaker andrew mizsak presented a history of the national park service, which celebrated its centennial in 2016. Jiyul kim, visiting assistan”

“Ohc annual meeting salutes town and gown achievements in history a full house, good company, upbeat atmosphere, high energy presenters and award recipients, and one last hurrah in the oberlin inn made for a memorable annual meeting in 2016. More than 170 members and friends of the oberlin heritage center gathered at the inn on april 6 to celebrate the organization's accomplishments of the past year and to look ahead to the future. Dean of the oberlin conservatory andrea kalyn presented the featured program on the legacy and the 150th anniversary of the oberlin conservatory of music. Dean kalyn spoke of three common themes that have influenced the conservatory's long history and which continue to direct its vision for the future: aspiring to the highest standards of excellence, nurturing artistic curiosity and experimentation, and making an impact on the world through music. Highlighting the evening were the 15th annual community awards presentations for outstanding dedication to history, service, and the oberlin community. Award recipients included: the oberlin african-american genealogy and history group (oaaghg) was recognized with the heritage guardian award for preserving important aspects of the community's african-american history with a number of free services and programs for all community members that further an interest in family history and research. The prospect school third grade team (felicia christian, brandi hicks-watson and christine hohman), who adapted traditional elementary lessons on oberlin history into the international baccalaureate program's "who we are" unit of inquiry, was honored as a group with the history teacher of the year award. Ken stanley received the community teacher of the year award for his work as founder and driving force behind the du bois project, which encourages underrepresented and minority children to enjoy math, while also successfully increasing self-esteem and building community among participants. Melissa clifford and eileen telegdy were hailed as the oberlin heritage center's volunteers of the year for their work in digitizing the oberlin oral history cassette collection of interviews. Leo braido/oberlin iga received the business service leader award for partnering with the heritage center to create his store's "oberlin proud" atmosphere through historic images from the ohc photograph collection. Julia elrod, an oberlin high school honors student, was applauded with the youth community service award for her commitment to volunteering weekly at the heritage center in addition to her involvement in many other aspects of community service. Heritage center board president nick jones conducted the annual business meeting. Governance committee chair donna shurr presided over jones' re-election as the organization's president for another two-year term, as well as the re-election of board members barbara enos, brittnei sherrod and gail wood. Voted in as new trustee was laurel price jones, while long-time board member scott broadwell was appointed an honorary trustee.”

“Oberlin heritage center strategic plan for 2016-2018 introduction this is the seventh strategic plan to be crafted by and for the oberlin heritage center (ohc). It was crafted over an eleven-month period beginning in october, 2014, with input from staff, board, volunteers, ohc members, strategic plan facilitator j.d. Britton, and other interested community persons. The plan was adopted by the board of trustees at its meeting of november 4, 2015. Mission statement the mission of the oberlin heritage center is to preserve and share oberlin's unique heritage, and to make our community a better place to live, learn, work, and visit. Core values integrity: ohc commits to authenticity and accuracy and excellence in management and governance, and strives to be worthy of the public's trust. Openness: ohc embraces diversity of participation, ideas, opinions, and action. Innovation: ohc nurtures creative thinking and active learning. Engagement: ohc seeks to involve the community in relevant and vital discussion and action. Sustainability: ohc commits to being a strong and visible organization that provides continuity and leadership. Stewardship: ohc strives to protect and preserve oberlin's history and historic buildings and resources for future generations. Leadership: ohc strives to be a leader among the historical organizations in the county, state, and nation. Vision statement: having grown over the past two decades to become a nationally-accredited and award-winning history organization and museum with strong local support, ohc now aspires to broader engagement with all sections of the oberlin community. Ohc strives to extend its membership base to include the rich diversity of oberlin and to engage the remarkable resources of its staff, volunteers, and members in a widespread culture of participation. Ohc hopes to position itself financially and organizationally to preserve, interpret and share multiple histories of oberlin in ways that continue to engage its members, serve the oberlin community at large, and interest and inform the many visitors to oberlin. Executive summary this plan covers seven key areas of operation. In fundraising, it reverses a consistent reliance on deficit spending over the past several years by putting board and leadership energy into renewed fundraising to achieve financial stability without cutting staff or programming. In brief, in its seven goal areas, the plan: " begins directing programming towards new audiences and engaging new aspects of oberlin's historical narratives; " ensures preservation of the valued historic buildings and collections of ohc through the creation of an endowment to fund their maintenance in a sustained manner; " calls for ohc to complete decisions about its ownership of less historically significant properties on south professor street, and the potential reorganization of subsidiary boards associated with its investment in real estate (ohcp and vineway); " calls for renewed board engagement in fundraising and community involvement; " reaffirms ohc's commitment to an active and well-compensated staff, while directing the organization to prepare for re-accreditation; " calls for short-term and long-term improvements in the acquisition, management, storage, and display of collections; " details various engagement strategies to bring the community into a better understanding and awareness of ohc's work and presence in oberlin. 1. Ohc will strengthen mission-based programming that engages the public and leads to greater community involvement in the organization. 2. Ohc will achieve financial stability by creating a culture of philanthropy, overhauling and strengthening its development efforts, and striving toward a balanced budget. 3. Ohc will develop and implement plans, and develop infrastructure and capacity, to ensure that its facilities, properties and grounds support the organization's mission and core values. 4. Ohc will maintain a strong and effective governing board tha”

