Kay Irion is a name that many today are not aware of; however, in the early 1940s, she was the talk of Cincinnati. Kay, who became a paraplegic after being injured in a car accident in the late 1930s, was the first stay-at-home radio host to go live over the airwaves on Cincinnati’s popular radio station, WSAI-WLW.
[READ MORE]Author Archive: Jessica Prater
The Cincinnati Arch
How is it that fossils from an ocean that was around nearly half-a-billion years ago can be found in the middle of the North American continent? The answer lies in the formation of the Cincinnati Arch.
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What’s in a Pot? Lessons from Native American Pottery
Because most Native American pottery we discover through excavations or surface collections is broken into small pieces called sherds, people often ask us “what can those pieces tell us?” As it turns out quite a lot!
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Cicadas and Locusts in the Manuscript Collection
The impending Brood X cicada invasion prompted a search of the Cincinnati History Library and Archives for cicada related items. Keep reading to see what they found!
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Cicadas and Locusts in the Cornelius J. Hauck Botanical Collection
As the eastern portion of the United States deals with the emergence of billions of Brood X cicadas with dread and loathing, other populations around the world welcome and celebrate their existence. Find out why in our latest Off the Shelf article.
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Flake-Stone Artifacts
Archaeology is complex, multifaceted and diverse. Items of material culture are no exception as a nearly countless suite of artifacts were manufactured by prehistoric native Americans through the addition, combination and subtraction of raw materials such as stone, clay, bone, shell, wood and plant fibers.
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The Fossil Fish That Could
On December 21, 2020, Governor Mike DeWine signed Ohio Senate Bill No. 123 into law, thus designating Dunkleosteus terrelli as the Fossil Fish of Ohio. Not every state needs an official fossil fish, of course, but if you had to have one, Dunkleosteus (Dunk–ul–AHS–tee–us) might well be it, and no fish is more deserving when it comes to Ohio.
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Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde is a large National Park that includes around 600 cliff dwellings which are rock and adobe structures that are built into an eroded portion of a cliff with incredible indigenous architecture and amazing landscape.
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Digging Dinosaurs!
In order to dig dinosaurs, you must first really dig dinosaurs. That is, like them a lot, because the physical digging/excavating/collecting of dinosaurs is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a grueling, exhausting, painful exercise in self-denial – until such time as the precious fossils are finally secured in the museum collection or exhibit hall.
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The Official City of Cincinnati Fossil
The Cincinnati Dry Dredgers – a group of amateur paleontologists and geologists that have collected fossils and studied paleontology in the region for over 80 years – chose five candidates for the official Cincinnati fossil.
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