The Reeder Endowment in History

Please join us April 12 at 12:00 pm for the next event in the Reeder Speaker Series

Join us on Zoom

The Sutliff Museum interprets the history of the antislavery movement and the Victorian era from the perspective of the Sutliff family. Arriving in Trumbull County as pioneers, the Sutliffs rose to local, state, and national prominence. They were activists, educators, and politicians who made remarkable contributions to American history and especially to the antislavery movement.

Melissa Karman is the Director of the Sutliff Museum in Warren, Ohio, and serves as the Region 4 Representative of the Ohio Local History Alliance. She received her MA degree in Applied History from YSU (2011).

“History Happened Here” is an ongoing series that explores subjects in local and regional history, highlighting the contributions of Ohio and Ohioans at important moments in national and world history. For more information, contact alfluker@ysu.edu

The annual Reeder Distinguished Lecture is right around the corner! Click “Distinguished Lecture” above to learn more and register here

Please join us February 24 at 1:00 pm for the next event in the Reeder Speaker Series

Join us in person at the Steel Museum or online via YouTube

The Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society is dedicated to the conservation of the Wilson Bruce Evans Home in Oberlin. Evans (1824-1898), an African American abolitionist, and his family helped make Oberlin a refuge for freedom-seekers. The Evans HHS is committed to developing public space and educational resources focused on the history of Wilson Bruce Evans family and the home’s historical significance as an integral part of African American history and culture.

Phyllis Yarber Hogan is a life-long resident of Oberlin and a founding member of the Oberlin African-American Genealogy History Group.

Dr. Gary Kornblith is Professor of History Emeritus at Oberlin College and the co-author of Elusive Utopoia: The Struggle for Racial Equality in Oberlin, Ohio. He is a forty-year resident of Oberlin and a founding member of the Evans HHS.

Dr. Carol Lasser is Professor of History Emerita at Oberlin College and the Manager of the Evans HHS. She is a forty-year resident of Oberlin and also the co-author, with Dr. Kornblith, of Elusive Utopia.

“History Happened Here” is an ongoing series that explores subjects in local and regional history, highlighting the contributions of Ohio and Ohioans at important moments in national and world history. For more information, contact alfluker@ysu.edu

Please join us January 31 at 4:00 pm for the next event in the Reeder Speaker Series

Join us in person at the Steel Museum or online via Zoom.

Bill Lawson is the Executive Director of Mahoning Valley Historical Society since 1991, and has worked for the Historical Society since 1987. Lawson is a past President, Trustee-at-Large, and Regional Representative of the Ohio Local History Alliance. He is the author of numerous articles and book reviews on history for local and professional periodicals, and is co-author of Mahoning Memories: A History of Youngstown and Mahoning County. Lawson holds BA and MA degrees in History from YSU.

“History Happened Here” is an ongoing series that explores subjects in local and regional history, highlighting the contributions of Ohio and Ohioans at important moments in national and world history. For more information, contact alfluker@ysu.edu

We are thrilled to announce that the 2022 Robert W. Reeder I Distinguished Lecture in Nineteenth Century history will be delivered by Dr. Hilary N. Green. It will be held virtually on March 24, at 5:30 pm ET. Register here

Dr. Green’s lecture is entitled “Remembering Gettysburg: Joseph Winters, Songs and Civil War Memory.” Focusing on a Black songwriter, this lecture explores how Joseph Winters contributed to African American memory of the American Civil War and the Gettysburg campaign through songwriting. By documenting the African American experience during the Gettysburg campaign, Green will show how Winters continued to draw on this local memory for securing Black men’s vote in the 1876, 1880 and 1912 Presidential campaigns. 

Dr. Hilary N. Green is an Associate Professor in the Department of Gender and Race Studies at The University of Alabama. She earned her M.A. in History from Tufts University and her Ph.D. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She is the author of Educational Reconstruction: African American Schools in the Urban South, 1865-1890 (Fordham University Press, 2016) as well as articles, book chapters and other scholarly publications. In addition to several short publications, she is currently at work on a second book manuscript examining how everyday African Americans remembered and commemorated the Civil War. She is also at work on a NPS-OAH Historic Resource Study of African American Schools in the South, 1865-1900 and co-editing a volume exploring the Civil War Era and the Summer of 2020 with Andrew L. Slap. Learn more about Dr. Green here

Please join us on November 18 at 1:00 pm for the next event in the Reeder Speaker Series

Join us in person or online via WebEx

Meghan Reed is the director of the Trumbull County Historical Society in Warren, Ohio, where she oversees public programming and placemaking projects, manages fundraising and strategic planning and works to preserve a collection of over 25,000 historic artifacts. She holds a master’s in public history from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and specializes in developing museums as community assets. Reed is dedicated to community development work and currently serves as the President of the W. D. Packard Foundation, completing capital improvements at Warren’s Packard Music Hall and Packard Park. A native of Pittsburgh, Reed is now a proud resident of Warren.

“History Happened Here” is an ongoing series that explores subjects in local and regional history, highlighting the contributions of Ohio and Ohioans at important moments in national and world history. For more information, contact alfluker@ysu.edu

The YSU History Program is proud to announce that the call for papers for the inaugural Robert W. Reeder I Symposium is out! The symposium will be held October 27-28, 2022, on the YSU campus and seeks proposals on the theme of Transportation, Movement, and Mobility. Visit the Reeder Symposium page to learn more.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, YSU alum Anthony Spano spoke about his involvement in the creation of the 9/11 memorial on the YSU campus. To view a recording of the event, visit the “Speaker Series” tab above. Or, read the coverage in the Youngstown Business Journal here.

Laura Beadling, associate professor of English and Film Studies at Youngstown State University, has been named the inaugural Grace Ruth Memorial Endowed Professor of English at YSU. This professorship was founded by Robert Reeder III in honor of his grandmother, Grace Ruth. Reeder also created a second professorship in honor of his grandfather, Robert W. Reeder I, the Robert W. Reeder I Memorial Endowment in History.

Read the full story from the YSU news center here.

Amy Laurel Fluker, assistant professor of History at Youngstown State University, who specializes in the study of Civil War memory, has been named the Robert W. Reeder I Memorial Endowed Professor of History at YSU.

“It is an honor to be named the first Reeder Memorial Endowed Professor of History at YSU,” Fluker said. “​I share Mr. Reeder’s love of local history, and I look forward to working with students and the community ​in ways that reflect his interests.”

Read the full story from the YSU news center here.