A Successful First in New ‘History on the Move’ Public Event Series

Dr. Katherine Jellison talks at the History on the Move event.

Twenty participants attended Ohio Civil War Symposium, the first in a planned series of public events for alumni and community members that the Ohio University History Department is calling “History on the Move.”

Held on Aug. 13 at the Sherman House Museum in Lancaster, Ohio, the Ohio Civil War Symposium featured three presentations:

• Katherine Jellison, Professor and Ohio University History Department Chair, on “The Imprint of War on the Ohio Homefront.”
• Brian Schoen, Associate Professor of History at Ohio University, on “Ohio’s Internal War.”
• Mark Grimsley, Ohio State University Associate Professor, on “Sheridan’s Ride at Cedar Creek.”

While Jellison discussed the impact of the war on the Ohio home front, Schoen explored wartime political divisions within the state. Grimsley’s presentation shed light on a little remembered episode in the war career of Ohioan Phil Sheridan.

Following the formal presentations, participants shared a lively hour of lunchtime discussion with Professors Jellison, Schoen, and Grimsley and shared ideas about possible future programming.

The purpose of the “History on the Move” series is to take the study of history beyond the walls of the classroom to the locations where that history took place. It is open to Ohio University alumni and anyone interested in history. Plans are currently underway for the second installment of the series, which will focus on the history of U.S. First Ladies, to take place at the Lucy Webb Hayes Heritage Center in Chillicothe, Ohio.