Ohio Historical Center

Welcome to my new blog. If you've read my others, thanks. And don't worry, they aren't going away at all (even the one that I haven't updated in over a year). I just had an idea today to start a new one, with a very specific purpose.

Like most people, I love to take pictures of places when I visit them. My frustration is that sure, I can put them in albums on facebook or flickr, and my friends can see them, and that's fine. But I was wanting to do just a little bit more than that. I wanted to tell more of a story about the pictures that I take. I thought it would be interesting to "review" the places I go, tell stories, jokes, and hopefully have discussions with other people about these places.  These will probably be very long posts.  I hope the fact that I will be using a lot of pictures to break the text up.

My first subject is one that I've been trying to champion a bit with my friends in real life, but wanted to open up to a broader audience. The Ohio Historical Center (OHC) in Columbus, Ohio is a visually-striking museum that is both one of the most recognizable, yet most ignored (by the public) places I've been.

The Building

Without going into the gory details, the OHC is a prime example of an architectural movement called Brutalism.  Now, that doesn't stand for "Wow, that building looks brutal."  Brutalism is a movement, popular from the 1950s through 70s that deals in repeating geometrical shapes, and lots and lots of concrete.

lights and ceiling on second floor

view from entrance looking South.  Look at all the concrete

raised "stage" area, and stairs to second floor

long view of second floor ceiling

To be perfectly honest, I'm not a fan of this building.  The overall feeling inside the main portion of the building is very dated, dark, and kind of depressing.  There is some good natural light coming in on the second floor that leaks down, but there are times where you can't help but feel like you're almost underground.  

Which is kind of interesting, because, in fact, you are kind of underground on the first floor.  These pics taken from the second floor may help explain:

See that grassy area?  That's the roof of the first floor over part of the museum!

This is a pic of a picnic area and hill that covers another part of the first floor.  That's Columbus Crew Stadium in the distance on the left.

So you can see, there's a whole lot of interesting architecture going on, even if it isn't the most aesthetically pleasing building ever.

A museum, however, is not graded on its building.  It's based on the exhibits inside the building.  So let's now take a look through those.

Permanent Exhibit: The Nature of Ohio

The Nature of Ohio can best be described as your stereotypical natural history exhibit. A majority of this exhibit is comprised of taxidermied animals, rocks, and fossils in glass cases with informative plaques.  There are some outdated computers that can give animated descriptions of certain topics.  

A deer in its natural habitat, in front of a green wall.  Apparently it has a role in the next Michael Bay movie.

To be fair, the sign is actually next to a snail.  But this is the most pathetically happy looking turtle I have ever seen

Rows and rows of stuffed animals in cases

Look how much fun these dead bears are having!

Geology rocks!

This is the exhibit I remembered most from my annual grade school field trips back in the mid-80s.  I was also happy to find out that this exhibit hadn't changed very much at all since then!  I'm being a bit facetious here, but honestly, this area screams the fact that it has not been updated seriously in a good 15-20 years.  The most recent things I could find were some newspaper clippings  about climate change from 2010.  Oh, and there was this.

For some reason, a Columbus Bluejackets goalie uniform is here to introduce the section of the exhibit about weather.  To be a true representation of a Blue Jackets goalie, there should be a stack of pucks in the net.

The star of this exhibit is the Conway Mastodon.  He greets you as you enter the museum.  A funny story about that after a couple pics.

In the top of these two pics, you'll see a guy in a red coat.  That's where you enter from the recently renovated welcome area.  Due to circumstances beyond the museum's control...this has not always been the entry.  Because of that, the mastodon used to face to the right.  So, for several years now, the very first thing to welcome you to the museum was the business end of a mastodon.  Thankfully, they have turned the mastodon to give a better, more welcoming view.  

Windows to Our Collections: Ohio's Ancient Past

Ohio has a long and storied history.  Especially when it comes to groups of Native Americans that used to dot the region.  This exhibit, also one I remember from the past, shows lots of artifacts that have been discovered from those ancient cultures.  

Now, this exhibit has recently (I say recently, but I just realized it has been over a year since I have been to the OHC) moved.  It used to be the front part of the "Centuries of Change" exhibit, but has now been moved to a different area that used to hold a very small and rather uninspiring nature exhibit.  This new placement is a vast improvement, and there has even been some new content added.  

One of my favorite memories...the ancient culture miniatures dioramas

How much fun do you think they had putting this one together?

A map of an Indian mound...not very inspiring

Technology!  Felt like Windows 95 on the computer to me.

Yes, this is made from model railroading foam

Another miniature diorama

This is a neat little exhibit.  I'm glad they moved it out on its own.  In the old location, parts of the exhibit were actually split out into the hallway outside.  This way, you get the whole story, in one place.  

Ohio: Centuries of Change

This is the last of the major exhibitions.  It tells the story from the pioneer era, up to about the mid 70s.  Now, for some reason, I always walk into this exhibit from the wrong end.  Thanks to the layout of the museum, if you travel around in a clockwise fashion, you will come across the wide open and inviting end of the exhibit...and not the more narrow actual entrance on the other end of the museum floor.  This exhibit is a labyrinth of Ohio history, up until the construction of the museum it seems.  If you enter the exhibit the correct way, however, you might be underwhelmed at first.

This is the area where the Ancient exhibit used to be.  This is what leads me to believe it was a recent move. Even the exhibit signs talk about going from the ancient era to the modern era.  Hopefully, some new items will be here soon.

The pictures that follow are just scattered bits and pieces of the exhibit.  The basic "point" of the exhibit is that Ohioans have always done some pretty cool things.  Sometimes because of what's going on in the world, and sometimes despite them.  

