Axios Columbus

March 08, 2024
🎉 Happy Friday! You made it.
☔️ Today's weather: Mostly cloudy, with afternoon rain likely. High of 61.
Situational awareness: Clocks "spring ahead" for daylight saving time this weekend, which means it's a great time to test your smoke alarms and replace their batteries.
🎵 Sounds like: "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy.
Today's newsletter is 916 words — a 3.5-minute read.
1 big thing: What's historic? That's up to you
The Ohio Statehouse in fall 2003. The Columbus Metropolitan Library wants residents to submit streetscapes, family photos and other digital files to its My Upload program. Photo: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The Columbus Metropolitan Library maintains a vast digital collection of 1.75 million old photos, postcards and newspapers — and now invites the public to add their own.
Why it matters: The library system's My Upload program offers residents the chance to preserve memories and community landmarks for generations to come.
How it works: Residents can upload digital files of local photos, concert programs, ticket stubs and anything else of interest.
- They can be old images or those taken as recently as today.
- Librarians review all submissions to make sure they're relevant to the area.
- Anyone can submit — you don't need to have a library card. (But we do suggest one, for many reasons.)
Flashback: My Upload launched in early 2020 with a $27,500 grant from Lyrasis, a preservation nonprofit.
- Initial submissions dealt with the local pandemic response and racial justice protests from that year, with photos of a taped-off McDonald's dining hall and a Black Lives Matter gathering at the Statehouse.
Zoom in: Other entries from the My Upload collection showcase a hodgepodge of snapshots past and present: a 1970s sale advertisement for a restaurant on Olentangy River Road, colorful photos of the Marysville Balloon Festival and a Columbus Chill hockey schedule from 1991.
- There are also dozens of ordinary shots around downtown, which make for great "then and now" comparisons.
By the numbers: As of yesterday, 690 user submissions have been added to the archive.
What they're saying: Angela O'Neal, CML's manager of local history and genealogy, tells us her favorite thing about this "community collecting initiative" is residents get to share what is most important to them.
- O'Neal also noted librarians "can't be at all events, [so] it is a great way for the community to make sure history is saved."
The bottom line: The contemporary world may not feel historic just yet, but it will some day.
- This is an opportunity to add to a digital time capsule.
2. 🚢 Titanic exhibit lands at COSI
A replica of the first class suite on display with "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit." Photo: Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images
Hundreds of artifacts recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic go on display at COSI this weekend.
Why it matters: The traveling exhibit includes rarely displayed artifacts, per the museum, including one of the massive cranes used to lower the ship's lifeboats.
- The exhibit also includes a complete set of whistles recovered from the ship's smoke stacks.
What to expect: Prepare for an immersive experience, COSI spokesperson Kristy Williams says.
- She highlights a reproduction of the ship's grand staircase and an ice wall that lets people experience exactly how frigid the water was the night of the wreck.
- "It's so surreal because you think about what you would do in that situation and how you would feel," she says.
Flashback: This is the third time the Titanic exhibition has returned to COSI.
- The 2005 local debut drew a record-breaking 226,000 visitors during its six-month run, prompting an encore exhibition in 2010, per the Dispatch.
If you go: The exhibit opens Saturday and runs through Sept. 2.
- Timed ticket bundles are $45 for adults and $40 for youth, which get you into the museum and the Titanic exhibit.
- COSI members can reserve exhibition tickets for $10 each.
3. Other things to do this weekend
Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
🎨 Get creative with other artists at the monthly Boxland Media Studios' Happy Hour.
- 4-6pm tonight, 6155 Huntley Road, Suite J. Free!
☘️ Celebrate the greenest and grandest day of the year with Dublin's St. Patrick's Day Parade.
- Festivities start at 7am Saturday, parade at 11am, downtown Dublin. Free!
🎵 Go Now! to hear classic rock group Moody Blues perform at the Ohio Theatre.
- 8pm Saturday, 39 E. State St. $20+.
🍺 Taste any of 150 local beers at COSI after hours during the Columbus Brew Fest.
- 8-11pm Saturday, 333 W. Broad St. $55+ in advance, includes sample tickets. No door ticket sales.
🏆 Watch the 96th Academy Awards with fellow movie lovers at the Gateway Film Center.
- Doors open at 4:30pm Sunday, 1550 N. High St. $75, includes parking and drink tickets.
4. ⏰ A daylight saving reminder (and warning)

Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
At 2am Sunday we "spring ahead" to daylight saving time, even though many sleep experts wish we wouldn't, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum writes.
Why it matters: Health groups favor standard time over daylight saving time because they say it's more aligned with our body clocks.
Yes, but: Federal and state lawmakers have pushed to make daylight saving time permanent.
- That means sunrise in Columbus on March 7 would go from approximately 6:56am to 7:56am, and push back sunset from 6:31pm to 7:31pm.
Between the lines: Daylight is not "saved" per se, but it is shifted to remain later in the evening.
- In spring and summer, days are naturally longer than they are in the fall and winter (when we're on standard time), regardless of time zone.
5. Nutshells: An all student-news roundup
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
🏚️ Housing code violations in the University District are 14 times higher than three years ago, an investigation of Columbus Building and Zoning data shows. (The Lantern)
🪒 Otterbein's baseball team members recently shaved their heads to support a pediatric cancer fundraiser as an annual tradition to kick off their season. (T&C Media)
⏰ Kenyon College will switch from credit units to credit hours beginning in 2028 to align itself with other higher education institutions. (Collegian)
🚲 Three Denison swimmers are turning heads by pedaling a run-down, bright yellow tandem bike to classes and plan to start a rental system. (The Denisonian)
Quote du jour
"It's weird and it looks like s***, and I honestly think that makes it better."— Denison junior Blake McDonald, opining on his bike.
This newsletter was edited by Lindsey Erdody and copy edited by Kate Sommers-Dawes and Anjelica Tan.
Our picks:
📕 Tyler is reading the next chapter in Robert Caro's Lyndon B. Johnson series.
👶 Alissa is on maternity leave.
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