Description: This silk Stars and Stripes guidon with gold fringe was taken into battle by Battery C of the 1st Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery. Its blue canton once bore 35 stars in a grid of 5 columns and 7 rows but has since been torn away. Its fourth red stripe holds the remnants gold lettering which read: 1st Ohio Artillery Battery, A. The regiment was called upon April 21, 1861 in a letter to Colonel James Barnett from the Governor, William Dennison. Each Battery of the 1st has its own history and operated independently in battle. Their initial appointment was for three months, though most served an additional campaign for three to five years. Battery A was quickly appointed to another 3 year campaign at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati and mustered into service on September 9, 1861. Major engagements in which the battery took part include Mill Springs, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, the Atlanta Campaign and Sherman's March to the Sea. The battery was mustered out at Camp Cleveland on June 15, 1865. Ohio battle flags were on display at the Ohio Statehouse until the 1960s, when the state formed a committee to oversee the efforts to restore the fragile flags. Some of the battle flags were on display on the Plaza Level of the Ohio Historical Society from 1970 until 1989. For conservation reasons, the flags have been in storage since 1989. In the 1960s, the collection was photographed and commercial artist Robert Needham painted illustrations of many Civil War flags. Photographs of the flags and the paintings are now part of the society's archival collections. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01822
Subjects: Flags--Ohio; United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Textile--silk
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Ohio National Guard Soldiers who were members of 2nd A.W. Battalion, 174th Artillery practicing a riot control formation while on standby riot control duty in Athens, Ohio, 1968. Ohio National Guard troops were in Athens in response to student protests against the military conflict in Vietnam. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05180
Subjects: Ohio National Guard; Soldiers--Ohio; Ohio History--Military Ohio; Riot control; Protests and protestors
Places: Athens (Ohio); Athens County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of a young boy dressed in an Indian costume with his dog. This photograph was taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912. Like most of Ewing's work, it was likely taken in southeastern Ohio or central West Virginia. Born in 1870 in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta, Ewing most likely began his photography career in the 1890s. The 1910 US Census and a 1912-1913 directory list him as a photographer. A negative signed "Ewing Brothers" and a picture with his younger brother, Frank, indicate that Frank may have joined the business. After 1916, directories list Albert as a salesman. He died in 1934. The Ewing Collection consists of 5,055 glass plate negatives, each individually housed and numbered. Additionally, the collection includes approximately 450 modern contact prints made from the glass plate negatives. Subjects include infants and young children, elderly people, families, school and religious groups, animals and rural scenes. In 1982, the Ohio Historical Society received the collection, still housed in the original dry plate negative boxes purchased by Albert J. Ewing. A selection of the original glass plate negatives were exhibited for the first time in 2013 at the Ohio Historical Center. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04688
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Portrait photography--United States--History; Children; Dogs; Other--Family History; Costumes
Places: Ohio; West Virginia
 

Description: Photograph depicting C. W. Bryant seated at his desk, Columbus, Ohio, June 1945. Charles William Bryant Jr. was born in Dayton in 1882, and from his start as a farmhand with a 3rd grade education would go on to become a prominent African American businessman, self-taught engineer, and owner of one of Columbus’ largest construction firms. The C. W. Bryant Rigging & Moving Co. was involved in major projects throughout Columbus, including the construction of a temporary Broad Street bridge following the 1913 flood, the removal of lighting arcs from High Street, and dismantling Hanford Village in 1962 for the construction of I-71. Bryant faced racial discrimination in his personal and professional life, including the refusal of local steelworkers’ unions to admit Bryant’s black employees, which forced Bryant Co. out of steel construction in the 1950s. He nonetheless expanded into other areas, including ownership of Bryco gas stations, a coal and oil company, the Litchford and Macon hotels, and the Ohio Malt Beverage Co.-the first African American distributor in Columbus. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04474
Subjects: African Americans; Bryant, Charles William, Jr. (1882-1964); Business and labor; Construction industry;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Painting of national colors of the 82nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02504
Subjects: Flags--Ohio; United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
 

