History Center’s historic Eli Harvey artwork being digitized

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WILMINGTON — The staff of the Clinton County History Center recently transported 20 Eli Harvey paintings, portraits and sketches to the Ohio History Connection in Columbus to be digitized using the organization’s large-format scanners.

Early this year the History Center received a digitization grant through the Ohio Local History Alliance to document the work of world-renowned artist Eli Harvey — a Quaker, born and raised in Clinton County.

Intern Liza Vance has been photographing and scanning smaller works in-house on the museum’s flatbed scanner for 12 weeks.

The OLHA grant totaling $1,150 was awarded to the museum for their project “Our Hometown Artist: Digitization of World Famous Quaker Artist Eli Harvey’s Works (Part 1).”

Thanks to in-kind donations from Sewell Motor Express for moving blankets and Lowe’s Wilmington for donated bubble wrap, the History Center was able to transport the artifacts easily. Numerous volunteers worked to wrap and protect the paintings before they were moved on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

The items will remain at the Ohio History Connection until early 2021 when they will then be transported back home and returned to their proper place on exhibit walls. Once the project is completed, the digitized items will be available on the Ohio Memory Project website for the entire general public to view at no cost.

The collection of Eli Harvey artwork was originally donated to the History Center in the late 1940s by Mr. Harvey himself. The pieces were shipped across the United States from his home in Alhambra, California to Wilmington, a few years before his death.

Currently, the museum is home to the world’s largest public collection of his works.

The Ohio Local History Alliance (formerly the Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums) is a network of local historical societies, history museums, archives, libraries, genealogical societies and historic preservation groups throughout Ohio involved in collecting, preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history.

History Center staff and volunteers prepare the works of art for transport to Columbus.
https://www.wnewsj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2020/11/web1_history-2-volunteers.jpegHistory Center staff and volunteers prepare the works of art for transport to Columbus.

https://www.wnewsj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2020/11/web1_four-with-masks.jpegSubmitted photos
History Center preserving artworks

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