The Delaware County Historical Society received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Ohio Local History Alliance, and the Ohio History Connection, for their Tote Bag program.
The Tote Bag Program
This program was originally developed in 2012 by the Society’s Education Curriculum Support Committee. It was formed when teachers in 3rd-Grade classrooms spoke to the Committee on how their teaching of local history could be improved. The program currently provides teaching materials in local history to these schools:
- Olentangy Schools
- Delaware City Schools
- St. Mary School
- Buckeye Valley Schools
Each of the bags includes these local history materials:
- Two DVDs
- Brochures of the Society
- A copy of Jeffery Darbee’s Delaware and Delaware County
- A folder on the history of the Nash House
- A picture book by George Ella Lyon named Who Came Down That Road
- A teacher resource folder with tips on using primary documents and reading lists
- Photos, folders, and documents about how the Delaware County has developed
- Current photos to show how the County looks now
Changes through Teacher Feedback
The teachers that has received these bags was also given an evaluation form for feedback. The Committee collects the feedback at the end of the school year to improve the bag’s contents for the next year.
An example of this feedback is during the summer of 2016. Per teacher requests, new materials were added on Native Americans and the Flood of 1913.
As another example, additional content has been added for the Buckeye Valley East and Buckeye Valley West schools to display their local history. This content comes from teacher requests at these schools to help show their local history.
The Ohio Local History Alliance
The Alliance was founded in 1960 to encourage the preservation and presentation of Ohio’s heritage. The Alliance has twenty-three board of trustees that provides directions and insights for projects. It collaborates with the Ohio History Committee (OHC) on these projects. The Alliance also serves as a central point for a larger network of organizations, and people, interested in Ohio’s community history.