Support needed for the Steel Museum

Please check out this article in the Zanesville Times Recorder about Ohio Historical Society sites in danger of closing for lack of funding.

If the Ohio Historical Society can’t find a way to recoup an estimated $1.3 million loss slated for 2010 and 2011, the National Road/Zane Grey Museum may temporarily close at the end of June.

Bill Laidlaw, executive director and CEO of the Ohio Historical Society, testified before the Higher Education Subcommittee of the Ohio House of Representatives Finance Committee on Thursday. On behalf of the organization, he requested additional funding in the state’s biennial budget to keep 18 of its 58 museums and historic sites open after June 30.

Besides the National Road/Zane Grey Museum in Norwich, the other affected sites include Adena Mansion and Gardens in Chillicothe, Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapokoneta, Campus Martius Museum and Ohio River Museum in Marietta, Dunbar House in Dayton, Flint Ridge near Brownsville, Fort Ancient near Oregonia, Fort Hill near Hillsboro, Fort Laurens in New Philadelphia, Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, Harding Home in Marion, Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Piqua Historical Area in Piqua, Serpent Mound near Peebles, Wahkeena near Lancaster, Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor in Youngstown and Zoar Village in Zoar.

The Friends of the Steel Museum met Monday, and I don’t know yet how exactly this was discussed, but I’m thinking we should start a coordinated letter-writing campaign to newspapers throughout the state emphasizing the museum’s importance–indeed the importance of all the Society’s sites state-wide. It’s time to remind everyone what history means.

I’ll try to pull together a sample letter and list of media contacts in the next few days. If you’ve got time to help out (you Spring Breakers), I would welcome it. Thanks!

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