COLUMBUS – When the Columbus Metropolitan Library closed it branches in late November due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 65 staff members who typically worked with customers in the library’s 23 locations were temporarily reassigned to the team charged with scanning documents for the Local History and Genealogy collection.
In honor of Black History Month, the library announced Tuesday that the scanning team has digitized its 100,000th document, the proceedings from the Ohio State Christian Anti-Slavery Convention held at the First Congregational Church, located at 444 E. Broad Street, in 1859.
During the two-day forum held two years before the outbreak of the Civil War, organization president A.A. Guthrie delivered a polemic against the embrace of slavery by Christians.
“Let Slavery be dragged from the altars of God and driven forth to fare as it may in the open field, where an outraged and indignant humanity may vindicate itself by consigning the whole system to an early and ignominious grave,” he said.
The full document can be viewed in the library’s My History digital collection, which includes photographs, postcards, newspaper articles and other documents that help tell the story of central Ohio. It is free to access at columbuslibrary.org.
The library’s branches remain closed for public browsing but curbside pickup and walk-up services are available at most locations.