Session 18 - A Journey of Understanding: A Century in the Harding Archives

In 2020 the Ohio History Connection (OHC) received a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to thoroughly rehouse and catalog the Warren G. Harding collections stored at the Ohio History Center, totaling over 900 boxes. These materials represent a vast resource documenting the life and term of our 29th president, but the papers themselves have taken on a history all their own over the last 100 years.

First Lady Florence Harding had some of her husband’s papers burned after his death, and the rest weren’t available for public research until the 1960s when the Harding Memorial Association donated them to the OHC’s predecessor, the Ohio Historical Society (OHS). That decade saw the papers processed and microfilmed by OHS staff, including Kenneth Duckett, the institution’s manuscript curator. Duckett came into possession of, and eventually created duplicates of a series of scandalous love letters President Harding wrote to his mistress. This eventually culminated in a lawsuit, a case study in archival ethics, and the love letters ending up in the Library of Congress.

Now, in 2023, the newest chapter in the Warren G. Harding papers is being played out, as archivists at the OHC create detailed digital resource records for those materials and work to enhance their visibility and accessibility. This presentation will give a brief history of Harding and his papers, explain our archival processes for making them more usable, and discuss some of the challenges in undertaking such an enormous project.

NAGARA members will hear about how we dealt with the challenges of working on such a large and lengthy project, potentially giving them ideas on how they might tackle difficult projects at their own institutions.

Target Audiences: Federal, State/Tribal

Focus Areas: Archives

Presenter: Wendy Korwin, Manuscripts Curator, Ohio History Connection