Embedded Files
Below, you’ll find a selection of my published writing—organized by outlet and year.
These pieces span small-town archives and national conversations, tracing how memory, faith, and place shape who we are. Some explore forgotten corners of Jewish life in America; others reflect on civic belonging, spiritual seeking, or the quiet power of historical recovery. Many were originally published under my former name, Austin Reid.
If you’re curious about a particular piece or would like to use my work in a classroom, community event, or exhibit, I’d be glad to hear from you. Feel free to reach out through any of the links in the footer.
Local Histories & Monographs
Local Histories & Monographs
These longform essays trace the histories of Jewish communities across Ohio and beyond—many of them nearly forgotten. Drawing on local archives, newspaper records, and oral memory, I’ve worked to reconstruct these stories not only as historical records, but as echoes of civic presence and spiritual life. This section offers a glimpse into that ongoing work of remembrance.
2025
2025
In 2025, I contributed a series of longform essays to the Jewish Virtual Library (JVL), documenting Jewish life in towns across New York, Ohio, and West Virginia. These entries are part of an ongoing effort to preserve and share the histories of smaller Jewish communities. Several essays build on earlier work I published with the Columbus Jewish Historical Society between 2019 and 2023, where I first began recording the stories of Ohio’s smaller and often overlooked Jewish communities.
A History of Lancaster, Ohio’s Jewish Community
Jewish Virtual Library · July 2025
A historical overview of Lancaster’s Jewish community from its origins in the 1850s through the closure of B’nai Israel in 1993, including the Jewish community's role in local civic life and interfaith events such as the landmark 1927 synagogue dedication.
A History of Lima, Ohio’s Early Jewish Community
Jewish Virtual Library · January 2025
A historical overview of Lima’s Jewish community from the 1850s through 1966. Temple Beth Israel–Shaare Zedek continues to serve the area’s Jewish community as of 2025.
A History of Jewish Life in Auburn, New York, and Surrounding Areas
Jewish Virtual Library · February 2025
A historical overview of Auburn’s Jewish community from the 1870s through 2013, when the town’s sole synagogue, B’nai Israel, closed its doors.
Steubenville and Weirton’s Jewish Heritage
Jewish Virtual Library · February 2025
A historical overview of the Jewish communities in Steubenville, Ohio, and Weirton, West Virginia—two neighboring towns—tracing their stories from the 1850s through 2013, when the area’s last synagogue, Temple Beth Israel, closed.
A History of Jewish Life in Mansfield, Ohio, and Surrounding Areas
Jewish Virtual Library · March 2025
A historical overview of Jewish life in Mansfield, Plymouth, Ashland, West Salem, and nearby communities, spanning from the late 1840s into the 21st century.
A History of the Portsmouth, Ohio Jewish Community
Jewish Virtual Library · March 2025
A historical overview of Portsmouth's Jewish community from the 1840s through 2000. Congregation K.K. Beneh Abraham continues to serve the area’s Jewish community as of 2025.
A History of Zanesville’s Jewish Community
Jewish Virtual Library · April 2025
A historical overview of Zanesville’s Jewish community from the 1850s through 2017, when the town’s last remaining synagogue, Beth Abraham, closed.
2024
2024
In 2024 I partnered with regional and local organizations to highlight overlooked stories from Ohio and New York's Jewish past. These collaborations help ensure that even the smallest Jewish communities are included in the broader historical record.
A History of Jewish Life in Bucyrus
Ohio Genealogical Society/Bucyrus Public Library · October 2024
A historical overview of Jewish life in Bucyrus, Ohio, from 1849 through the late 1970s, highlighting the economic and civic contributions of local Jewish families and their connections to nearby Jewish communities.
A History of the Beth Israel Congregation of Corning, New York
Southeast Steuben County Library · September 2024
A local history feature documenting the evolution of Beth Israel Congregation and the Jewish community in Corning, New York. The paper explores key milestones, demographic shifts, and civic contributions, and was added to the library’s permanent collection to help preserve the legacy of Jewish life in Steuben County. The history was also published as a multi-part series by the Steuben County Historical Society in its Steuben Echoes journal.
