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.”

“The many paths to history read the words "learning about history and many people will imagine a book or have a sudden flashback to a high school classroom. But there are many other, often deeper and more personal, ways that people connect with history. See where your mind takes you when you read these words: historic village, antique engine show, personal collection, family tree, oldies station, documentary, "when i was your age-", handcrafted, family recipe, classic movie, national park. We are constantly surrounded by and engaging with history in more ways than we think. With that in mind, the oberlin heritage center's 2017 events calendar included more experiential programs to help people connect with history while still keeping the tried-and-true tours, outreach, youth camps, community festivals, projects, research assistance, and evening lecture programs. Add that to what ohc regularly posts online and you can access history 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! You might have heard something in the air, as the heritage center hosted several musically-themed programs in the spring, including music in the home tours, a delightful parlor concert, a lecture about the oberlin conservatory of music's special collections, a behind-the-scenes visit to the college's piano shop, and the powerfully moving oh, freedom! Event, which combined music with spiritual and historic narratives, as well as with contemporary commentary. The dig deeper into the mudd field trip gave participants a first-hand chance to learn about the oberlin college archives, special collections, and letterpress studio in mudd library. Two other trips ventured further afield to the historic homes of ohio-born presidents james a. Garfield and rutherford b. Hayes. En route to each destination, executive director liz schultz shared history highlights of these national leaders' connections to oberlin. The first annual community trivia night was great fun as attendees puzzled their way through questions about history, medicine, movies, music, and more. [what is ohio's native state fruit? Answer at the end!] guests also loved testing their listening skills and logic on the new historically inaccurate tour during which museum education and tour coordinator amanda manahan wove together oberlin oddities and outright falsehoods, which led to lively discussions of fact and fiction in oberlin history. Another tour favorite was the second annual presentation of every good story has a plot, which included three new figures from oberlin's past greeting visitors to historic westwood cemetery. Several wonderful events dazzled the eyes in the fall of 2017, including a special showing of the time-travelling adventure back to the future at the apollo theatre, video documentaries about the history of medicine in oberlin, a fun array of historic toys displayed during the holiday season, and a special guest exhibit with the museum of hispanic and latino cultures of lorain. This month-long collaboration was accompanied by a spectacular fiesta en la biblioteca, a one-day celebratory event at the oberlin public library, which featured cultural foods, crafts, music and dance! Trivia answer: pawpaw! Heritage center launches new endowment campaign at annual meeting members and friends of the oberlin heritage center gathered at the hotel at oberlin on april 5 to celebrate the nonprofit's accomplishments of the past year and to look ahead to the organization's future. Mercy allen hospital president joseph sober presented the evening's featured program to 170 guests, speaking on the history and future of oberlin's community hospital. Ohc honorary trustee dr. Jeanne mckibben displayed a mini-exhibit about oberlin's medical history. Highlighting the event was board president gail wood's announcement that the heritage center had quietly raised $335,000 over the past 18 months toward the pat murphy endowment for heritage preservation and was now kicking off a community-wide public phase of the campaign a”

“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 that ensures institutional stability, sustainability and growth in cooperation with the executive director. 5. Ohc will maintain strong and effective human resources (paid, volunteer, and intern) and a management structure that ensures institutional stability, sustainability and growth. 6. Ohc will further develop, maintain and improve its collections, resource center library, collections storage areas, exhibit space, research and public access. 7. Ohc will continue to increase its visibility and strengthen its organizational image. 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”

