WVXU: Over-the-Rhine Museum plans to help visitors step back in time

Plans for a museum, dedicated to the lives of typical residents in two buildings in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine historic district, have come to fruition.

Anne Steinert, a research assistant professor UC’s Department of History and founding board chair of the Over-the-Rhine Museum, spoke to WVXU about the makings of the museum and what will be on display when the museum opens.

“This is a museum about ordinary people’s lives,” Steinert says in an interview describing the process and efforts made to showcase a rich history of nearly two centuries of occupants at 3 West McMicken / 12 Findlay Street.

The property contains two historic tenement buildings with a combined 4,600 square feet of space where rooms will recreate the dwellers interior space. One apartment, for example, will recreate the life of Jewish family of seven who resided there from 1932 to 1952 while another apartment replicates the life of an interracial couple from the 1990s.   

Steinert says that when we think about museums we think about “big mansions where famous people lived” but the Over-the-Rhine Museum will be a reflection of a neighborhood and community occupied by the working class.

According to Steinert, and a nine-member board of historians from across the country, the buildings hold the stories of 150 occupants; and on July 29, 2023 the board will announce which resident’s lives they chose to replicate.

Listen to the interview.

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Featured image at top courtesy of Over-the-Rhine Museum.