Through a generous grant from the Athens Foundation, historical period educational materials are available for loan at no cost from the Southeast Ohio History Center.
These “History Boxes” are plastic, damage resistant containers with removable lids and are small enough to be carried by the average person.
The boxes contain items such as; artifacts, books, clothing, music, photos and lesson plans for each of the following categories:
• What made Athens County famous
• Athens County Settlement
• Childhood in the 19th century
• Athens in the Civil War
• Athens in WWII

Teachers, home educators, libraries and other organizations such as Boy/Girl Scout troupes can check out these history boxes free of charge for a one week period.
To reserve a box for your education needs please call the Southeast Ohio History Center at 740-592-2280 at least one week in advance to check for availability.
Boxes are available for pickup at 24 W. State Street, Athens before 4:00pm on Fridays and must be returned by 4:00pm on the following Friday.
At the time of pickup, an inventory will be done of the contents. The educator will sign the box out and when it is returned another inventory will be done to insure that all contents have been returned.
Some boxes, such as the Childhood in the 19th Century and the Athens County Settlement, work well together and teachers are welcome to check them both out at the same time, however, we ask that no more than two boxes be check out to the same grade level in the same school at the same time.
A department may decide to use one or two boxes and share them between teachers, however, one teacher must reserve the boxes and be responsible for returning them with all the items intact.
We encourage our educators to call us and take advantage of this wonderful new service provided by the Southeast Ohio History Center and made possible by the Athens Foundation.