Upcoming Events and Current News
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Pride Day!
Saturday, May 17, is Pride Day in Oberlin! Help your community and come on over to the Oberlin Heritage Center to help with our annual spring grounds clean-up. Volunteers will meet at the brick crossroads at the center of the Oberlin Heritage Center grounds and work from 9 a.m. to noon. Wear your work gloves and bring your favorite gardening tools, if you wish. Volunteers of all ages are welcome!
Commencement / Memorial Day Weekend
This weekend is a wonderful time to explore the Oberlin Heritage Center free of charge, either on a guided tour or at your own pace. We will offer walk through at your own pace mini-tours, lawn games, and craft activities on Saturday, May 24 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday May 25 from 1 to 5 p.m. Or, if you prefer a more in-depth visit, enjoy a guided tour of the Oberlin Heritage Center at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday or at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Weather permitting, we will also offer "A Walk Through Time: Tour the History of Oberlin Through the Landmarks Around Tappan Square" (guided walking tours) at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday. All of this weekend's events are free. Begin your visit or your tour at the Monroe House, 73 1/2 South Professor Street, at the back of the Conservatory of Music parking lot. There you can also visit our museum store for Oberlin-themed souvenirs, books, and much free visitor information.
Alonzo Pease, Oberlin's First Artist
This illustrated presentation will be given by art historian Marcia Goldberg on Tuesday, June 3 at 7:15 p.m. at Kendal at Oberlin. In its very earliest days our wilderness community was able to produce an artist. He was Alonzo Pease (1820-1881), nephew of founder Peter Pindar Pease. He came to what became Oberlin with his uncle to establish the settlement by building the first log cabin on what is now the southeast corner of Tappan Square. Marcia Goldberg received her M.A. from Oberlin College and has published articles in a number of art history and historical journals as well as in college publications. This program is free and open to all.
Docent Training Workshop
Help share Oberlin's powerful and nationally significant history with visitors of all ages! Our next docent training workshop will be held Sunday, June 8 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. This introductory workshop will set beginners on their way to becoming regular docents and refresh the knowledge of experienced docents who wish to attend. The workshop will include an overview of the Oberlin Heritage Center, a tour of our historic buildings and collections, helpful hints for giving great tours, and the telling of many of the fascinating stories that make Oberlin's Heritage so rich. The workshop is free, and training and educational materials will be provided. Please plan to come on a tour before the training if you haven't done so before. For more information or to register, please call Museum Education and Tour Coordinator Liz Schultz at 774-1700 or send an email to tourinfo@oberlinheritage.org by June 4. Our docents meet periodically to chat about tour techniques, special updates, and new acquisitions to the Oberlin Heritage Center. Docents enjoy an annual field trip to another historic site. Join us and share your passion for education, history, and the community!
Juneteenth
Celebrate Juneteenth in Oberlin on Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14. For information about the festivities, visit the website: www.juneteenthoberlin.com or call 440-935-0201. The theme of this year's celebration is the 175th anniversary of the founding of Oberlin and the 150th anniversary of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue. In celebration of Juneteenth the Oberlin Heritage Center will offer free guided tours on Saturday, June 14 at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis.
Family Fun Fair
Celebrate Lorain County Family Fun Fair and Vintage Days on Saturday, August 2nd. The Oberlin Heritage Center will be hosting mini tours, children's crafts, and lawn games from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and regular tours at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Don't forget to enter the raffle for a goodie bag too!
Oberlin Heritage Center Summer Day Camps 2008
This summer, the Oberlin Heritage Center will offer four week-long day camps for boys and girls ages 8 to 13. The programs are designed to stimulate children's creativity and to whet their appetites for history, architecture, art, crafts, games, and the tastes and sounds of other cultures and other times. Each camp is led by an experienced teacher assisted by college student interns and high school and community volunteers. The classes are held at the air-conditioned Oberlin Depot at 240 South Main Street, with some walking field trips to interesting places nearby. Each day's activities last from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. except on Friday, the last day of each camp session, when there will be a family program at 4:00 p.m. and the children will share what they've learned with their parents and friends. Children should bring a bag lunch each day. Simple snacks are provided. Flyers will be mailed to members by March 1st, but you can register now! Flyer and Registration Form.
Session I: American Kids Hands-on-History Fun, July 21-25. Explore Oberlin's first century from 1833 to 1933 through games, crafts, weaving, music, foods, buildings, lifestyles, costumes, and people, and delve further into Oberlin's role in the broader topics of abolition and the Underground Railroad, aluminum history, and the temperance movement.
