Historiography

To date, there have been only three studies published on the marsh, two monographs and one academic article. The inaugural analysis, The Complete History of the Scioto Marsh (1940), was written by local journalist and historian Carl Drumm. Surprisingly, Drumm's examination defies the expected boosterism usually associated with such early regional histories. Instead, his observations represent a somewhat proto-environmental history with the foremost focus being on ecological degradation and onion monoculture in the marsh. Despite its strengths, the book is not without faults. Chief among them is the lack of cited references to his sources so often the places, people, and events described are difficult to corroborate. In addition, scattered comments on race and class disparities demonstrate a complicated bias that imbrues an otherwise sound study. That being said, Drumm's work offers critical insights into local perceptions of the marsh's evolution and agricultural production over time.  

The second, published in the Northwest Ohio Quarterly by distinguished New Deal historian Bernard Sternsher, in 1985, centers on the dismal treatment and subsequent militancy of regional farmworkers amid the Great Depression. Though his focus was primarily on the union's machinations, Sternsher revealed an undeniable connection between depressed wages and agricultural land use. "The story of the Scioto Marsh onion workers strike," he observed, "begins, and to a large extent, ends with the soil." Consequently, his work illuminated how oxidation, erosion, and monoculture worked to reduce acreage, yields, and incomes. In doing so, he showed how the shuttered economy that followed had sweeping impacts on the region's precarious farmworkers and sharecroppers. That being said, the article devoted limited time to contextualizing the origins of the decline and how it related to more than just the localized contexts. 

The third and final publication, Unearthing the Land (1999), has also been the most widely read. A meticulously researched and wholly comprehensive study, Rumer draws upon not only a wide array of archival records but also more than sixty oral histories conducted with local residents. Based on this evidence, the book's argument becomes evident: ecological degradation was inherent to agricultural production in the marsh. He writes, "...in the protracted period of alteration of the real marsh, and then its uses for agriculture, this place did not have an advocate who protested in a fashion to be heard widely or remembered." This framework, however, has largely served to obscure the inherent complexity of land-use practices on the marsh. While degradation was undeniably present, even ubiquitous, it by no means unilaterally defined the region's historical alterations. That being said, Rumer's work presents a jumping-off point to extrapolate on these forces and illustrate a more holistic interpretation.

Beyond these localized studies, historians in the mid-twentieth century began to think more broadly about how human societies shaped the natural world around them. The sub-field that emerged--environmental history--explored various manifestations of anthropogenic activity including mining, industrialization, and most notably, agricultural production. Allan G. Bouge's landmark study From Prairie to Corn Belt (1963) offered one of the earliest contributions. Although primarily focused on capital investments and commodity markets, Bouge anchored his study to the land. In doing so, he took seriously the consequences to local ecology required to ensure widespread cultivation. Since then, scholars have continued to examine the entangled connections between ecology, economy, and cultivation more specifically. This early turn included seminal works like Donald Worcester's Dust Bowl (1979), William Cronon's Changes in the Land (1983), Alfred Crosby's Ecological Imperialism (1986), and Carolyn Merchant's Ecological Revolutions (1989). Though spanning across distinct spatial and temporal boundaries, the works collectively speak to how the market economy and capitalist modes of production fundamentally interacted with the landscapes they occupied. 

More recently, scholars have built upon this framework to explore how modern industrialization and scientific innovation have accelerated these forces. Spurred by the transformation of agricultural production from largely a subsistence model to a more explicitly market-based activity, producers shifted practices to accommodate the need for maximized acreage yields and efficiency. These changes not only necessitated an evolution in land-use practices but also ushered in ecological and economic precarity as well. Furthermore, scholars have also worked to contextualize such grand narratives with more localized perspectives. The soil, for example, has received increased attention in recent years. In addition, they have also demonstrated how specific commodities, sometimes regionally and ecologically dependent, deeply impact the environment around them. From tobacco in the South to corn in the Midwest, these narratives have demonstrated the need to explore how such crops fit into the larger narrative. 

• Chase W. Fleece, "Mayhem in the Muck: An Environmental History of Ohio's Scioto Marsh," MA thesis (Bowling Green State University, 2025).