Kelli Kling (middle), Marketing and Events Coordinator for the Wood County Historical Society, works with intern Heather Robinson-Mooney (right) on a quilt exhibit in one of the rooms of the society. (Photos: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

When the Wood County Historical Museum opens Saturday, there will be new exhibits and buildings formerly
closed now open, making it a new experience even to regular visitors.
"It has been changed and updated. Even if you’ve been out here a lot, you’re probably going to see
something you haven’t seen before," said Holly Hartlerode Uppal, museum curator.
Exhibits on the first floor now include the military room and just one school room, to better accommodate
older visitors who may have problems with the stairs.
The display on area schools has been downsized from two alumni rooms plus a school room to one large
room.
"First we’re going to redefine how we want to interpret the township schools," Uppal said.
Picking among the museum’s 25,000 artifacts to complete one of the museum’s 30 rooms takes time.
"Not every single thing is going to be on exhibit."
Artifacts that aren’t on display are stored in the building’s attic.
"It takes a lot of time and planning and money to complete new exhibits," Uppal said.
What she needs to determine is what the public is interested in.
A radio and television collection has be added, showing the younger audience "this is how your
communication was done." In this exhibit, guests can follow the progress of communication and
interaction through television, radio, and other media and how typewriters and other advancements
changed workplace activities.
Uppal also has changed the 4-H room to better define what the organization is about.
The new display room includes a timeline from 1919 to 2013 featuring highlights of the program, including
the first club started in the county, to the 4-H style review, the first visit to Camp Palmer, and the
opening of the new milk shake barn on the fairgrounds.

Paul Dorty, a BGSU student volunteer, works with foam board which will be used for the mounting of displays in the Wood County Historical Center.

Uppal has changed 19 of the museum’s 30 exhibits. Each exhibit has its own room.
"Pretty much every single room has changed in some way," she stated.
She has scaled down the Native American exhibit, and has removed information on the people who used to
live at the county home.
She has added a new gallery space on the second floor east wing, which will include the quilt exhibit
showcasing quilt styles and fabrics plus quilts produced by notable Wood Countians. She did not want to
give away what will fill that space after the quilts are removed May 11.
Scale models of all the buildings on the site have been added to the second floor west wing. "They’s
so beautifully done," Uppal said.
With a partnership with the Pop Culture Department at Bowling Green State University, the museum will add
a theater room with movie posters and music.
An "I LOVE THE ’80s: A Cultural Comparison of the 1880s and 1980s" exhibit will take guests on
a reminiscent look back at the 1980s and how it compares with the 1880s. Visitors can try hand-eye skill
with a real Atari game system or a Victorian-era parlor game. The two-sided exhibit will mirror fashion,
politics, entertainment, social stigmas, and trends that spanned a century.
The major change to outbuildings is to the pestilence (pest) house.
The house served as living quarters for men with communicable diseases such as scarlet fever and
influenza. Women with disease were kept in the main building. Inside, visitors will see an iron lung and
other items reminiscent of early medical history.

BGSU graduate student Maureen Mason hangs a poster in the medical room in the Wood County Historical Society.

"It’s a small little building that has been open but has never really had an exhibit," Uppal
said.
Opening this year will be "A Clean Bill Of Health: Societal Response To Communicable Disease."
This exhibit will define types of diseases that have affected people all over the globe. It will also
illustrate a number of social programs that grew from gained knowledge of disease including: sanitary
reform, urban planning, bath culture, nursing, pharmaceuticals, education, and public health
organizations.
Uppal said a new exhibit will be added to the asylum in May.
When the museum is closed, the grounds are still open as a public park.
"Every day when I leave there’s always people out on the grounds," Uppal said.
The museum opens Saturday and will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., and Tuesdays through
Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays and holidays. An admission of $5 for
adults and $1 for children is suggested.
The museum is located at 13660 County Home Road, Bowling Green.
For more information about exhibits and events planned opening day, visit [email protected].

The Wood County Historical Society will hold a fundraiser Wednesday from 4 p.m. to close at The Stones
Throw Tavern & Grill, 176 E. Wooster St.
The theme is "I Love the ’80s."
Coupons will be available from museum volunteers and can be used to get 20 percent of the bill total
donated to the society.
Live music from the 1980s will start at 7 p.m.
The evening also will include ’80s trivia, raffle prizes and a 50-50 drawing.