Ohio Genealogical Society Achieves Full Funding for New Building

Mansfield, Ohio--“We have achieved ‘full funding’ for our new building project,” reports E. Paul Morehouse, president, Ohio Genealogical Society. “We thank our members and other contributors for their support.” The amount raised to date is $2,564,889.

The Society plans to begin construction early in 2009 of an 18,000-square-foot facility to better accommodate the Society’s expanding membership and its growing library collection. Society officials believe that the new building will be the finest state genealogical library in the country.

The new home for the Ohio Genealogical Society, to be located in Bellville in Richland County near Mansfield, will serve professional and hobbyist genealogists with climate-controlled space for archives, a reading room, a preservation and digitization lab, meeting space and classrooms, and office space.

The final funding element came from the State of Ohio. In mid-November, the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission approved a grant of $350,000 from the State to the Society for the new building.

While the funding goal was achieved, the Society is encouraging its members to continue to contribute to the building fund. Ted Minier, past president and building fund chairperson, points out that the Society needs to pay down a $600,000 loan from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, the Society aims to build an endowment fund to maintain the new facility.

According to Minier, several naming rights remain available in the new library in return for large donations.

Established in 1959, the Ohio Genealogical Society is the largest state genealogical society in the country, with over 6,000 members, 95 chapters, nearly 35,000 books and a lending library with more than 2,000 titles and publications. It publishes the OGS Quarterly, OGS Genealogy News (both included with OGS membership), Ohio Records & Pioneer Families, and Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal. For more information on OGS, visit www.ogs.org.

The Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission is a state agency that helps enhance the quality of life for Ohioans by improving the state’s cultural facilities. Since 1988, the Commission has disbursed more than $400 million of capital funds appropriated by the Legislature and Governor for facility improvement projects at nonprofit theaters, museums, historical sites and publicly owned professional sports venues. The Commission partners with nonprofit groups and local governments on more than 300 projects in 72 of Ohio’s 88 counties. For more information on the Commission, visit www.culture.ohio.gov.