Sound Money: William McKinley’s 1896 Presidential Campaign

By Benjamin Baughman, History Curator The 1896 presidential election was one of the most divisive in our nation’s history. Pitting the Ohio-born Republican nominee and former Ohio governor, William McKinley, against the Democratic nominee, former Nebraska Congressman William Jennings Bryan, the election focused mainly on America’s money supply. Still suffering from the Panic of 1893 […]

Bringing Trailblazing Ohio Women in Healthcare into the Classroom

Special thanks to intern Jessie Tudor-Tangeman for writing this month's blog. Did you know that Ohio was once the home of the first female doctor in the United States? Or that Toledo, Ohio was the location for one of the first female African American owned pharmacies in the nation? Would it surprise you to know […]

ART in STEM: How NASA Used Art to Design the James Webb Telescope

Special thanks to our guest contributor Chris Moynihan at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum for writing this month's blog. At the Armstrong Air & Space Museum, the education staff embraces their roles as “informal” educators. Museums dedicated to the scientific history of America’s space program, such as the Armstrong Air & Space Museum, have […]

Discover Discovery Park at the Ohio History Center

  The Ohio History Center has recently updated the Discovery Park play area. Located in the Nature of Ohio section of the museum, Discovery Park now features camping and outdoors-themed activities for kids aged six and under. Kids will think they're just having fun, but you'll know they're practicing fine motor skills with puzzles and […]

Public Domain Day 2025

Objects from the Octagon: Archaeological Collections and the Stories They Share

Beginning on January 1st, 2025, The Octagon Earthworks will be open to the public daily for the first time in over a century. What is known today as the Octagon Earthworks is a preserved section of geometric earthworks, including the Octagon, the Observatory Circle, and the Observatory Mound, once part of the larger Newark Earthworks […]

Remembering a Forgotten Legend: Hallie Q. Brown

Special thanks to our guest contributor Kevin Lydy at the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center (NAAMCC) for writing this blog. So I pay my tribute to you While you live to hear me say That I pride myself in knowing you, And in seeing you each day. While I see your smile and hear […]

Winter Sports: Activities in the cold to help keep you warm

The Case of the Curious Artifact

  Recently, while working with a collection from a 1984 Coshocton County rock shelter excavation, I came upon two relatively modern, distinct artifacts amidst fragments of broken and melted glass bottles. When I first saw them, they looked like decorations of some sort. They were spiral-like and made of thin aluminum. However, on the top […]

Through the Eyes of a Child

In celebration of the holiday season, we thought you’d enjoy this encounter we had with a 7 year old who visited the museum in Columbus during a special event. She came by our table filled with stone pestles, pieces of pottery, bone tools, granite celts and chert projectile points; one of which made her face […]