“Summary of the history of the oberlin heritage center the oberlin heritage center originated in 1903 as a part of the progressive-era "improvement" movement when a group of citizens founded the oberlin improvement society (later known as the oberlin village improvement society), which advocated for improved public hygiene and social and municipal services, and helped to create oberlin's park system. In 1958, a separate oberlin historical society organized and began acquiring historic buildings and artifacts. In 1964, the oberlin historical society and the oberlin village improvement society merged to become the oberlin historical and improvement organization (o.h.i.o.). In the early 1990s, o.h.i.o. Began its transformation from a small, all-volunteer group to a professional museum and historical organization, hiring an executive director in 1993 and a museum education and tour coordinator in 2007. In the mid 1990s, ohc began systematically collecting historically significant artifacts and archives, and began an active program of tours and presentations about oberlin's history. In 1998, the organization named its complex of historic buildings "the oberlin heritage center." today the oberlin heritage center is open to the public for tours year-round. The ohc complex includes: the monroe house (moved in 1960), the little red schoolhouse (moved next to the monroe house in 1968 and moved to its present site in 1997), and the jewett house and its barn (in their original locations, added to the site in 1966). The organization offers public and school programs and special events throughout the year and issues periodic publications on historical topics. Major projects include the city-wide historic site inventory, the westwood cemetery inventory, and the oberlin oral history project. Ohc recognizes that there are many histories in the oberlin community and is active in preserving and interpreting this unique heritage, including such topics as oberlin's role in the abolition of slavery, the underground railroad, and the civil war; the innovative work of oberlin college in the education of african-americans and women; and the discovery of a practical method of refining aluminum. Twentieth- and even twenty-first-century histories are central to ohc's ongoing work, including its active oral history project and attention to the role of oberlinians in the two world wars, korea, and vietnam, in the civil rights movement, and in the world of music and the arts. Ohc is part of the time travelers' network of historical organizations and of the national trust for historic preservation's statewide and local partners network. It is a designated facility of the national park service's underground railroad network to freedom program. In 2005, ohc earned national recognition with its accreditation by the american association of museums (now the american alliance of museums). Ohc (and its predecessors) have a long history of community involvement, including managing the former oberlin community center building, preserving and finding a use for the burrell-king house (now the community music school), guiding the replacement of the historic tower of the new union center for the arts, restoring the historic exterior of the vineway building, and renovating and operating the first group home in ohio. Ohc has been active in securing historic site designations and historical markers and in preserving historical buildings in the community.”