I would like an updated version of this car,

Random oddity:  As a nice jarring juxtaposition between halves of the exhibit (pioneer / modern are split by a ramp).  There is a very small area that shows some of the more bizarre things in the Ohio Historical Society's collection.

Famous two-headed calf

A mummy

A full-sized beer statue

To go along with the two exhibitions that have Civil War items we've already seen, this exhibit has even more items from the Civil War.  These are permanently on display.

Civil War era deck of cards

This clock looks like the face is floating in a liquid.  It's actually just blue-green glass

If I have anything to complain about this particular exhibit, it's that there is nothing modern.  This exhibit stops when the museum was opened, right around 1970. One message of other history museums I have been to is that history is still being made.  That's a message that seems to be lacking to an extent here.  There is a very tiny side exhibit that does go into this idea, and gives tips how to preserve items for the future, but I would like to see more in the main halls.

Temporary Exhibits

To go along with these three, large permanent exhibits, there are also several traveling exhibits.  As these aren't around forever, I won't spend as much time talking about them.  

The first exhibit commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  I did not see when this exhibits would close.  If it's going to last for the entire 150th anniversay, then it'll be around for a few years.  However, don't quote me on that.  This exhibit was rather small, and the sunlight from the second floor seeped into this exhibit in such a way that the reflections off the glass was extremely distracting.  Still, these are some impressive works of art.  Lots of great history about Ohio's role in the war as well.

There was another war exhibit that talked about many different aspect of war.  This exhibit was called "Over Here, Over There."  This exhibit was placed in the hallway that led to the Ancient Cultures exhibit.  Not the smoothest transition in topics, but this is a very nice exhibit.  To be fully honest, I'm not even sure if this is a temporary exhibit.  But the last two times I've been to the museum, this same hallway was used for an exhibit of Currier and Ives prints, and I think one of quilts (very fuzzy memory there).

Flag from the Mexican-American War

Cannonball in a tree trunk

Cameras used during wartime

More wartime photography equipment

The next temporary exhibit was one on wartime photography from the Civil War to Afghanistan.  This will be at the museum until the end of the year.  This was basically set up like an art exhibit.  It's a nice exhibit, but nothing terribly different than what you may have seen before if you've ever seen war photography before.  

Controversy

Sadly, for anyone reading this article as of Nov. 18, 2011...you have 2 days to see this exhibit.  Since it's unlikely you'll see it, I'll go ahead and share my thoughts. 

Controversy is an exhibit of some of the more controversial items that the Ohio Historical Society has in its massive collection.  What makes this exhibit so unique is that each item is presented without context.  It's a very minimal exhibit, but a very powerful one.  

I am posting pictures of the items below, so if you fear you might get upset or offended, please scroll by quickly to the next red text message...or stop reading altogether (thanks for coming this far)

The basic setup of the exhibit is as follows:  A black room, an item in the middle of the floor, a one or two word term that describes what the item is with no bias.  In an opposing corner (where you actually have to turn away from the item) a small card tells you how the museum got the item.  That is it.  All of the context and emotion prescribed to the items come 100% from within. I have to say that I had the perfect way of seeing this exhibit today.  I was alone in the exhibit the entire time.  While you can't touch the items, you can get very close.

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I'll have to admit that I felt uneasy as I stared directly into the eye holes in the hood of this KKK robe.

This is just a bed.  For a mental patient.  They slept inside.  

Even just looking at a box on a store shelf makes some people uncomfortable...

Nothing unusual here...just a regular control panel...

Who would run one of these things without reading the manual first?

Two things I noticed:  The coffin shaped stand the chair was on, and the chair was made of some beautiful wood.  The creepy thing that ran through my head?  "I wonder what the room smelled like after this chair was used?"

A thumb mitt to keep kids from sucking their thumbs.  To be honest, I didn't think this one was very controversial, more weird.

You could write your thoughts of each item on an overhead projector.  This is officially the first time I have seen an overhead projector in use since my sophomore year in college.

Controversy was a very unique museum exhibit.  In a weird way, it almost felt like an art exhibition.  I really felt some strong emotions while standing there, looking at some of these items.  Feelings unlike any I've ever felt in a museum before.

My only complaint would be that it cost an extra $5 to see this exhibit.  While I didn't particularly mind, there were only these items inside.  In the grand scheme of things...I saw thousands of items for $10, and had to pay $5 more to see just six more.  That being said,  I would like to see more of this style of exhibit in the future.  I bet there are some amazing items that would benefit from this kind of display.

End of Controversy discussion

The Second Floor

There's very little on the second floor.  

A look at White Castle's history

A 1987 racecar

A couple old planes

Vending machines for your refreshment needs

One Random Thought...

Throughout the Natural history, and Ohio Culture exhibit, there were these ultra creepy statues of people.  They were all monochrome, and looked like they were just made of plaster...serious nightmare fuel here.

Seriously, what is up with these things?

Wrapping Up

I did not go to the archives library.  It's a very cool room, and the lobby had some Devo items last time I was there, but due to the fact that I didn't want vending machine food, and I was getting hungry...I ended my visit here.

I enjoyed spending a couple hours at the Ohio Historical Center.  I don't think it's the kind of place I would go very often, unless an interesting temporary exhibit comes around.

It had been over a year since I've been there, and I noticed quite a few changes that gave me hope for the future of this museum.  The new lobby was a nice first step.  

Brand new welcome desk and Ohio History Store

Ohio has a deep and rich history that more people should spend some time learning about.  Hopefully, the OHC will continue to tweak their formula, and update a few of their out of date exhibitions.  I hope more people remember this place from their childhood, and go back and see it again.  It's worth the effort.