Description: This photograph is a black-and-white image of a colorful mural titled "New London Facts,” completed in 1941 by artist Lloyd R. Ney (1893-1965). The oil-on-canvas mural, which measures 5 feet high by 14 feet wide, is located in the New London, Ohio, post office. The mural was funded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Section of Painting and Sculpture (the "Section"), one of the department’s three visual arts programs instituted during the Great Depression. Established in 1934, the Section 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. Ney went to New London to learn as much as possible about the town, its history, and residents. Although Ney favored Modernism, he decided to forego a purely nonobjective design in favor of one that incorporated recognizable places, people, and objects as well as abstractions. A boldly outlined center triangle divides the mural into three sections. The individual sections and the overall mural functions as a montage of images. The triangle’s design, which includes an eye, is reminiscent of the Great Seal of the United State. Painter and sculptor Lloyd Raymond (“Bill”) Ney) was born in Friedensburg, Pennsylvania, the only child of Sadie Maidenford and William Ney. As a young child he showed a passion for art but had no formal training until he left high school in 1913 to study in Philadelphia and later in Europe at the end of World War I. While studying abroad, he became acquainted with influential Modernist painters, and his style became progressively more abstract throughout the rest of his life. He left Paris in 1925 and moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he joined a thriving community of modernist artists. In 1939, Ney was awarded a commission from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Section of Painting and Sculpture (the “Section”) to paint a mural for the New London, Ohio, post office. When upper-level Section officials saw Ney’s preliminary sketches for the mural, they were upset by what they termed his “abstract” style and quickly rejected his design. Ney fought hard for his concept and enlisted the help of the New London community, whose outpouring of support convinced the Section to approve Ney’s design in 1940. The mural was completed and installed in the New London post office in 1941. Lloyd Ney died in New Hope, Pennsylvania, in 1965. 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: AL04497
Subjects: Ney, Lloyd Raymond, 1893-1965; New London (Ohio); 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
Places: New London (Ohio); Huron County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of "New London Facets" painted by Lloyd R. Ney in 1940. The painting is located at the post office in New London, Ohio in Huron County. Photographed by Connie Girard in 1988. The photo is from the Ohio Post Office Artwork Collection, AV 48. The collection represents thirty murals or plaster reliefs installed in twenty-five Ohio post offices between 1937 and 1943. In 1988, Connie Girard photographed the artwork. Photos were published in the article “Not By Bread Alone, Post Office Art of the New Deal.” Timeline. June-July 1989, p. 2-19 by Gerald Markowitz and Marlene Park. In 1932, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President he promised Americans a "New Deal" and created public works programs to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed people, including artists. Ten thousand unknown and established artists were commissioned by the government to create murals, paintings, photographs, posters, prints and sculpture. The goal was not only to employ artists, but also to bring fine art into the daily lives of all people. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was funded for six months in 1933 – 1934. The PWAP was succeeded by the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture. Organized in 1934 the Section of Painting and Sculpture operated until 1943. Under the auspices of this organization sixty-six new Ohio post offices received artwork. The majority of the post offices were located in small towns. Post offices were chosen as a location for artwork because, particularly in small towns, they were centers of community activity. Most of the painted murals or murals in plaster relief created are realistic images reflecting the history, common activities or major industries of the communities in which the post offices are located. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: av48_b2_f20_02
Subjects: Post office stations and branches--Ohio--Photographs; Public art--Ohio--Photographs; Public Works of Art Project (United States); New Deal art
Places: New London (Ohio); Huron County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of a mural titled "New London Facets" by Lloyd R. Ney. The mural is located in the New London, Ohio post office. It is oil on canvas and measures 5' by 14'. The mural was created in 1940 with funding from the Section of Painting and Sculpture, a depression era public works program administered by the Treasury Department that provided work for unemployed artists. They awarded commissions through competitions and paid artists for their work, for a total of more than 1300 murals and 300 sculptures. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04715
Subjects: Artists; Paintings; mural paintings (visual works); Public buildings--Ohio; Great Depression; New Deal, 1933-1939
