Join us in congratulating Executive Director Christina Hartlieb on five years at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House!
Below Christina reflects on what has changed (and stayed constant!) in the past five years and looks with excitement toward the future of the site: --- May 30, 2017, was my first day on the job at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. That week I rearranged office space, gave my first tour, set up new email accounts, and watched Cohee Construction remove the floorboards upstairs to reveal the location of the original staircase. So much has happened in the past 5 years. I am amazed at the wonderful work we have accomplished. Expanding educational programming, hours of operation for public tours, staffing, and community partnerships. Creating new specialty tours, four panel exhibits, and two video exhibits to enhance our stories and share our legacy. Installing an outdoor classroom. Introducing a new logo and an overall interpretive theme – Power of Voice. I am excited to serve as the Executive Director of this dynamic historic and educational resource. This week, I spent time approving a grant report, answering research questions, strategizing about furniture removal for the next phase of restoration, sending out invitations to an event, and watching Cohee Construction install replica 1840s windows. The next 5 years holds the potential for even more momentous change as we continue to serve our community as a “lighthouse symbolizing good will and better understanding.” Thanks for letting me be a part of it. -Christina Hartlieb
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Organizations celebrate Cincinnati suffragists with National Votes for Women Trail historic markers3/25/2022 CINCINNATI – Fifth Third Bank, N.A., the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and Cincinnati Parks will come together at 9 a.m. March 25 to dedicate three new historic markers on the National Votes for Women Trail. The markers will be placed near Fifth Third’s headquarters on Fountain Square, at the top of the Elsinore Steps near the Cincinnati Art Museum and in Walnut Hills in front of the Giminetti Baking Co. building, one block south of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. The celebration will take place at the Fifth Third Museum in the Fifth Third Center on Fountain Square.
“Ohio played a crucial yet largely forgotten role in the fight for women’s voting rights,” said independent scholar and NVWT liaison Katherine Durack. “These markers highlight decades of activism in Cincinnati despite prevailing anti-suffrage sentiment at the time in Hamilton County.” Sponsored by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, the National Votes for Women Trail seeks to recognize and celebrate the enormous diversity of people and groups active in the struggle for women’s suffrage. The trail consists of two parts: a database with digital map and a program of historic markers for about 200 women’s suffrage sites across the country, funded by the Pomeroy Foundation. Cincinnati’s historic markers will recognize the dedication and efforts of:
2022 marks the 102nd anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment, which prohibited denying any U.S. citizen the right to vote on the basis of gender. The adoption was the result of the tireless efforts by suffragists over seven decades. To learn more about the NVWT or the specific locations of the NVWT markers in Cincinnati, visit www.nvwt.org. About Fifth Third Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the indirect parent company of Fifth Third Bank, National Association, a federally chartered institution. As of Dec. 31, 2021, the Company had $211 billion in assets and operates 1,117 full-service Banking Centers, and 2,322 Fifth Third branded ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In total, Fifth Third provides its customers with access to approximately 54,000 fee-free ATMs across the United States. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, and Wealth & Asset Management. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of Dec. 31, 2021, had $554 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $65 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations through its Trust and Registered Investment Advisory businesses. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB.” About the Harriet Beecher Stowe House The Harriet Beecher Stowe House celebrates the life, family, and legacy of author and activist Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe is known primarily for her book “Uncle Tom's Cabin,” and its contributions to the abolition movement through the Civil War. We also interpret the 20th century history of the house as a tavern listed in “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” a guidebook for African Americans traveling in segregated America. Located in Cincinnati’s historic Walnut Hills neighborhood, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House hosts educational tours, lectures, and discussion groups. About Cincinnati Parks Named one of the top 10 U.S. park systems by the Trust for Public Land, Cincinnati Parks is a historic and award-winning park system comprising over 5,000 acres, 100 park sites and numerous gardens, scenic overlooks, decorative fountains and water features, nature preserves, miles of hiking trails, performance venues, rental facilities and public art. Cincinnati Parks is led by a five-member Board of Park Commissioners whose mission is to conserve, manage, sustain and enhance parks’ natural, cultural resources and public green spaces for the enjoyment, enlightenment and enrichment of the Cincinnati community. The Parks system has 250 full- and part-time employees and an annual budget of $27 million. The system’s key operational divisions are Operations & Facilities, Natural Resources, Planning and Design, Financial Services, Human Resources, and Communications, Engagement and Volunteers. About the William G. Pomeroy Foundation The William G. Pomeroy Foundation® is committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and to raising awareness, supporting research and improving the quality of care for patients and their families who are facing a blood cancer diagnosis. Established by Trustee Bill Pomeroy in 2005 to bring together his two greatest passions, the Pomeroy Foundation is a private, grant-making organization located in Syracuse, N.Y. As the nation’s leading funder of historic roadside markers, the Pomeroy Foundation has awarded nearly 1,700 grants for markers and bronze plaques in 44 states. To learn more about the Pomeroy Foundation, visit wgpfoundation.org. Are your students ready to be inspired? Do they know that one of the most influential authors on the globe was once a 20-something teacher, magazine writer, and mom in Cincinnati?