“Current program areas 1) historic properties: the oberlin historical and improvement organization operates the oberlin heritage center, a complex of historic sites that is open to the public for tours year-round and also houses the administrative offices and resource center library. 2) collections: we collect the material and intellectual culture of people in oberlin, ohio, and preserve it for the benefit of present and future generations. We seek objects, ordinary and extraordinary, whose stories and meanings are rich, that have inherent worth, that both reflect and challenge the conventional wisdom, and that invite us to look deeper or broader. We require these objects and their documented contexts as evidence to illuminate and interpret the larger themes of oberlin history and environment. Our collections form the foundation for research, scholarship, exhibition, public programs, and outreach. The oberlin heritage center interprets oberlin's history since its founding, in particular its strong activist traditions of abolitionism, temperance, co-education, missionary outreach, progressivism and women's rights, and the stories of the people associated with our two house museums and the schoolhouse. Many of the existing collections are on exhibit interpreting our three historic buildings to tell the stories of oberlin's early activists, educators, inventors, students and residents. Other collections are used by the staff, interns, volunteers, and the public for research on genealogy, architectural history, historical textiles, and for public school and oberlin college history projects. The vision for the collections on display interpreting our historic house museums and schoolhouse is that they not only reflect what just any houses of these eras would look like, but what the homes of the specific people whose stories we tell would look like and/or reflect about the activities in the daily lives of these specific people. The vision for the collections in storage for the oberlin heritage center not only as a museum but also as a responsible local historical society, is that each piece have a pertinent oberlin story to tell, or oberlin connection such that it will be used, if not for display, for research and/or teaching, or for special exhibits telling oberlin stories in the 20th century. It is the intention of the oberlin heritage center to have special exhibits space at some point in the future. It is preferred that each piece have a provenance that connects its creation or use to people and activities in oberlin. However, where that is not possible a piece that can be exhibited or researched as an example of what people in oberlin would have been using or doing at a given time in its history is acceptable. 3) archives, research & publications: the organization's resource center includes holdings on oberlin history, family history, historic preservation and nonprofit organization and museum management. Staff members are available by appointment to assist those interested in researching local and family history, with a particular focus on descendants of families that settled in the oberlin area. Major research projects underway include the westwood cemetery inventory, the oberlin oral history project, and the underground railroad research. The organization publishes books and booklets on historical topics from time to time, on-line resources, as well as its program and news calendar and the oberlin heritage center gazette/annual report. 4) educational programs and tours: the organization offers public and school programs, special events, and guided tours throughout the year.”

“Ohc program summary for 2016 january 16 and january 20 - great city, great war: oberlin's response to world war i presented first at the oberlin public library and reprised at kendal at oberlin's heiser auditorium by americorps member mary manning. February 3 - collections care and preservation 101 filled the oberlin public library's community room to capacity with 60 participants who learned the do's and don'ts of basic preservation practices. The free workshop was offered by jennifer souers chevraux, education outreach officer and interim executive director of oca-art conservation in cleveland. March 1, 8 and 15 - hands-on-history & cultures of the world home school series, a three-class series held at the oberlin depot on wednesday afternoons, explored people, land and traditions of the arctic native nations, japan, and ireland. March 5 - national history day ohio district 3 competition included three ohc representatives among the judges: staff member amanda manahan, board member ken grossi and ohc volunteer penny jaffe. This year's oberlin heritage center hubbard prize, supported by members gail and ned hubbard, was presented to the oberlin high school team of chris schroth, hannah cipinko, and jullion fenderson for the creation of their website an indelible impression: exchanging the melody of peace during oberlin college's choral encounter with the soviet union. March 12 - ohc collections manager maren mckee and volunteer kelsey voit shared tips and techniques on caring for your historic photographs in a free community workshop at the oberlin public library. March 17 - the heritage center saluted local women's impact on national history in its illustrated program one step more: oberlin women's history presented by executive director liz schultz at kendal at oberlin's heiser auditorium. The women's history month program was part of kendal's third thursday lecture series. March 21 & 22, march 23 & 24, and repeated march 29 & 30, march 31 & april 1 - spring break mini-camps: feel the oberlin rhythm and spark an idea! Power & energy in ohio offered at the oberlin depot for boys and girls ages 8-13. April 6 - the 2016 annual meeting, dinner and award presentations at the oberlin inn saluted the legacy and the 150th anniversary of the oberlin conservatory of music with guest presenter andrea kalyn, dean of the conservatory. April 11 - the heritage center launched a new "ohc members-only" event series with a behind-the-scenes visit to the alcoa forgings & extrusions plant in cleveland to learn more about modern day manufacturing and uses of the aluminum extraction process that was first discovered in 1866 by one of oberlin's favorite sons, charles martin hall. April 27 -oberlin college emeritus professor of chemistry norman craig presented a soaring history lesson in the wright brothers and oberlin: a mutual adoption, which took place in kendal at oberlin's heiser auditorium. April 30 - the heritage center was one of several local preservation groups that took part in the lorain county preservation expo held at the beautifully rehabilitated lorain historical society's carnegie center in lorain. On the other side of town on the same day, the heritage center participated with local history organizations from around the region in the first annual northeast ohio local history fair held at ellenwood community center in bedford. Both events were free and open to the public. Spring 2016 - the oberlin heritage center and the oberlin college archives paired up to host a local edition of the statewide "i found it in the archives" contest. Oberlin high school sophomore lucy cipinko won the local round and went on to be selected as a state finalist in the competition organized by the society of ohio archivists. May 20-22 - commencement/reunion weekend - history walks and guided tours filled this busy weekend of welcoming visitors from near and far, plus the special debut of a new music in the home tour of the 1866 monroe house and 1884 jew”