A History of Jewish Life in Wood County
Digital Public Library of America · September 2024 — originally digitized by the Toledo Lucas County Public Library in 2023
A historical profile of Jewish life in Wood County, Ohio, from the 1880s onward. This work preserves the memory of a small but active Jewish presence in towns like Bowling Green and North Baltimore, highlighting patterns of migration, community building, and regional connection.
2017-2023
2017-2023
Early Contributions to the Columbus Jewish Historical Society
Between 2017 and 2023, I published 14 longform local histories with the Columbus Jewish Historical Society, documenting smaller Jewish communities across Ohio. These pieces incorporated oral histories, archival photographs, and detailed narratives drawn from contemporary newspaper accounts. Many of these early works later informed my Jewish Virtual Library articles.
Selected pieces:
A History of the Jewish Community of Lancaster and the Surrounding Area (2017)
A History of Jewish Life in the Upper Miami Valley (2021) — also featured by the Jewish Virtual Library in 2021.
Jews in the First Capital: A History of Chillicothe’s Jewish Families (2021). — also featured by the Jewish Virtual Library in 2021.
Additional articles are available through the Columbus Jewish Historical Society’s "Central Ohio Histories" page.
Essays & Reflections
Essays & Reflections
These essays blend personal experience, historical insight, and ethical reflection. Whether writing about conversion, memory, belonging, or belief, I aim to explore how our individual stories intersect with larger questions of meaning. Many of these pieces trace the quiet ways faith, loss, and place shape who we are—and who we’re still becoming.
2025
2025
Holocaust survivors in small-town Ohio and the urgency of remembering
Holocaust survivors in small-town Ohio and the urgency of remembering
Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland.com) · January 2025
In this piece for Holocaust Remembrance Day 2025, I reflect on survivors who rebuilt their lives in Ohio towns like New Philadelphia and Fremont. Through the stories of Sandra Mandel and Ted Stabholz, I explore how small-town Jewish communities became unexpected grounds for witness, testimony, and moral memory. As Jewish life fades from many of these places, we’re left with urgent questions: who will carry forward these stories—and how can memory remain living, not just preserved?
Inspiring legacies: What two vanished American Jewish communities teach us
eJewish Philanthropy · February 2025
What happens when a synagogue closes but its values endure? In this reflection, I share how two small-town Ohio congregations—B’nai Israel of Lancaster and Beth Israel of Fremont—shaped lives long after their doors shut. Drawing on personal experience and historical research, I explore how legacy planning can carry forward Jewish memory and meaning in places where communal life has faded.
The lights are going dark. Spirit of closed Ohio synagogues continue to speak.
The Columbus Dispatch · February 2025
What happens when a synagogue closes its doors? In this essay, I reflect on the quiet power of legacy—how communities like B’nai Israel in Lancaster and Temple Beth Israel in Steubenville transformed their final acts into seeds of future impact. Drawing from my own journey of spiritual discovery, I explore how books, scholarships, and memory can carry faith forward even after sanctuaries are gone.
The Generosity We Forgot: Non-Jews and the Building of Jewish Life
The Jerusalem Post · March 2025
It’s common to hear about non-Jews supporting Israel—but what about those who helped build synagogues, sustain relief campaigns, and fund Jewish schools across the Diaspora? In this historical essay, I uncover a forgotten legacy of interfaith generosity, stretching from 18th-century Philadelphia to 20th-century Ohio and Canada. These stories challenge the assumption that Jewish life has always been built in isolation—and invite us to remember a more generous, interconnected past.
The First Mosque in America Welcomed Its Neighbors. That Spirit Still Matters
The Gazette (Cedar Rapids) · July 2025
In this historical reflection, I explore how Muslim immigrants in 1930s Iowa opened their mosque to the public, invited neighbors to join in prayer and celebration, and modeled a civic vision of pluralism. At a time of deep misunderstanding and rising discrimination, this forgotten chapter offers a compelling vision of shared belonging rooted in hospitality, education, and faith.
