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Every public history project carries limits. Recognizing them is not a failure—it is an ethical obligation.  Reflecting on the Food, Family, and Tradition program, several areas invite deeper attention. While the event centered on community voices, the final panel did not fully represent the diversity of Over-the-Rhine. Time constraints and limited community interactions—due to time constraints—in the neighborhood shaped who could participate. Gender diversity was also constr

Public history is not only about what we know—it is about how we come to know it, and who is invited into that process. Foodways offer a particularly powerful entry point for this work because its experiential, remembered, and shared across generations. The Food, Family, and Tradition program, developed in collaboration with the Over-the-Rhine Museum, was grounded in the idea of shared authority. Rather than presenting a finished narrative, the program invited community membe

This post is Part One of a three-part adaptation drawn from a research paper I wrote on foodways, migration, and identity in Over-the-Rhine. The writing grows out of my work connected to the Over-the-Rhine Museum’s Three Acts program. It reflects an ongoing effort to translate academic research into public, community-centered history. Food rarely appears in archives as a headline, yet it quietly carries some of our deepest histories. Recipes, grocery lists, street food, and s

The new year is often associated with beginnings: a fresh start, new journeys, and the courage to move forward. For Cincinnati’s earliest Chinese migrants, beginnings were rarely clean or easy. Their arrival in the city in 1873 was not the start of a story, but another chapter in a long migration shaped by displacement, labor, and survival. Cincinnati Enquirer, May 26, 1873 Most early Chinese migrants did not arrive in Cincinnati directly from China. Many came by way of San F

12 West Court Street | George Lim | 1960s The start of a new year invites reflection. We set intentions, look back at what shaped us, and imagine what comes next. But a new year is also a moment to ask harder questions: What histories are we carrying forward and which ones have been left behind?  As we step into 2026, Cincinnati’s past offers an opportunity not just for remembrance but for reconsideration and reclamation. Cincinnati’s historical narrative has long been told t

In the heart of the Midwest, nestled in the bustling city of Cincinnati, there lies a silenced stories of Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) community, waiting to be unearthed and shared with the community.

In May 2024, I had the honor of presenting my research on Vincent Hambright at the Avondale Branch Library. His story, forgotten and...