Director of public history Rebecca Wingo’s work with the Wyandot Nation began with a misleading historical marker.

Wingo, a professor of history in UC's College of Arts and Sciences, was working on learning more about Native American history in preparation for an undergraduate Native American History course. That's when she came upon a historical marker about the Wyandot tribe in Sandusky, Ohio.

“The Wyandot were the last tribe removed from the state of Ohio in 1843,” Wingo says. “But the historic marker said the ‘departure’ of the Wyandot, and that they went on a one week ‘journey’ to Cincinnati, where they boarded steamboats and headed out to Kansas City which, at the time, was called Wyandotte City because they owned it. I thought that was a really terrible historic marker, so I contacted the cultural division of Wyandot nation.” 

Ohio History Connection, the organization responsible for official historic markers in Ohio, approved Wingo’s application. The first historic marker will be placed in May of 2025, replacing the one in Sandusky that spurred this project in the first place. Two new markers will be placed each year until the project is officially finished in 2031. 

“We also created a companion site to go along with all the markers that have the historic text for each marker along the trail. We're envisioning it as an educational resource,” Wingo says.  

Shepherd Aaron Ellis, a history PhD student at UC, worked on the project in the spring of 2022 under the guidance of Wingo. Ellis and his colleagues did everything from analyzing census data and archived newspapers to working with complicated software like ArcGIS to make the virtual maps. He was a key component in drafting the first Wyandot removal timeline for the website. 

“As an early modern environmental historian, I'm more familiar with different types of sources, like artwork, pamphlets, early books, and literature, but I had never worked with census data or newspapers before,” Ellis says. “Getting insight into what those sources can reveal about the past was very interesting. I also learned about the field of public history, and how important it can be to not only communicate and work with the public, but also with contemporary groups, like the Wyandotte Nation. It was really amazing to see that unfold.” 

Above all else, Ellis says that Wingo’s instruction and in-depth expertise are what make this project possible. 

“I was really struggling to get the (geographic information system) ArcGIS model we were practicing with to work,” says Ellis. “As I'm sitting there, trying to make it work, Dr. Wingo came up behind me and without saying anything, she made the story map do what I was trying to make it do in two clicks. I was so embarrassed at the time, but now it makes me laugh.” 

Looking towards the future, Wingo hopes to further integrate undergraduate students into the project, especially education majors who are required to take a course on Native American history. 

“They actually have expertise that I don't have,” Wingo says. 

Her hope is to develop dynamic class projects that involve creating lesson plans for K-12 students and allowing Wyandot cultural division to revise and approve the plans, which could then be posted online as free resources for teachers to use.

“This project is more than just creating a map,” Wingo says. “It’s about restoring agency to the Wyandot people and bringing their stories to the forefront of our historical consciousness.”

Featured image at top: Wyandot historical marker. Photo/Amanda Sheffel