More writing from this year is available on my Muck Rack profile.
2024
2024
I Research Disappearing Small-Town Jewish Communities. I’m Finding the Best of America.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) · November 2024
In this personal essay, I reflect on how growing up in Lancaster, Ohio — with only faint traces of its once-active synagogue — set me on a path of uncovering forgotten Jewish communities and stories across the U.S. Drawing on examples from Ohio and New York, I explore how small-town synagogues served as civic and interfaith centers, and how preserving their stories can reshape our understanding of American identity and belonging.
The Vanishing Stars of David
The Times of Israel – Featured Blog · November 2024
This foundational essay explores the decline of small-town Jewish communities across America—beginning with my own hometown of Lancaster, Ohio. Framed through a personal memory of a Star of David etched into a war memorial, the piece weaves archival research, local memory, and national patterns of economic change. It asks what is lost—not only for Jews but for civic life—when once-vibrant communities disappear, and how memory can serve as a form of hospitality.
Opinion & Public Commentary
Opinion & Public Commentary
These pieces offer timely reflections on public life, culture, and community—rooted in historical awareness and guided by ethical conviction. Whether responding to current events or challenging dominant narratives, I write to bring context, memory, and nuance into the public conversation. These essays are meant to inform, but also to invite reflection.
2025
2025
Vanished cross-border community offers lessons for our time
The Post-Standard (Syracuse.com) · February 2025
In this op-ed, I explore how a forgotten moment of Jewish cross-border cooperation between Ogdensburg, New York, and Prescott, Ontario, sheds light on today’s political and economic challenges. Revisiting the story of Congregation Anshe Zophen, I argue that small towns thrive not by building walls but by building bridges—reminding us that international relations are strongest when rooted in lived community.
When Jewish communities vanish, who will remember them?
The Jerusalem Post · March 2025
As Jewish populations shrink in small-town America, who safeguards their history? In this opinion piece, I argue that rural newspapers and local historical societies play an essential role in preserving Jewish memory—often long after the last synagogue has closed. Drawing on my research in more than 20 towns, from Ohio to New York to North Wales, I explore how public storytelling can counter rising antisemitism and ensure that Jewish contributions remain part of local identity.
Atlanta has long embraced its Jewish community amid rising antisemitism
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution · May 2025
Published during Jewish American Heritage Month, this op-ed revisits the city’s long history of supporting its Jewish neighbors—from the first synagogue dedication in 1877 to interfaith solidarity after the 1958 Temple bombing. In a time of rising antisemitism, I reflect on Atlanta’s legacy of pluralism as a model worth reclaiming.
When Duluth helped carry the Torah
Duluth News Tribune · May 2025
In 1902, the mayor of Duluth and a Methodist minister helped carry Torah scrolls into a newly dedicated synagogue—a powerful act of interfaith friendship. I revisited this nearly forgotten moment after that same synagogue was destroyed by fire in 2019. The piece calls us to remember not only what was lost, but what was once shared: a civic spirit rooted in pluralism, public blessing, and sacred cooperation.
The first synagogue in Kansas was a toast to our nation's liberty. We should all remember.
Kansas Reflector · June 2025
In 1864, Kansas Jews and their Christian neighbors gathered during the Civil War to dedicate the state’s first synagogue—with music, speeches, and a toast to Abraham Lincoln. When a local minister condemned Christians who had donated to the effort, a powerful defense of pluralism appeared in the press. I revisit this nearly forgotten episode to remind us that religious freedom is not just an ideal—it’s a civic tradition, always worth defending.
More writing from this year is available on my Muck Rack profile.
Early Local Reporting
Early Local Reporting
Before my essays appeared in national outlets, I was honored to be seen and supported by local reporters, small-town editors, and community publications. Their trust gave me room to grow—and helped bring forgotten histories into public view. I’m proud to share that early work here.
