ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University Archives and Special Collections in Alden Library is one of many participants across the state to contribute pieces of Ohio's history to the Ohio Memory Project. The on-line snapshot of the state's history up to 1903, which can be found at www.ohiomemory.org, will be unveiled in Columbus on March 26.

The project will include a collaboration of information and artifacts from archives, historical societies, museums and libraries from all parts of the state. Entries will include anything that provides insight into the state's past, such as letters, diaries, historical photographs, state and local government records, depictions of historic buildings, clothing, furniture, tools and artwork.

Ohio University's entries will provide information about the university, as well as materials related to several counties across southeastern Ohio, including Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Meigs, Muskingum and Perry. Archives and Special Collections has submitted rare books, local government documents, newspapers, early university documents and manuscripts, including the papers of E.W. Scripps, the namesake of Ohio University's journalism school.

Among early university documents are printed commencement programs, including one from the 1828 ceremony in which John Newton Templeton became the university's first African-American graduate.

"We are pleased to participate in the Ohio Memory Project, George Bain," head of Archives and Special Collections, said. "This will be very useful during the university's upcoming bicentennial in 2004. We hope the items from Athens and surrounding counties prove interesting, and they should be beneficial to school-age students."

In 1995, the Memory Project was conceived by the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board as a way to allow the global community to discover and explore Ohio's rich past long after the state's 2003 bicentennial has passed. Since then, the board has worked with the Ohio Historical Society, the State Library of Ohio, the Ohio Public Library Information Network and the Ohio Library Council.

More information on the holdings of the university's Archives and Special Collections can be found on the department's Web site, www.library.ohiou.edu/libinfo/depts/archives/.