“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 2017 january 24 - jeremy smith, oberlin conservatory of music's special collections librarian and curator of the james and susan neumann jazz collection, presented a richly informative program revealing the treasures of the conservatory's special collections to a large community audience in heiser auditorium at kendal at oberlin. Thank you to northwest savings bank for sponsoring this free, public program. January 27 - this ohc members-only private tour allowed participants a look behind-the-scenes in the piano shop at the oberlin conservatory under the guidance of john cavanaugh, executive director of piano technology and robert murphy, assistant director of piano technology. The group learned about the wide array of pianos owned by the conservatory and how technicians keep them in tip-top condition throughout the year. February 3 another ohc members-only tour took us to the oberlin college campus where the group had the fun opportunity to dig deeper into the mudd and learn more about mudd library's archives and special collections with archivist ken grossi and head of special collections and preservation librarian ed vermue. February 11 - dramatist, researcher, and educator wesley g. Williams ii teamed with musician and vocalist h. Learthur (h.l.) wright ii in the special black history month tribute oh freedom! Commemorating the negro spiritual and the underground railroad. The powerful musical and theatrical program took place at the first church in oberlin, united church of christ, and was free and open to the public thanks to support from the community foundation of lorain county and the oberlin african-american genealogy & history group (oaaghg). March 1, 8, and 15 - hands-on-history & cultures of the world home school series featured three wednesday afternoon sessions at the oberlin depot where students aged 8-13 explored the cultures of west africa, iran and spain. March 14 - community historian and ohc trustee steve johnson presented an original two-part spring series at kendal at oberlin's heiser auditorium, which focused on world war ii and its local impact. Oberlin reacts to world war ii, the first in the series, looked at oberlin's home front before, during and after the war. The series was sponsored by northwest savings bank. March 21-23 hands-on mini-camp held at the oberlin depot during local schools' spring break. Around the world in 3 days took youngsters ages 8-13 on a fabulous adventure of discovery as they explored the lands and traditions of the arctic peoples, australia, west africa, india and more. April 1 - the historically inaccurate guided tour debuted on april fool's day as an out-of-the-ordinary experience where visitors were challenged to call the docent's bluff. As the tour moved along through the heritage center's three, beautifully preserved historic buildings, tour-goers had the chance to try to identify fact from fiction and determine which stories were popular myths and which actually happened way back when. April 5 - the 2017 annual meeting and community award presentations at the hotel at oberlin lo”

“September - the monroe house became backdrop for a beautiful, colorful display of artifacts and art from the collection of lorain's museum of hispanic and latino cultures. As part of the collaboration, visitors could experience guided tours in both english and spanish or opt for a self-guided version. Highlighting the month-long guest exhibit was the fiesta en la biblioteca, a lively gathering that included music, dance, crafts, food and fun for all ages that took place september 23 at the oberlin public library. September 9 - the second annual root beer float friday welcomed oberlin college students back to campus and offered an introduction to the heritage center while staff and volunteers served up frosty floats from the jewett house front lawn. The oberlin iga and the ohio educational credit union were co-sponsors for the event. October 12 - more than 100 movie-goers enjoyed an evening of zany science, time travel and plenty of fun as the ever-popular classic film back to the future was featured on the big screen at a night at the apollo. This ohc fundraiser for ongoing program support included contests, raffles and photo ops with an authentic and awesomely cool delorean automobile. Special thanks to community partners kurt g. Sarringhaus co., ltd. And ratsy's store of oberlin for helping to sponsor the event, and to several downtown businesses for donating contest prizes. October 19 & 24 - oberlin physician dr. W. Jeanne mckibben, who spent decades documenting the medical history of oberlin through photographs and rare video interviews, shared some of her insights during an illustrated program at the oberlin public library. An encore presentation of the free community program also took place at kendal at oberlin's heiser auditorium. Mercy regional medical center served as the premier sponsor for both programs. October 27 & 28 - visitors enjoyed a fascinating, family-friendly look at local history during the halloween season with the heritage center's presentation of every good story has a plot. This year's one-hour guided tour through westwood cemetery introduced new oberlin pioneers mary cordin mccoy harrison (portrayed by camille hamlin allen), hiram abif pease (dennis cook) and dr. Julia chapin jump (judy cook) whose stories focused on medicine, diet, and health in the early days of the community. November 10 - fun, food, factoids and falderal were all part of the heritage center's new community-wide trivia night which took place at the first church in oberlin, united church of christ's fellowship hall. Guests enjoyed an evening of friendly competition, emceed by wobl's super dave andrews, with plenty of lorenzo's specialty pizzas, games, raffles and prizes on the side. The fundraiser for ohc's ongoing programs was supported by premier sponsor mercy health/mercy regional medical center along with co-sponsors herrick jewelry of oberlin and northwest savings bank. Prizes were donated by numerous local businesses. November 13 - alexia hudson-ward, azariah smith root director of libraries at oberlin college presented an illustrated program on the diaries of emilie davis in kendal at oberlin's heiser auditorium. Davis was a 19th century free black woman who worked as a seamstress in philadelphia and kept a diary from 1863 to 1865, during the height of the civil war. The event was sponsored by joe and susan woodward and their 1830 hallauer house bed and breakfast. December - the heritage center celebrated the season with a special holiday-themed exhibit in the monroe house created by collections manager maren mckee. With wide-eyed wonder: toys & amusements from the past offered visitors a chance to see some of the more entertaining objects from the ohc collection, and a few even offered hands-on experiences for all ages to enjoy. For more information please contact executive director elizabeth schultz at 440-774-1700 or by e-mail at [email protected] or by mail to oberlin heritage center, p.o. Box 0455, oberlin, o”