2023
2023
Keeping Histories of Ohio’s Small Jewish Communities Alive
The Dayton Jewish Observer · January 2023
This in-depth profile traced my efforts to document the Jewish histories of small Ohio towns, especially in the Upper Miami Valley and Greene County. Reporter Marshall Weiss highlighted how my research began in Lancaster, where I was raised, and expanded into a volunteer project to recover the overlooked legacies of Jewish life in Southeastern and Central Ohio. The article emphasized the enduring civic contributions of these small Jewish communities—many of which had outsized influence on local institutions. It also previewed my early work with the Columbus Jewish Historical Society and volunteer projects in Mansfield and Massillon.
Local History Project Documents Jewish Life in Richland County
Richland Source · March 2023
This feature spotlighted my in-depth research into the Jewish history of Mansfield and surrounding areas in Richland County, Ohio. Drawing from archival sources and community interviews, I traced over 170 years of Jewish life—from the 1848 arrival of Myer Miller, a German-Jewish immigrant and civic leader, to the ongoing presence of the Emanuel Jacob Congregation today. The article highlighted the contributions of early Jewish families to Mansfield’s commercial, cultural, and civic development—including the legacies of Abraham Heineman, Carl and Mary Sternbaum, and nationally recognized figures like James Lapine and Lee Adams. I also spoke about the broader goals of my work: to place local Jewish stories in national context and make them accessible to readers of all backgrounds, especially during a time of rising antisemitism.
Researcher examines Jewish communities in small Ohio towns
The Canton Repository (syndicated across Ohio) · May 2023
This in-depth feature by journalist Charita M. Goshay profiled my multi-year effort to document the Jewish histories of 16 small Ohio communities—from Massillon and Alliance to Chillicothe and New Philadelphia. I shared how the project began at Capital University and evolved into a broader effort to recover forgotten Jewish stories across the state. The piece explored local Jewish legacies from the 1800s through post-Holocaust refugees and emphasized how civic decline often parallels the loss of communal memory. Syndicated in outlets such as The Cincinnati Enquirer and Akron Beacon Journal, the article marked a turning point in public recognition of my work and its growing regional scope.
History of Salem’s Jewish Community
Salem News · December 2023
This article highlighted my research into the Jewish history of Salem, Ohio—a community small in number but rich in civic and cultural impact. Working with the Salem Public Library, Salem Historical Society, and Columbus Jewish Historical Society, I traced the community’s roots from the 1888 arrival of Emanuel Greenberger through a short-lived congregation formed in 1917 to the ongoing legacies of figures like Max Fisher, Alan Freed, and Judge Dean Hansell. The piece explored Jewish service in World War II, robust humanitarian work by the NCJW chapter, and how even small Jewish communities helped shape their towns. It also marked the 18th Ohio town I’ve documented as part of my effort to preserve Jewish life in places often overlooked in mainstream histories.
2022
2022
Steubenville and Weirton’s Jewish Heritage
Weirton Daily Times · April 2022
This in-depth feature highlighted my historical research on the intertwined Jewish communities of Steubenville, Ohio, and Weirton, West Virginia—once home to more than 1,000 Jews and multiple congregations. The article emphasized how I used local newspaper archives to document over 170 years of Jewish life, from early families and World War I service to the postwar era and the eventual closure of both towns’ synagogues. It also noted my broader effort to preserve overlooked Jewish stories across Ohio and Appalachia, including the inclusion of this work in the collections of the Weirton Area Museum, the Columbus Jewish Historical Society, and the Rauh Jewish Archives.
Jewish temple played a role in early Fremont
The News-Messenger (Fremont, Ohio) · May 2022
This column by longtime journalist Roy Wilhelm drew from my research on Temple Beth Israel and the broader Jewish history of Fremont, Ohio. It highlighted how a small but active Jewish community helped shape civic and interfaith life in the region—from the 1840s through the congregation’s final service in 1980. The article noted how my documentation led to the creation of a permanent exhibit at the Sandusky County Historical Society Museum, housed in the former synagogue itself. It also reflected how my work, which began in Lancaster, was evolving into a statewide effort to preserve Jewish memory in towns like Fremont, Piqua, and Steubenville.
