Description: "Choicest Varieties of Celery" is the headline next to a drawing of Kalamazoo celery, a new variety promoted on p. 11 of the trade catalog "Beautiful Flowers from the Calla Greenhouses, Calla, Ohio" (1899). The illustration shows a bunch of celery with the letters of the name "Kalamazoo" arranged in a vertical column. The catalog was published by Lewis Templin and Sons Seed Company (Calla, Ohio), which was among the largest mail-order seed houses in the United States during the mid- to late 1800s. Pennsylvania native Lewis Templin moved to Ohio in 1822 and started his nursery in 1845 in Canfield. In 1866 Templin and four sons built a greenhouse at Loveland Station (later renamed "Calla"). The business had a well-deserved reputation for quality products and for generating its financial success solely from small, individual orders. Templin's son Mark produced the firm's catalogs, including "Beautiful Flowers from the Calla Greenhouses." An estimated 300,000 catalogs were distributed annually. A fire destroyed the company's entire spring crop in January 1892, but afterwards the firm rebuilt on an even larger scale. Lewis Templin died in 1899. His sons continued operating the business until 1907, when increased competition and rising costs caused it to fail. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05783
Subjects: Nurseries (Horticulture)--Catalogs; Seed products; Trade catalogs--Ohio--1880-1900; Botanical illustration; Ohio Economy--Agriculture
Places: Calla (Ohio); Mahoning County (Ohio)
 

Description: "Twenty-Ounce Apple," from "The Specimen Book of Fruits, Flowers and Ornamental Trees: Carefully Drawn and Colored from Nature for the Use of Nurserymen" (Rochester: D.M. Dewey, 1872). The image is of a brightly colored apple with leaves and a broken stem set against an off-white background. The name "D.W. Sargent, Rochester, N.Y." is printed in the lower left corner; in the lower right corner is printed "Fruits and Flower Plates, 1000 Varieties." Dellon Marcus Dewey (1819-1889) was a bookseller and publisher in Rochester, New York. He recognized an opportunity in the booming horticulture industry of the mid- to late 1800s. Beginning in the late 1850s Dewey produced "plates," brightly colored illustrations of fruits, flowers, and ornamental trees. Traveling sales representatives from nurseries used these plates to market their company's products to consumers. By the 1870s Dewey began compiling portfolios and custom plate books and portfolios for customers. He employed a staff of artists and other workers to create the images. In 1888 Dewey merged his company with Rochester Lithographing and Printing Company, a firm noted for its expertise in chromolithography. Dewey died late the following year. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05781
Subjects: Dewey, Dellon Marcus, 1819-1889; Trade catalogs--Ohio--1880-1900; Nurseries (Horticulture)--Catalogs; Botanical illustration; Ohio Economy--Agriculture
Places: Rochester (New York)
 

Description: "King of Tompkins County Apple" is an illustration from "The Specimen Book of Fruits, Flowers and Ornamental Trees. Carefully Drawn and Colored from Nature for the Use of Nurserymen" (Rochester: D.M. Dewey, 1872). The image is of a bright red apple with leaves and a broken stem set against an off-white background. The words "M. Dewey's Series colored from nature" are printed in the lower left corner; in the lower right corner is printed "American Fruits and Flowers." Penciled notations include "1/4" "W" and "g." Dellon Marcus Dewey (1819-1889) was a bookseller and publisher in Rochester, New York. He recognized an opportunity in the booming horticulture industry of the mid- to late 1800s. Beginning in the late 1850s Dewey produced "plates," brightly colored illustrations of fruits, flowers, and ornamental trees. Traveling sales representatives from nurseries used these plates to market their company's products to consumers. By the 1870s Dewey began compiling portfolios and custom plate books and portfolios for customers. He employed a staff of artists and other workers to create the images. In 1888 Dewey merged his company with Rochester Lithographing and Printing Company, a firm noted for its expertise in chromolithography. Dewey died late the following year. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05787
Subjects: Dewey, Dellon Marcus, 1819-1889; Nurseries (Horticulture)--Catalogs; Trade catalogs; Botanical illustration
Places: Rochester (New York)
 