Places: New London (Ohio); Huron County (Ohio)
 

Description: "An irregular cottage in the Old English style," from "Cottage Residences; or, A series of designs for rural cottages and cottage villas, and their gardens and grounds. Adapted to North America." by A. J. Downing (New York and London, Wiley and Putnam, 1842). Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) was one of the most important pre-Civil War designers and writers in America. He began his career as a landscaper and founded the magazine "The Horticulturist," which he used to promote scientific agriculture. As an architect, he designed buildings that mixed romantic architecture with the pastoral, picturesque architecture of the English countryside. He collaborated with Alexander Jackson Davis on "Cottage Residences." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04861
Subjects: Architecture; Ohio Economy--Architecture and Engineering
Places: New York (New York); London (England)
 

Description: Pictured is the title page of “Old Papermaking,” a book written by Dard Hunter and published in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1923. Hunter was a notable printer and papermaker. The title page shows Hunter's bull-and-branch printer's mark. A printer’s mark is a publisher's emblem or trademark, which usually was placed on a book's title page. Hunter added a new branch to his printer's mark whenever he wrote, designed, and printed a new book. Therefore, this mark shows that "Old Papermaking" was Hunter's third book. William Joseph “Dard” Hunter (1883-1966) was born in Steubenville, Ohio, where his father, William Henry Hunter, ran a newspaper business. The elder Hunter was an advocate of hand crafts and also an amateur woodcarver. Dard (a family nickname) learned typesetting at his father's business and the mechanics of papermaking at a paper mill near his home. In 1900 the Hunter family moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, to run another newspaper, and Dard was its artist. In 1904 he moved to East Aurora, New York, to join the Roycrofters, a community of craft workers and artists that was a branch of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the United States. Hunter created designs for books, leather, glass, and metal, and also tried his hand at pottery, jewelry, and furniture. He founded a correspondence school, the Dard Hunter School of Handicrafts. In 1910 he moved to Vienna, where he took courses in lithography, book decoration, and letter design. Afterward he settled in London, where he developed a fascination for papermaking. In 1912 Hunter and his wife, Edith, moved to Marlborough, New York, where he designed and built a water-powered paper mill and designed a distinctive font that bears his same. In 1919 Hunter and his family returned to Chillicothe, where he worked and lived for the rest of this life. He founded Mountain House Press, a letterpress printing studio where he wrote and published 20 books on papermaking. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05959
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Art and Artists; Hunter, William Joseph, 1883-1966; Papermaking; Printing industry and trade--Ohio; Roycroft Shop
Places: Chillicothe (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Benjamin Harrison who served as President from 1889-1893. Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) was born on his family's farm in North Bend, Ohio. He attended Farmer's College near Cincinnati and later transferred to Miami University in Oxford. He graduated from that institution in 1852 and went on to read law in Cincinnati. In 1853, Harrison married Caroline Scott and the couple moved to Indianapolis, where Benjamin Harrison set up a successful law practice. He also became involved in the newly formed Republican Party. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Harrison helped to raise the 70th Indiana Infantry regiment and served with distinction. When the war ended, Harrison returned to Indianapolis and resumed his law practice and political activities. He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Indiana in 1876 and was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1881. Harrison was chosen as the Republican nominee for President in 1888. During the campaign he supported a high tariff to protect American industries against foreign competition. Harrison won the election and during his term in office, Congress raised the tariff and passed acts relating to coining silver money and regulating monopolies. The United States also became more involved in foreign affairs. Harrison ran unsuccessfully for re-election in 1892. Many of his policies had proved unpopular and his wife was terminally ill, which limited his campaigning. Harrison died in 1901. Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912) was a native of Xenia. Like Harrison, he was also a graduate of Miami University. He gained acclaim as a newspaper man and wrote for papers in Xenia and Cincinnati before becoming the managing editor of the New York Tribune. Later in life, Reid served as ambassador to Great Britain. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01076
Subjects: Presidents--United States; Ohio History--Presidents and Politics
 