Unearthing Hocking County’s Jewish Past
Logan Daily News · August 2022
This feature explored my efforts to document the little-known Jewish history of Hocking County and the surrounding coal towns of Southeast Ohio. Drawing from genealogical records, archival newspapers, and local memory, I traced how Jewish families—though few in number—established bakeries, clothing stores, salvage yards, and even maintained religious observance through traveling kosher butchers. The article emphasized the broader implications of this work: how small-town Jewish communities shaped American Judaism and how preserving their stories helps modern descendants reconnect with forgotten roots. It also highlighted my collaboration with the Columbus Jewish Historical Society and regional groups like the Little Cities of Black Diamonds.
Traces of local Jewish history found by native of Lancaster
Lancaster Eagle-Gazette · September 2022
This feature marked the first time my hometown paper covered my research into the Jewish history of Lancaster, Ohio. I spoke about why I began documenting small-town Jewish life—especially for non-Jewish neighbors unfamiliar with this part of local history, and for descendants seeking connection. The story highlighted key moments, like a 1961 fire where Torah scrolls were rescued, and the local Jewish community’s civic involvement during World War I. I also shared how a single building—the former B’nai Israel synagogue, now a private home—sparked questions that led to a much deeper investigation.
Jewish Families: A Part of Cambridge History
Daily Jeffersonian · October 2022
This guest column explored the rich but often overlooked Jewish history of Cambridge, Ohio, from the founding of Congregation Beth El in 1912 to the economic impact of families like the Rogovins and Greenwalds. I traced how Jewish residents shaped the city’s commercial and industrial development, operating clothing stores, steel plants, and scrap yards. The piece highlighted how even a small Jewish population—never exceeding 65 people—left a lasting civic legacy, from religious life to hospital boards. It also connected local Jewish history to broader national patterns of immigration and industrial growth, encouraging readers to see Cambridge’s past through a more inclusive lens.
2020-2021
2020-2021
Jews Along the Hocking
The Athens Messenger · September 2020
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I returned to a project I first began in college—documenting the forgotten history of Jewish life in Southeastern Ohio. This article covers my research, including stories of Holocaust survivors, small-town business owners, and acts of interfaith solidarity. I hoped that by telling these stories, local residents and descendants might rediscover the Jewish past woven into their own hometown histories.
Capital U grad shares stories of small-town Jewish history
Columbus Jewish News · December 2020
This profile highlighted my early public history work documenting Jewish life in towns like Lancaster, Zanesville, Athens, and even tiny Corning, Ohio—where a Jewish immigrant once served six terms as mayor. I spoke about the urgency of preserving these stories as many small Jewish communities fade, the unexpected characters I’d uncovered, and how newspaper archives became my most trusted tool.
Jews in the Y Bridge City
Zanesville Times Recorder · December 2020
After completing a paper on Jewish history in Athens County, I turned to nearby Zanesville—once home to a vibrant Jewish community. Drawing on archives from the Columbus Jewish Historical Society and local historical groups, I traced the lives of immigrants, business owners, veterans, and the impact of a synagogue that served generations before closing. This local feature highlighted my 30-page research paper and the personal drive behind my work: to keep memory alive in places where institutions have faded.
Lancaster native chronicles Jewish history of Chillicothe
Chillicothe Gazette · January 2021
This feature traced my efforts to uncover the Jewish past of Chillicothe, Ohio—from Civil War soldiers to a forgotten revival of Jewish life during World War I. It marked one of the first times a local paper documented how my independent research had grown into a larger regional project. I emphasized how even towns with no synagogue today once had Jewish civic leaders, educators, and small business owners—stories that deserve a lasting place in civic memory. The article also previewed my broader aim to document Jewish communities across Southeastern and Central Ohio.
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