Description: This photograph is a black-and-white image of a colorful mural titled "Mail—The Connecting Link’," painted in 1938 by artist Sally F. Haley (1908-2007). The mural depicts the significant role that mail (and the postal service) plays in the life of individuals and of the entire nation. Three human figures (a mail carrier, a woman, and a little girl) occupy the center of the image, forming a triangular space that divides the background between urban and rural settings. The mail carrier is delivering a letter to the woman as the little girl watches. Bags of mail travel to distant locations via trains (rural areas and small towns) and boats (large urban areas). On the left side the mural, a railroad signal bears the number “1938,” the year that Haley painted the mural. The mural, painted in oil on canvas, is located in the McConnelsville, Ohio, post office. It measures 5 feet high by 17 feet wide. The mural was funded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Section of Painting and Sculpture, one of the department’s three visual arts programs instituted during the Great Depression. Established in 1934, the Section of Painting and Sculpture commissioned artists to create paintings and sculpture that would decorate new federal buildings. The commissions were awarded competitively. Unlike other cultural programs of the New Deal, the Section’s primary goal was to procure art for public buildings, not to provide work relief. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Sally Haley was the daughter of Elizabeth Akers Haley and John P. Haley, a portrait photographer. John Haley was a friend of photographers Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen. Two of Sally’s brothers also became artists. In 1931, Sally Haley graduated from Yale University with a bachelor of fine arts degree. She taught art in a Bridgeport high school for two years, studied art in Germany for a few months, and then returned to the U.S. to paint full time. In 1935 she married artist Michele Russo, and the couple lived in Connecticut until 1947, when they moved to Portland, Oregon. Haley was very active in the Portland art scene, and her paintings were widely praised. She died in 2007 at age 99. In 1988 photographer Connie Girard took color and black-and-white images of this mural for an article in "Timeline" magazine (June/July 1989). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04495
Subjects: Mural paintings (visual works); Post office buildings--Ohio; United States. Department of the Treasury. Section of Painting and Sculpture; Great Depression and the New Deal; McConnelsville (Ohio)
Places: McConnelsville (Ohio); Morgan County (Ohio)
 

