Region 7 Meeting Re-Cap

The Region 7 OAHSM Meeting was hosted by the Greene County Historical Society on Saturday, March 7, a beautiful sunny day!

The event began with a welcome from Senior Regional Representative Virginia Weygandt (Clark County Historical Society), Cathy Wilson, Executive Director of the Greene County Historical Society, and Xenia Mayor Phyllis Pennewitt.Vicki Bondi (Centerville-Washington Township Historical Society), Junior Regional Representative, conducted the business meeting during which Todd McCormick, Director of the Logan County Historical Society, was elected the incoming Region 7 Junior Representative.

Greg Myers, OAHSM President (Cridersville Historical Society) gave the OAHSM Report. Greg reported on OAHSM membership, budget, and the recent Statehood Day. Of note is Senate Bill 60. SB 60, introduced to the Ohio Senate on March 3 by Sen. Mark Wagoner (R-Ottawa Hills), will establish a tax check-off on Ohioan’s individual income tax return. If an individual wishes they will be able to contribute all or a part of the return owed to them to a fund for local history in Ohio. The funds will go to the Ohio Historical Society and will be used to establish a competitive matching grant program for local historical societies across the state.

Everyone is urged to contact their state senators and representatives to let them know that this bill is important to Ohio’s history! You can find your legislator at the Ohio Historical Society’s Capwiz page by clicking here. Legislative updates are available at the Ohio Historical Society’s website under Legislative Update. A tutorial on how to effective advocate for history is available by clicking here.

After the welcome, OAHSM report and Local History Office report, Cathy Wilson and Ben Thompson from the Greene County Historical Society, and Vickie Bondi from the Centerville-Washington Township Historical Society participated in a round table discussion, Back from Disaster: What It Takes to Bring a Historical Organization Back to Life.Cathy Wilson and Ben Thompson discussed the 1974 Xenia tornado and its impact on the Greene County Historical Society. They pointed out that many of the GCHS volunteers were helping the organization after the hurricane while dealing with their own loss, which is truly a testament to the volunteers and their relationship with the organization. At the time of the 1974 tornado, the GCHS had insurance but no disaster plan. They utilized the county sheriff’s office and local universities to temporarily house and care for damaged artifacts.

Vicki Bondi detailed the Centerville-Washington Township Historical Society’s experience with inclement weather through the Hurricane Ike windstorm where they lost electricity for nine days. They had no computer, phones, lights or HVAC system. A good thing to keep in mind in such situations is to have a print out of your disaster plan and know where it is. If it is saved on your computer and you do not have electricity your disaster plan will not be of much use. Vicki also pointed out it is a good idea to keep batteries and old phones that do not require electricity.

During the Q& A it was discussed that the Red Cross identifies local disaster locations and historical societies need to have similar sites. In regards to information stored on computers that may become inaccessible during disasters, many companies rent server space to back up files, which can then be accessed remotely.

Follow lunch participants shared some of the great projects and events that they are planning including collaborations with local schools, universities, CVBs and other historical organizations, facilities upgrades, digitization projects, big band concerts, opening new buildings (or as Jim Oda put it, “shedding some Flesh”), planning festivals and Chautauqua, and oral history projects. Region 7 is quite busy this year!

After lunch Virginia Weygandt conducted the workshop Disaster Planning: What We Thought We Knew But Didn’t. This featured the results of REPP, a significant grant funded program that examined risk, evaluation, and planning for disaster planning in the United States. She began by introducing the group to the Heritage Health Index and its conclusions. Next she detailed the process that CCHS went through to determine their risk and how to avoid major losses if something were to happen. Virginia shared the risk evaluation worksheets.

The panel session, Partnering with Community Groups to Attract Audiences, featured Vicki Bondi from the Centerville-Washington Township Historical Society and Roger Sherrock from the Clark County Historical Society was particularly educational. Roger explained how the CCHS is making their museum building work for them by renting space to other non-profits in Springfield such as the Arts Council, the United Way and the Veterans Administration. These activities can reap up to $100,000 a year in hard money. CCHS is more than just a landlord, they also partner with each organization on collaborative ventures. For example, every year the Arts Council brings special plays and concerts to Springfield for the local schools. Since the artists perform during the day for the schools CCHS and the Arts Council host evening performances for the public, drawing in new visitors. One of the most unusual partnerships is with the local Harley-Davidson dealers. Together they host an events titled, “Hogs, Hot Rods, and Heritage.” The event attracts nearly 4,000 people per day. Roger suggests partnering with anyone, even if it seems unusual, because maybe a new group of people you may never have considered will find the value in your organization and its mission.

Vicki discussed a Veteran’s Day exhibit at their library which brought in many new collections for the historical society. She also had many suggestions for members, including: partnering with the local Chamber of Commerce for free publicity, providing free space to small groups which may lead to donations and visitations, partnering with local businesses to add a cultural component, advocating on behalf of publicly-funded entities, and integrating museums into commercial activities.

The approaches that Roger and Vicki are taking remind me of a great book I read last summer, The Medici Effect. Author Frans Johansson looks highly innovative people in order to understand what makes them so successful. He concludes that innovators are willing to take risks and combine seemingly unrelated things to discover valuable combinations that push the boundaries of a field.

We ended the day with a tour of the Greene County Historical Society properties, including the museum’s wonderful train collection, the Victorian house, and the Galloway log cabin.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Region 7 meetings and special thanks to our wonderful presenters and host!