This story was originally published on Dec. 20, 2021 by the Ohio History Connection. Richland Source has entered into a collaborative agreement with the Ohio History Connection to share content across our sites.
MARION — In recognition of the centennial of Warren G. Harding’s election to the presidency in 1920 and his inauguration in 1921, the Ohio History Connection recently dedicated the restored Harding Home and the newly built Harding Presidential Library & Museum in his hometown of Marion, Ohio.
Housed at the Ohio History Connection Archives & Library in Columbus, Ohio, are over 900 boxes of Harding’s business, political and private correspondence.
This material has been open to researchers since the 1960s, but no detailed, searchable description currently exists for it online. The Presidential Papers are accompanied by photographs and newsreels, as well as materials related to First Lady Florence Kling Harding.
In a further effort to recognize Harding’s legacy, the Ohio History Connection began a two-year project in July 2021 to thoroughly catalog the Harding Presidential Papers.
Grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives enabled us to hire Wendy Korwin, previously a government records archivist at the Ohio History Connection, as project archivist. The NHPRC supports projects that promote access to America’s historical records to encourage understanding of our democracy, history and culture.
Our current effort complements this mission, as we aim to deepen understanding of Harding’s contributions to U.S. history and expand our conception of presidential archives and what we can learn from them.
This project entails describing each box and folder within the vast collection of Harding Presidential Papers, creating records in our archival catalog so that users can search for specific topics and correspondents.
“I spend a lot of time essentially tagging people online,” Korwin said. “If you wrote a letter to Warren Harding, I care about that, so I create an entry for you and link your name to the folder where that letter appears.
“I use clues from letters to search for people in Ancestry.com, where U.S. Census records and city directories help me create those personal entries. I like to imagine a genealogist learning more about their family from these letters, whether their ancestors were powerful U.S. politicians, aspiring journalists, or Ohio farmers.”
You can follow the project archivist’s progress and learn more about the people and stories she uncovers by following the Ohio History Connection on social media. She will also be contributing regularly to our History Blog with more in depth pieces.
We encourage you to check in the coming months for more about President Harding, First Lady Florence Harding and the everyday people from all walks of life whose stories emerge in the Harding Presidential Papers.
About the Ohio History Connection
The Ohio History Connection, formerly the Ohio Historical Society, is a statewide history organization with the mission to spark discovery of Ohio’s stories. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization chartered in 1885, the Ohio History Connection carries out history services for Ohio and its citizens focused on preserving and sharing the state’s history. This includes housing the state historic preservation office, the official state archives, local history office and managing more than 50 historic sites and museums across Ohio.
