Mansfield Memorial Museum to loan artifacts to local museums, Ohio Genealogical Society

The Mansfield Memorial Museum is embarking on its most ambitious redevelopment project in 25 years.

Numerous Mansfield Memorial Museum artifacts are being documented and redistributed on loan to local historical organizations such as The North Central Ohio Industrial Museum and The Ohio Genealogical Society, according to the museum's board.

"The board wants to move toward a military museum," board President Ed Olson said. The board is going to contact veterans' organizations and ask them if they would care to work with the museum and set up a display of who they are and what they do.

"This will allow more artifacts to be displayed that were previously unable to be exhibited for all to enjoy," according to the board statement. "While we have a beautiful large building, there’s not ample space to both store and display all the exhibits. A redevelopment gives us exciting opportunities to revitalize the memorial building to a more contemporary setting displayed in a dedicated environment."

"The building only has so much space," Olson said. "Some items will be placed on loan."

Since Director and Curator Scott Schaut's death July 4, a handful of people and organizations have contacted the museum about ownership of items, Olson has said.

More: Westinghouse robot Elektro's ownership in limbo

Olson on Friday said the board met Wednesday night for two hours to try to project a timeframe when the museum can re-open. Members heard an update on the status of the Schaut probate case.

Before his death, Schaut had drafted an extensive inventory list of his personal collections intermingled with museum artifacts on loan from individuals and organizations. The board has located those items.

For example, Olson said, David Howat donated an extensive Westinghouse collection to the Mansfield Memorial Museum. "Even though David Howat donated the collection to the Mansfield Memorial Museum, I contacted him and we proposed to transfer custody but not ownership and place it on loan, and he was fine with that," Olson said.

Howat, of Vermilion, had collected Westinghouse items for years. Schaut rented a van and drove to Vermilion to pick up the 115-piece collection, the News Journal reported in 2021.

Olson said The Ohio State University Mansfield is being considered for loan of a mineral and geological collection for the benefit of students.

Mansfield Memorial Museum will re-open when Schaut's estate is probated

The items Schaut listed as his personal collection from the museum are not filed with Richland County Probate Court yet, the court confirmed Friday.

The museum at 34 Park Ave. West will re-open depending on when the probate court settles the estate, Olson said. "We have to receive our instructions from Judge Kelly Badnell," Olson said.

The Frank P. Lahm Aviation Museum next door will is scheduled to re-open in May.

A hearing on objections to inventory is set for March 14 at 1 p.m. in probate court at the Richland County Courthouse. Objections have been filed by Don Hoover, attorney for the museum, alleging some items previously in Schaut's house at 400 W. Third St. and now stored at a former church, may be property of the museum. Attorney Andrew Burton has filed an objection to inventory on behalf of Stephen Jerrick, who is co-owner of Schaut's house.

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building steeped in history

The museum features artifacts from all American wars — the Revolutionary War, Spanish-American War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The museum collections includes a uniform exhibit showing the progression of military clothing from the Mansfield Militia pre-Civil War, Civil War, Indian War through the Spanish-American War; a large exhibit of model military tanks, armored vehicles and trucks from a collection built by Tom Weekly that took more than 37 years to compile; and a collection of model aircraft featuring the history of aviation from the Wright Brothers through Desert Storm built by the local Air National Guard from 1964-1987, according to the museum's publicity information.

The museum was opened in 1892 and re-opened in 1999. The building is the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building and it is the first memorial building built in Ohio and the last standing.

The building is one of the oldest continually used veterans meeting halls in Ohio.

The Mansfield Memorial Museum was founded in the meeting hall of the Grand Army of the Republic following the Civil War. Now called the Soldiers and Sailors Building, it is fitting that an extensive collection of military memorabilia and artifacts would find a permanent home there.

The third floor of the museum, which is not open to the public, holds hundreds of historical items that could be displayed when more room is made available.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield Memorial Museum envisions future of more military artifacts