Shawnee State University’s Center for Public History provides many resources to help students and staff research and learn more about the history of this area. The center strives to “preserve southern Ohio’s history for generations to come while providing hands-on academic experience for Shawnee State’s history students,” according to its website.

The website identifies four projects undertaken by the center to date. The largest project is “the digitization of over 180 years of Portsmouth newspapers, including over twenty different titles, dating back to the 1820s and up to the early 2000s.”

The digitization of the newspapers will create more research opportunities for people in the community, students and staff at SSU. Currently, by scheduling an appointment, students and staff can view the collection and get assistance from the staff at the Center for Public History.

Another project is “digitizing the papers of the late Ohio House Speaker and SSU Founder Vernal G. Riffe Jr.” The collection includes speeches, pictures and other documentation of “his decades-long life of public service.” An initial selection of documents can be found in the center’s online archive.

The Scioto Historical mobile app, another project of the center, provides a large amount of information regarding this area and historical data on many local sites, such as the floodwall murals, the “Art of the Ancients” exhibition, Spartan Municipal Stadium and many more. The app includes many guided tour options around the area and background information on places to visit.

The center also hosts the Ohio History Service Corps, an AmeriCorps program that provides support to community partners through volunteer hours and other resources available through the Ohio History Connection.

For more information, contact the Center for Public History at 740-351-3513 or by email at [email protected]. You can also follow the center on Facebook for updates. Visit Center for Public History | Shawnee State to learn more about the center and its projects.