When Stefan Dedecek, conservator of paintings at McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory, Inc. in Oberlin, Ohio, examined our oil-on-canvas portrait of Rebecca Johnson Beall in 2017, he found it to be in very poor condition. The painting was obscured […]
A beautifully crafted rifle from Sugar Creek Township
This .36 caliber black powder percussion rifle was manufactured somewhere around 1850. It has a 36-inch, octagonal barrel, dual triggers, brass patch box, and is 51.5 inches overall. On the top of the barrel is stamped “J. M. Myers” while […]
New video documents Juneteenth 2020 march
On June 19, 2020, residents of Wayne County gathered to celebrate Juneteenth as part of the Wooster-Orrville NAACP and Second Baptist Church’s 2020 Juneteenth Liberation March for Black Lives. Several videographers helped WCHS document this historic moment.
Money changes everything
Did you know that prior to the Civil War, banks were allowed to print their own money under the supervision of bank examiners employed by each state? It was an arrangement that often led to fraud or outright theft, leaving […]
Interested in Wayne County geology and archaeology?
Dr. Joseph H. Todd published a fascinating 45-page booklet on the Geology and Archeology of Wayne County, Ohio in 1910 and the Society recently turned this publication into a digital format and made it available for free to read on the Internet Archive. […]
After 35 combat missions, “did that ground feel good!”
As a B-17 crew member in the Eighth Air Force’s 385th Bomb Group, Technical Sergeant Donald W. Bupp flew on 35 combat missions over Germany between October 1944 and March 1945, first as the ball turret gunner and later as […]
A look back at one of our first acquisitions
Continuing our stroll through some of the most interesting artifacts in our collection, here’s a short video about one of the first items acquired by what would become the Wayne County Historical Society.
A tale of manufacturing boom and bust
This harvester was built by McDonald & Co., which in its heyday was the largest manufacturing company west of Pittsburgh. Founded in 1847 by Angus McDonald, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, and Alexander Laughlin, the company produced a variety of […]
How historical societies and museums are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic
The Daily Record‘s Valerie Royzman spoke with WCHS Board President Doug Jones, Cleo Redd Fisher Museum curator Kenny Libben, and others about how historical societies and museums in Northeast Ohio are responding to — and collecting artifacts and stories to […]
Historical Society seeks buyer for 17th century book by German botanist Jacobus Theodorus
A book by the man considered the father of German botany, which sat undisturbed for years in the Wayne County Historical Society’s documents vault, will soon find a new home. The historical society is offering the volume for sale on […]
