By Rob Pollock, Volunteer with the Champaign County Historical Society.
“What is it worth?”

Do you have an old object, an antique or a family heirloom that you want to know more about? We may have a solution for you.

The Champaign County Historical Museum is hosting an Antiques Appraisal Fair between 6 and 9 p.m. on Wednesday, May 19.

The event is one of two fundraisers that help support museum operations. Freshwater Farms of Ohio and the Historical Society are sponsoring this event.

Advance tickets are $20 each and available at local Urbana banks, the Chamber of Commerce and at the museum located at 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana. Tickets may also be purchased on the evening of the event for $25 each.

For the price of admission guests will receive a verbal appraisal for one item from one of the appraisers. (Current CCHS members may have two objects appraised). In addition, there will be a complementary wine and cheese bistro hosted by Freshwater Farms of Ohio.

The other appraisers will be featured in an upcoming article.

The Historical Museum hopes you will participate in this event and help support our operations.

On Sunday, October 18th at 2:00 pm Bill Albers will present the story of the B-17 heavy bomber under construction at the Champaign Aviation Museum, a project that began on Jan. 6th, 2006.  He will also explain the uniqueness of the Champaign Aviation Museum, its mission as a Warbird showcase, and what the future for the museum may look like.

Masks will be required for those attending the program.

Champaign County native Russell Arnold, Staff Sergeant, who was stationed in Japan at this time, interacted with Gen. Eichelberger on multiple occasions. Arnold still lives in Champaign County and will be on hand during the presentation to elaborate on these interactions with the general as well as answer questions on what it was like to be in Japan during this transformative time in history.

Due to social distancing requirements, capacity for this program will be limited to 30 attendees. Because the event is expected to be well attended, current Champaign County Historical Society members will be given seating priority; specifically, no non-member will be seated until 15 minutes before the start of the program if it appears capacity will be reached by members.

Persons attending together may sit side-by-side while single attendees will be seated six feet apart. A temperature check will be performed at the door. Masks will be required.

The Champaign County Historical Museum, a not-for-profit organization that depends upon donations and dues to preserve, protect, archive and display the artifacts that tell the Champaign County story. The free public museum, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana, is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.

The boxes arrived by truck on Wednesday and there are over 50 more boxes at UU for Ogden and Virts to explore. Ogden said she hopes that will be completed by the end of next week.

Dear Members,

Over the past few months, we have been faced with many obstacles and trying times due to the COVID-19 Virus and its implications. Rest assured, although we have been closed to the public for well over three months, during that time period we have been taking advantage of that time and continued to improve our internal policies and procedures; repainted and redesigned our War Room; and continued to find new ways to raise funding and community awareness.

Upon Governor DeWine’s June 4, 2020 announcement, it is with great pleasure that the Champaign County Historical Society & Museum will RE-OPEN on Wednesday, June 10, 2020, subject to social distancing requirements and standards. Please note that we are constantly monitoring the public announcements from Governor DeWine’s office and have cleaned and sanitized the Museum for your safety and enjoyment. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us at the Museum!

Hope to see you all soon!

Gregory L. Harvey, Esq.
President

On Thursday, April 9th at 8:30pm, the Champaign County Historical Society Museum was featured on Columbus Neighborhoods.  The video segment is also available below.

The Champaign County Historical Museum is CLOSED until at least May 1st with Ohio's extended Stay at Home orders. All programs and activities are also postponed during this time.

We hope everyone stays safe and we look forward to seeing you when this quarantine is over!!

Museum Holiday Hours
Open Dec. 24th & 31st 10am-12pm
Closed Christmas Day and Jan. 1st

The Champaign County Historical Society Museum will be open the week of Thanksgiving, but there are some changes. 

Tuesday, Nov. 26th,10am-4pm (regular hours)
Wednesday Nov. 27th, 10am-12pm
Closed the rest of the week, Nov. 28th-Dec. 2nd.

The museum will open for our regular hours again on Tuesday, December 3rd.

We wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

The Champaign County Historical Museum located at 809 E. Lawn Ave., Urbana, is pleased to announce new and expanded hours. Effective immediately the museum will be open Tuesday - Friday 10 - 4 and Saturday 10 - 2. The museum will be closed on Mondays.

“We sincerely appreciate the voters who came out to support our levy which would have allowed us to hire full-time staff - a director, curator, and custodian,” said Dan Walter, CCHS President. “But since that issue did not pass, we are intensifying our campaign for new memberships and donations and are implementing new fundraising events. Recently these efforts have encouraged our board of trustees to hire a part-time Museum Operations Manager, Cheryl Ogden. This is a one-year post which we hope to extend pending successful fundraising.”