Christopher Busta-Peck
A colleague pointed out (thanks, M.H.) that
the Cleveland Public Library home page acknowledged that one of its own librarians,
Christopher Busta-Peck, has been doing some good work researching and promoting the preservation of Langston Hughes' home.
Christopher has a blog,
Cleveland Area History, which he co-authors with local writer
Christine Borne, which is well worth subscribing to. I hope his identification of
a home that Jessie Owens lived in might receive equally profitable results.
Labels: Christine Borne, Christopher Busta-Peck, Cleveland history, Cleveland OH, Jessie Owens, Langston Hughes, preservation
A Historic Identity for Northeast Ohio
The article
below, about Ohio Historical Society's further reduction in hours, mentions a big collection redevelopment project taking place. The morning
Plain Dealer today has a big article that continues the call for more regionalism. The question that comes to my mind, prompted by a stimulating discussion last night on this subject, is what does it mean to be a resident of Ohio and/or Northeast Ohio? What is our identity, as opposed to someone from Indiana or Florida?
When several NE Ohio libraries formed our
Ohio's Heritage Northeast site several years ago, it was partially to support the greater call for regionalism with some collaborations around the history of Northeast Ohio. But what is "northeast Ohio" geographically and what historical character, what unique identity do we who live here have? Ultimately we decided that the boundaries would be those of the Western Reserve and the next original land survey tract below us, the U.S. Congress Lands N.E., the boundaries of which would be East Liverpool west to a point SW of Mansfield, then north to the west side of Sandusky. This corresponds reasonably well with most definitions of NE Ohio by economic development and environmental sustainability folks and it has the historical virtue of including the Point of Beginning for all the federal surveys under the Land Ordinance of 1785 and has as part of its southern boundary the Greenville Treaty Line.
But that does little to say what it means, historically, to be a resident of NE Ohio. Do we have any defining character or identity? And for that matter, what does it mean, historically, to be an Ohioan? What is the sound-bite, bumper-sticker message we want to send out to the world to tell them something about ourselves? Once upon a time we tried "The Best Location in the Nation," and "Cleveland Is A Plum," and now we're hawking "Cleveland Plus," but these slogans are artificial and don't mean anything that's unique about our area. Plums? Maybe there is nothing unique about our story and living here has no particular thing to say to the world, but I wonder. Any ideas?
Labels: Cleveland history, Cleveland OH, identity, Northeast Ohio, Ohio's Heritage NE, regionalism
Article noted:Ohio Historical Society to reduce the hours of its museum to only 9am-5pm on Saturdays and for the library to only 9am-9pm on Thursdays while a big collection redevelopment project takes place.
State's Attic's Overhaul: Ohio Historical Center to trim hours - Ohio Historical Society's MySpace Blog |Labels: Ohio Historical Society
