ALLIANCE – In their first collaboration for 2023, the Haines House Underground Railroad Museum (operated by the Alliance Area Preservation Society) and the Alliance Historical Society will present author Kathy Schulz to discuss her new book, “The Underground Railroad in Ohio,” in the auditorium at Rodman Library Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m.

The program will take the format of an informal, sit-down conversation with AAPS President Robb Hyde on the auditorium stage. The program is presented in partnership with Rodman Library. The program is free and open to the public, but reservations are required through the Rodman Library website (rodmanlibrary.com).

Schulz believes that Ohio was at the heart of it all when it came to the route of enslaved freedom seekers. During a dark time in United States history, thousands of these freedom seekers traveled through Ohio with the help of an anti-slavery underground which was popularly known as the Underground Railroad. The Buckeye State hosted as much as half of all fugitive slave traffic of the antebellum era. A mix of Northern and Southern settlers in the state added drama to a struggle that led to major benefits for the state and the country.

Unfortunately, this epic past was obscured by silence and secrecy and then distorted with misinformation and folklore – until now. Schulz details the development and workings of the UGRR with true stories of Addison White, John Parker and others, as well as ties between Alliance’s actual railroads and the famed underground network in The Underground Railroad in Ohio.

After the discussion and questions from the audience, the author will sign copies of her book for attendees. Books will be available for sale before and after the program for $20.

Schulz, a retired college librarian, grew up in Columbiana County between Columbiana and New Waterford, on a family farm pre-dating the Civil War and surrounded by Underground Railroad lore. Her birthplace was Salem, the headquarters of the Western Anti-Slavery Society and a majority Quaker town full of abolitionists. She later lived near Springfield, Ohio, on another important freedom seeker route. She regards herself as a “soldier in the information revolution” during her career at Wittenberg University, though she discovered fascinating information about local anti-slavery activity the old-style way – from yellowed papers in library archives.

Schulz holds a bachelor science in education from The Ohio State University, an Masters of Library Science from Kent State University, and an Masters of Humanities from Wright State University. Her research skills recently helped her confirm Underground Railroad involvement in one of her ancestor lines in Highland County, Ohio; she suspects it in others.

Schulz and her husband currently live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she stays busy with friends, hobbies and grandchildren.