Description: Figure 8, a landscape design published in "Cottage Residences; or, A series of designs for rural cottages and cottage villas, and their gardens and grounds. Adapted to North America," by A. J. Downing. Andrew Jackson Downing (1815 - 1852) was one of the most important pre-Civil War designers and writers in America. He began his career as a landscaper and founded the magazine "The Horticulturist," which he used to promote scientific agriculture. As an architect, he designed buildings that mixed romantic architecture with the pastoral, picturesque architecture of the English countryside. He collaborated with Alexander Jackson Davis on "Cottage Residences." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04856
Subjects: Landscape design; Ohio Economy--Agriculture; Gardens; Gardening; Flowers; Landscape design
Places: New York; London (England)
 

Description: This image of Harman Blennerhassett (1765-1831) is photographic reproduction of an engraving by Alexander Hay Ritchie (1822-1895). The head-and-shoulders portrait depicts Blennerhassett as young man with wavy hair, large eyes, and a rather prominent nose. Just below the bottom of the oval image is the caption “Engd by A.H. Ritchie” and located further down is a reproduction of Blennerhassett’s signature. Ritchie’s engraving closely resembles a digital image that is in the collection of the New York Public Library (ID 113981). A typeset caption on that image reads: “Harman Blennerhassett, from a miniature taken in London in 1796.” If that information is correct, then the miniature was created when Blennerhassett was about 31 years old. Blennerhassett and his wife, Margaret, achieved notoriety for their association with Aaron Burr, former vice president of the United States, and for their involvement in the Burr Conspiracy. The Blennerhassetts’ surviving legacy and a symbol of their legendary hospitality is the mansion they built on Blennerhassett Island, located in the middle of the Ohio River near what is now Parkersburg, West Virginia Blennerhassett, a wealthy Irish aristocrat, and his niece, Margaret Agnew (ca. 1778-1842) created a scandal when they married. The exact date of their wedding is not known, but Margaret was likely in her late teens at the time of the nuptials. Margaret was the daughter of Robert Agnew, lieutenant governor of the Isle of Man. She was an intelligent, well-educated young woman with linguistic and literary talent. The closely related couple flouted legal, religious, and social conventions by marrying. The couple left England for the United States during the late 1790s and eventually moved to Marietta, Ohio. In 1797 they purchased 174 acres of land on an island in the Ohio River. The land formerly belonged to George Washington. During their first years on the island, the Blennerhassetts lived in a blockhouse until a permanent home was ready. In 1800 they moved into their new home, a mansion, where the couple lived the life of the wealthy. The Blennerhasetts were famous for their hospitality, and many travelers down the Ohio River stopped at the couple’s home. Their most famous guest was Burr, whom they met in 1805 when he visited the island. In 1805 and 1806, the Blennerhassetts assisted Burr in his scheme to break away the western part of the United States and form a new country that he would lead. The federal government heard rumors of the uprising and sent a detachment of Virginia militia to seize the Blennerhassetts' island. Harman Blennerhassett was in hiding; his wife was away in Marietta. When she returned, she discovered that the militiamen had ransacked the home, and she fled with her children. Her husband was arrested a few weeks later, but he quickly gained his release. The Blennerhassetts briefly returned to their mansion, but now destitute, they sought their fortunes in Mississippi, where Harman raised cotton to support the family. An embargo during the War of 1812 brought more financial hardship. In 1819 the family moved to Canada, where Harman tried unsuccessfully to establish a law firm. Margaret and their surviving children remained in Canada when Harman moved to Ireland in 1821 to pursue an old legal claim. He settled on the Isle of Guernsey. His family left the United States in 1825 to live with Harman on the Isle of Guernsey, where he died in 1831. Alexander Hay Ritchie (1822-1895) was an artist and engraver who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and studied under Scottish artist Sir William Allan. Ritchie moved to New York in 1841 and established a studio there. He specialized in mezzotints, engravings, and etchings. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05839
Subjects: Blennerhassett, Harman, 1765-1831; Blennerhassett, Margaret, ca. 1778-1842; Burr Conspiracy, 1805-1807; Burr, Aaron, 1756-1836; Blennerhassett Island (W. Va.); Ohio River Valley--History; Ritchie, Alexander Hay, 1822-1895; Ohio History--Presidents and Politics
 