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House offers two standards-based programs for Junior High and High School Students. Both of these programs can be delivered in the format that is best for you:
8th grade, HS literature, HS US history MUSEUM / SCHOOL / ONLINE Helps students to discover information through primary and secondary sources, and emphasizes Harriet's role in media communication. Writing and critical thinking are key components of the activities. 19th Century Reformers through the Beecher Family Lens APUSH and/or HS US history MUSEUM / SCHOOL / ONLINE Presents information on the Beecher family siblings and their social reform causes along with the Lane Rebels (1834 abolitionist debaters). Students play a role in this program by engaging with the ideals of reform movements, making connections between different causes, and formulating questions for further discussion. For additional information or to schedule your class – visit our website or contact Christina at education@stowehousecincy.org. Have a colleague who would be interested in our 3rd or 4th grade programs? See all grade level programs on our website here: https://www.stowehousecincy.org/student-groups.html Earlier this month, the film Sons and Daughters of Thunder (2019) was screened at the Stowe House as a part of the 2021 Over the Rhine International Film Festival. Filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle attended and, following the viewing, participated in a conversation with audience members and a film festival host. The film was awarded the Harriet Beecher Stowe “Power of Voice Award” on Saturday, July 10, 2021. “We are thrilled,” commented Kelly and Tammy Rundle on Facebook. “This is the historic site where the true story took place (gives us chills).” The feature film explores the stories of Harriet Beecher and Theodore Weld, who encountered each other during a fiery series of public debates at Lane Seminary regarding the morality of slavery. Beecher was ignited to oppose slavery, while Weld led a near rebellion after the seminary’s trustees attempted to shut down the discussion. Weld’s passionate oratory was a clarion call for some faculty and nearly all participating students. After the debates were silenced, 60 out of 65 members of the incoming class left the seminary in protest, with over half matriculating to Oberlin College. Beecher, enjoying a budding romance with the young Calvin Stowe, was nonetheless powerfully persuaded by Weld and vowed to turn her pen to abolition, while her sister and father remained more moderate in their views. “We wanted to give Theodore Weld his due,” Tammy Rundle explained after the film screening. “We feel he’s really been looked over by history, and these debates represent an important moment in the country’s dialogue about slavery.” Copies of the film are on sale in the Harriet Beecher Stowe House bookstore. Call 513-751-0651 to purchase. About the author:
Kelly Blewett is an assistant professor of English at Indiana University East, where she also directs the writing program. She thinks more Cincinnatians should read Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book she did not encounter until graduate school, even though she grew up in Cincinnati. As part of the board at Stowe House, Kelly looks forward to making connections with other community organizations and helping to shape programming that will further the mission of the Stowe House and contribute to Cincinnati's book culture. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2021 Media Contact: Christina Hartlieb 513-751-0651 friends@stowehousecincy.org (CINCINNATI, OH)– The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is pleased to announce the opening of a brand-new experience for visitors to the historic site in Walnut Hills. “Our Neighborhood Story: A Tour of this Walnut Hills Block,” developed in partnership with Ohio Humanities and the Walnut Hills Historical Society, traces 200 years of the history in one Cincinnati block. This entirely outdoor exhibit is free and open to the public during daylight hours at the historic Harriet Beecher Stowe House, 2950 Gilbert Avenue, Cincinnati OH 45206. Seven panels on the ground of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House (and one panel a few blocks down on Beecher Street at the Walnut Hills Community Garden) explain the significance of the site and the ways that women and men from Walnut Hills developed and sustained the diverse and dynamic neighborhood over the past two centuries. Double-sided outdoor panels feature photographs and illustrations from the neighborhood’s formation in the 1830s around Lane Seminary, through the Civil War and Reconstruction, to a 20th century thriving middle-class neighborhood full of Black-owned businesses, to recent changes brought about by the expansion of MLK Drive and the highway 71 interchange. Visitors are encouraged to think about how people in this neighborhood have use their voices to affect change both locally and around the world how they can use the power of their own voices today. While the Our Neighborhood Story exhibition on the grounds of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House is free, there is a modest fee of $6 for adults/$5 for seniors/$3 for children to tour the house, which holds detailed exhibits explaining how author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe's young adult years in Cincinnati led to the landmark publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. For more information on the exhibit or to plan your trip, visit www.stowehousecincy.org or call 513-751-0651. ### ABOUT HARRIET BEECHER STOWE HOUSE The nonprofit Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House manages a Cincinnati home where Harriet Beecher Stowe lived during the formative years that led her to write the best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This historic site is part of the Ohio History Connection’s network of more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information about programs and events, call 513-751-0651 or visit www.stowehousecincy.org. 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 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information on programs and events, visit ohiohistory.org.
Statement on the occasion of Juneteenth being recognized as a United States federal holiday:
"Harriet Beecher Stowe used her voice to raise awareness about issues of slavery in her time. Today, we as the board of the Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, acknowledge and are pleased with the fact that the federal, state, and local governments now recognize the end of slavery as a holiday, Juneteenth." Signed, Board of the Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House Approved 6/24/2021 |
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