Description: This flag has a red border with a white field and one blue star. It is a wool rectangular flag measuring 44 by 39 cm. Cyril H. Webster of Columbus, Ohio, donated this wool service flag in 1953. This flag was displayed in the donor's home while he served in World War I. The In Service Flag (Blue Star Banner) was patented by an Ohioan, Colonel Robert L. Queisser of East Cleveland, Ohio, on 6 November 1917. Intended for display by families who have members serving in the Armed Forces, blue star banners are also displayed in shop windows to honor the members of that organization who were serving. Most flags were homemade by mothers, though they later became mass-produced. Upon death in service the blue star was replaced by a gold one, wounded soldiers' stars were replaced by silver. One of the most famous flags was that of the five Sullivan brothers who all perished on the U.S.S. Juneau. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H65301_001
Subjects: Textile--wool; Ceremonial artifact; Communication artifact; Military flags; Flags--Ohio; World War, 1914-1918; Blue Star Banner;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image is a reproduction of a photograph depicting a view of the Ohio and Erie Canal at Millersport, Ohio, ca. 1906. The Ohio and Erie Canal was one of Ohio's most important canals during the mid nineteenth century. During the late 1810s, Governor Thomas Worthington and Governor Ethan Allen Brown both supported the development of canals. Both men believed that Ohioans needed quick and easy access to the Ohio River and to Lake Erie if they were to profit financially. Farmers and business owners would be able to transport their products much more easily and cheaply with canals rather than turnpikes. Canals would also possibly open up new markets for Ohio goods. In 1822 the Ohio legislature created a new Ohio Canal Commission, which eventually recommended two routes: a route that started at Lake Erie, passing through the Cuyahoga Valley, the Muskingum Valley, the Licking Valley, and then to the Ohio River along the Scioto Valley (Ohio and Erie Canal) and a western route along the Miami and Maumee Valleys (Miami and Erie Canal). In 1825 the Ohio legislature approved both routes, and work began immediately. On July 4, 1825, work began on the Ohio and Erie Canal at Licking Summit just south of Newark. The surrounding swamps were drained to create the Licking Reservoir, today known as Buckeye Lake, in order to supply adequate water for the canal going north to Coshocton and south to Circleville. After the canal route was established, the state engineers discovered that there was a ridge of hills located south of the proposed reservoir through which they would have to cut the canal. Because it was impossible to raise the reservoir’s level, the ridge had to be cut down to the level of the reservoir. This "Deep Cut" marks the deepest part of the canal at 32 feet and runs south from Millersport for nearly two miles. To finance the canals, the Ohio government relied on loans. Ohio received an initial loan of $400,000 from bankers and businessmen living along the East Coast. The canal commissioners estimated that the Ohio and Erie Canal would cost $ 2.3 million, but it actually cost roughly $10,000 per mile to finish. Although the construction of both canals nearly bankrupted the state government, the canals allowed Ohioans to prosper, beginning in the 1830s all the way to the Civil War. In 1830 the Ohio legislature earmarked funds for the Miami and Erie Canal's extension to Defiance and Lake Erie; by 1833 the Ohio and Erie Canal was complete. Once completed, however, the state’s canals still faced numerous difficulties. The effects of flooding and freezing could and often did seriously damage the canals. Usually canals in the northern half of the state were drained dry from November to April. These difficulties paled in comparison to the advantages of having the canals. The cost to ship goods from the East Coast to Ohio and vice versa declined tremendously, from $125 per ton of goods to $25 per ton of goods. Travelers who were willing to trade time for economy could save considerable money by taking a canal boat. Most canals remained in operation in Ohio until the late 1800s. By the 1850s canals were losing business to the railroads, which offered several advantages. Railroads delivered passengers and goods more quickly, and they were not limited by a water source as canals were. Because of these advantages, railroads quickly supplanted the canals. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06109
Subjects: Ohio and Erie Canal (Ohio); Canals; Transportation--Ohio--History; Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development
Places: Millersport (Ohio); Fairfield County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of William Allen, who served one term as the Governor of Ohio from 1874-1876. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS_2959
Subjects: Ohio Government; Presidents and Politics; Governors; Ohio Governor (1874-1876 : Allen); Ohio History State and Local Government
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio);
 

Description: Interior view of Kinley's Department Store in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Opened by John H. Kinley in 1896, the store operated until 1929 at 132 North Sandusky Avenue. This photograph was taken of his father's store by Harry Evan Kinley (1882-1969), a native of Upper Sandusky. He was active in local events and organizations, and spent his professional career as a clerk at his father's store, and later as a travelling salesman for the Marion Paper & Supply Company (1934-1962). Kinley was also an avid lifelong photographer, and the bulk of the Harry Kinley Collection is comprised of glass plate negatives documenting the Kinley family, the city of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County and surrounding areas. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05400
Subjects: Ohio Economy--Economy--Business; Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Department stores;
Places: Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Wyandot County (Ohio)
 

Description: Sheet music to a song called 'There's a Service Flag in the Window' written and published by Colonel Charles Young and dedicated to Charles Burroughs. Charles Young was the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his death in 1922, was the highest-ranking African American officer in the Army. He is known for having been forced into retirement due to health concerns before the start of World War I and later riding from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to prove his physical fitness for duty. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS2_B02_001_01
Subjects: Young, Charles, 1864-1922.; Music; Musicians; African American men; African American soldiers
Places: Xenia (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Martin Adams of Hamilton County, Legally Executed at 12:20 A.M., September 17, 1895, for the Murder of John Ohmer at Cincinnati, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08049
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Prisons--Ohio; Death row