Session II: History Makers, July 28 to August 1. History can sometimes seem boring when you're reading about it, but have you ever tried making history? If someone living one hundred years from now wanted to learn more about you, how would they do it? History Makers will explore how we learn about the past through the old photographs, buildings, art, mysterious objects, and journals that all kinds of people have left behind. All through the week campers will be creating their own historic record so that kids 100 years from now can see what life is like today! Campers will have fun taking photographs of the town, creating family trees, making their own journal, exploring the most important events in their lives, writing down their favorite foods, songs, and movies, and collecting special objects to keep in their very own time capsule to open years from now.
Session III: Exploring the Built Environment: An Architecture Workshop for Kids, August 4 to 8.
Learn more about the basic elements of architecture, historic buildings, and environmentally sensitive green architecture through hands-on activities, constructing your own mini-buildings, exploring the Oberlin Heritage Center’s historic buildings, and taking a walking tour of Oberlin.
Session IV: Kids and Cultures Around the World, August 11 to 15. We'll explore different countries and continents each day, learning about cultural and ethnic diversity, geography, anthropology, and international relations while enjoying crafts, holiday celebrations, folk art, family traditions, ethnic costumes, music, dance, foods, and languages. Your children will enjoy learning from several guest presenters representing various countries and will also have an up-close opportunity to view artifacts and treasures brought back by 19th and 20th century Oberlin missionaries, educators and adventurers who traveled the globe. This camp will encourage children to become global citizens with a better understanding of the world around them.
Join us for the fun this summer! Download a form or call us at (440) 774-1700 for more information. Summer Camp Flyer and Registration Form
Women's Equality Day
Celebrate the 88th anniversary and 14th annual Oberlin area celebration of women gaining the right to vote. A dinner and reception will be held on August 26, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. at the Oberlin Inn. The program for this year is "Women Governors: Then and Now." This event is sponsored by the: American Association of University Women, Oberlin Branch; American Civil Liberties Union, North Central Ohio Chapter; League of Women Voters, Oberlin Area; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Oberlin Branch; National Association of Negro Business & Professional Women Clubs, Inc., Oberlin Club; National Organization for Women, Oberlin Area Chapter; Nineteenth Century Club; Oberlin Heritage Center; Oberlin Public Library; Women's Equity Action League. Please see a flyer for more information and registration.
Rate the Oberlin Heritage Center!
The Oberlin Heritage Center is the first museum in Ohio to be entered on the website Rate This Museum: Your Guide for Museum Reviews. At this site visitors can search for museums by type or location and then post comments about their museum experiences. Guests are required to create a log-in name in order to post reviews. You can be the first to write a review for the Oberlin Heritage Center! All visitor comments are extremely valuable for planning tours, programs, and special events. Spread the word and explore this new website!
Two New Bike Trails put Oberlin on the Map!
Continue Oberlin's long history of being a bicycle center and check out these new bike trails that highlight local and national history. Oberlin is on the Lorain County's Back Roads and Beaches route, which highlights the Oberlin Heritage Center and the community's involvement in the Underground Railroad. Oberlin is also part of the Adventure Cycling Association's international Underground Railroad bike trail that goes all the way from Mobile Bay, Alabama to Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada!
Shop and Benefit the Oberlin Heritage Center
Help support the Oberlin Heritage Center for free when you do your shopping all year around! By shopping with over 300 national online stores through www.ShopforMuseums.com, you can support the Oberlin Heritage Center at the same time at no extra cost to you! A percentage of your purchase amount will be donated. Shop with all your favorite stores -- Amazon, PetsMart, Lands' End, Ebay, Verizon Wireless, Sierra Trading Post, Eddie Bauer, Target, and many more. Please bookmark this site or add it to your favorites list. Thanks for taking the time to make a difference!
First Phase of Endowment for History Education Campaign Complete
We're very grateful to all who have contributed to our Endowment for History Education Campaign, and are pleased to report the successful completion of the first phase of
this campaign. We reached our goal of $400,000 in contributions and pledges by July 31, 2006. This is truly a remarkable accomplishment for a historical organization in a community of our size (and our executive director Pat Murphy has received numerous compliments and inquiries from other museum professionals wanting to know how we did it!). Every member of the Board and staff contributed to the campaign as did over 250 individuals and couples, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and private foundations, including the Richard R. Hallock Foundation, the Stocker Foundation, the Eric and Jane Nord Foundation, the ASUSA Foundation, The Stolier Family Foundation, the Cyrus Eaton Foundation, and the Rotary Club of Oberlin. We plan to continue building this Endowment Fund to reach $800,000 to support our new full-time Museum Education and Tour Coordinator, Liz Schultz. Liz is helping to expand the organization's educational outreach activities,
programs and tours and make us less dependent on soft grant money
for ongoing operating expenses. We welcome your support of this
campaign.