Storied Ground
Travel in any direction throughout Northwest Ohio, and it won’t be long before you come upon a historical marker of some kind. Since the latter nineteenth century, thousands of such markers, from grand monuments to humble plaques, have been dedicated by communities across Northwest Ohio to commemorate the people, places, and events that have shaped the history and identity of our region. Yet so familiar a sight have these markers now become that, regardless of their form, they often go largely unnoticed, blending into the routine patina of our environments, silently bearing witness to a remarkable past that is slowly fading in our local memory. In this podcast series, we’ll endeavor to encounter Northwest Ohio’s historical markers anew, using them as our guides to rediscovering the presence of the past everywhere around us in all its diversity and complexity. With the help of community members and historians, we’ll celebrate the extraordinary history and unique character of our region while transcending stereotypical narratives of Rust Belt decline and Midwestern provincialism. This is the history of Northwest Ohio.
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Meet Your Host Nick Pavlik
Nick Pavlik is an archivist and public historian who is passionate about engaging with communities to document, preserve, and share local and regional histories. Since 2015, he has served as the Manuscripts and Digital Initiatives Archivist at Bowling Green State University’s Center for Archival Collections (CAC), where he oversees the development and management of the CAC’s Northwest Ohio manuscript collections and coordinates a variety projects utilizing digital technologies to preserve and provide access to the CAC’s unique and renowned collections. He has also been steadily working to advance the CAC’s priority of ensuring a more inclusive and representative historical record of Northwest Ohio through community partnerships, oral history projects, and digital exhibits highlighting underrepresented or little-known aspects of our region’s remarkable history. Outside his role at the CAC, Nick also works independently as a public historian, and is particularly interested in pursuing collaborative community projects that showcase the power of local history in fostering a unique sense of place, deepening our connection to our everyday environments, and uniting communities in a shared past that bridges social and political divides. He is grateful for the opportunity to pursue this work through the Storied Ground podcast.