Clearly, the Ohio Bicentennial is an important event for celebration. This article seeks to promote the Ohio Bicentennial by reviewing a project devoted to the local or public aspect of history. The focus of the project was the study of the history of Dayton, Ohio. Wright State University developed the Nearby History Institute, which brought public historians, social studies professors and researchers from area archives and museums together with faculty from the public schools, to rethink and strengthen American history teaching in the Miami Valley. The Ohio Humanities Council and the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation funded the institute.