Description: Pictured is artist Dard Hunter's watermark, used as a paper specimen of a modern watermark in his book "Old Papermaking" (Chillicothe, Ohio: 1923). A watermark is a design embossed into a piece of paper during its production that is used to identify the paper and its maker. A watermark can be seen when the paper is held up to light. Born William Joseph Hunter (1883-1966) in Steubenville, Ohio, Dard Hunter was a notable printer and papermaker. His father, William Henry Hunter, ran a newspaper business. The elder Hunter was an advocate of hand crafts and also an amateur woodcarver. Dard (a family nickname) learned typesetting at his father's business and the mechanics of papermaking at a paper mill near his home. In 1900 the Hunter family moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, to run another newspaper, and Dard was its staff artist. In 1904 he moved to East Aurora, New York, to join the Roycrofters, a community of craft workers and artists that was a branch of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the United States. Hunter created designs for books, leather, glass, and metal, and also tried his hand at pottery, jewelry, and furniture. He founded a correspondence school, the Dard Hunter School of Handicrafts. In 1910 he moved to Vienna, where he took courses in lithography, book decoration, and letter design. Afterward he settled in London, where he developed a fascination for papermaking. In 1912 Hunter and his wife, Edith, moved to Marlborough, New York, where he designed and built a water-powered paper mill and designed a distinctive font that bears his name. In 1919 Hunter and his family returned to Chillicothe, where he worked and lived for the rest of this life. He founded Mountain House Press, a letterpress printing studio where he wrote and published 20 books on papermaking. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05960
Subjects: Hunter, William Joseph, 1883-1966; Roycroft Shop; Mountain House Press; Arts and crafts movement; Cultural Ohio--Art and Artists; Chillicothe (Ohio);
Places: Chillicothe (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Entertainer Elsie Janis (1889-1956) standing under a tree, probably at her Columbus home on 2018 N. High Street, ca. 1910. Elsie Janis began performing on stage as a very young child and made her professional debut at the Southern Theatre in Columbus when she was seven. At age ten she performed for President McKinley at the White House. As a teenager she was starring in musicals in New York City and London. During World War I, Janis became the first female entertainer to perform for the soldiers at camps near the front lines. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02735
Subjects: World War, 1914-1918--Women; Women in the performing arts; Arts and Entertainment
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Pictured is a box label that reads “Old Papermaking, by Dard Hunter.” William Joseph "Dard" Hunter (1883-1966) was a notable printer and papermaker. The label shows Hunter's bull-and-branch printer's mark. A printer’s mark is a publisher's emblem or trademark, which usually is placed on the title page of a book. Hunter added a new branch to his printer's mark whenever he wrote, designed, and printed a new book. Therefore, this mark shows that "Old Papermaking" (Chillicothe, Ohio: Dard Hunter, 1923) was Hunter's third book. William Joseph Hunter was born in 1883 in Steubenville, Ohio, where his father, William Henry Hunter, ran a newspaper business. The elder Hunter was an advocate of hand crafts and also an amateur woodcarver. Dard (a family nickname) learned typesetting at his father's business and the mechanics of papermaking at a papermill near his home. In 1900 the Hunter family moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, to run another newspaper, and Dard was its staff artist. Dard became interested in the Arts and Crafts movement, and in 1904 he moved to East Aurora, New York, to join the Roycrofters, a community of craft workers and artists that was a branch of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the United States. Hunter created designs for books, leather, glass, and metal, and also tried his hand at pottery, jewelry, and furniture. He founded a correspondence school, the Dard Hunter School of Handicrafts. In 1910 he moved to Vienna, where he took courses in lithography, book decoration, and letter design. Afterward he settled in London, where he developed a fascination for papermaking. In 1912 Hunter and his wife, Edith, moved to Marlborough, New York, where he designed and built a water-powered paper mill and designed a distinctive font that bears his same. In 1919 Hunter and his family returned to Chillicothe, where he worked and lived for the rest of this life. He founded Mountain House Press, a letterpress printing studio where he wrote and published 20 books on papermaking. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05958
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Art and Artists; Hunter, William Joseph, 1883-1966; Papermaking; Printing industry and trade--Ohio; Roycroft Shop
Places: Chillicothe (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: "A cottage in the English, or rural Gothic style," from "Cottage Residences; or, A series of designs for rural cottages and cottage villas, and their gardens and grounds. Adapted to North America," by A. J. Downing. Andrew Jackson Downing (1815 - 1852) was one of the most important pre-Civil War designers and writers in America. He began his career as a landscaper and founded the magazine "The Horticulturist," which he used to promote scientific agriculture. As an architect, he designed buildings that mixed romantic architecture with the pastoral, picturesque architecture of the English countryside. He collaborated with Alexander Jackson Davis on "Cottage Residences." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04860
Subjects: Architecture; Ohio Economy--Architecture and Engineering
Places: New York (New York); London (England)