Description: An illustration of the Duchess d Anjouleme pear, from "The Specimen Book of Fruits, Flowers and Ornamental Trees: Carefully Drawn and Colored from Nature for the Use of Nurserymen" (Rochester: D.M. Dewey, 1872). The image is of a brightly colored yellow-gold pear with leaves and a broken stem set against an off-white background. The words "D.M. Dewey's Series Colored from Nature" appear in the lower left corner; "American Fruits and Flowers" appears in the lower right corner. The penciled notation "0.75" is written at the bottom. Dellon Marcus Dewey (1819-1889) was a bookseller and publisher in Rochester, New York. He recognized an opportunity in the booming horticulture industry of the mid- to late 1800s. Beginning in the late 1850s Dewey produced "plates," brightly colored illustrations of fruits, flowers, and ornamental trees. Traveling sales representatives from nurseries used these plates to market their company's products to consumers. By the 1870s Dewey began compiling portfolios and custom plate books and portfolios for customers. He employed a staff of artists and other workers to create the images. In 1888 Dewey merged his company with Rochester Lithographing and Printing Company, a firm noted for its expertise in chromolithography. Dewey died late the following year. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05788
Subjects: Dewey, Dellon Marcus, 1819-1889; Nurseries (Horticulture)--Catalogs; Botanical illustration; Trade catalogs
Places: Rochester (New York)
 

Description: "Old Mixon Free Peaches" is an illustration from the trade catalog "The Specimen Book of Fruits, Flowers and Ornamental Trees: Carefully Drawn and Colored from Nature for the Use of Nurserymen" (Rochester: D.M. Dewey, 1872). The image is of a pale-gold peach with a rosy blush (and green leaves) set against an off-white background. The words "D.M. Dewey's Series Colored from Nature" is printed in the lower left corner; in the lower right corner is printed "American Fruits and Flowers." Handwritten notations at the bottom edge read "25 cts." and "Pineapple & Sweet Water." Dellon Marcus Dewey (1819-1889) was a bookseller and publisher in Rochester, New York. He recognized an opportunity in the booming horticulture industry of the mid- to late 1800s. Beginning in the late 1850s Dewey produced "plates," brightly colored illustrations of fruits, flowers, and ornamental trees. Traveling sales representatives from nurseries used these plates to market their company's products to consumers. By the 1870s Dewey began compiling portfolios and custom plate books and portfolios for customers. He employed a staff of artists and other workers to create the images. In 1888 Dewey merged his company with Rochester Lithographing and Printing Company, a firm noted for its expertise in chromolithography. Dewey died late the following year. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05789
Subjects: Dewey, Dellon Marcus, 1819-1889; Nurseries (Horticulture)--Catalogs; Botanical illustration; Trade catalogs
Places: Rochester (New York)
 

Description: Dated July 6, 1936, this photograph shows men operating card counting sorters, a machine used to count library catalog cards after arranging them in a desired classification, operating at a rate of about 400 cards per minute. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B11F06_028_001
Subjects: Libraries; Dewey decimal classification; Card catalogs--History; Employees; Cincinnati (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Thomas Alva Edison was one of the greatest inventors of all of history. Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. As a child, he lived in Milan and Port Huron, Michigan. The home in Milan where Edison was born was built in 1842, sold by Edison’s parents in 1854, repurchased by his his sister Marian Edison Page in 1894, and bought by Thomas Edison in 1906. Edison invented the carbon transmitter, which greatly improved the telephone. He also invented quadruplex telegraphy and the phonograph. His invention of the incandescent light bulb led Edison to create elaborate generation plants for electricity, helping make electricity available in many people's homes. He invented the kinetoscope -- the precursor to the film projector -- in 1891. During World War I, Edison helped develop new weapons for the United States military. By the time of his death on October 18, 1931, Edison had received over one thousand patents. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F02_026_1
Subjects: Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931--Birth; Milan (Ohio)--History; Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931--Archives--Catalogs
Places: Milan (Ohio); Erie County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows examples of personalized bookplate designs from the Antioch Bookplate Company's 1931 catalog, page 20. The page features four bookplates, each with a different design and typography. The bookplates have engraved black-and-white images, and the quartet of bookplates is displayed on a turquoise background. The business was founded in 1926 by Ernest Morgan and Walter Kahoe, two enterprising work-study students at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. They worked in the college's printing shop and came up with a novel idea for using the accumulated scrap paper: making decorative bookmarks and bookplates. With the college's blessing, they launched the Antioch Bookplate Company. Kahoe eventually sold his share in the business to Morgan, who then expanded the company into a highly successful operation. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05873
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Literary Ohio; Antioch Bookplate Company; Bookplates; Catalogs; Books and reading
 

Description: Drawing of an ancient mound near Cedarville, Ohio. The drawing is on the inside front cover of "Handy Book for Collectors: A Short Description of Most of the Varieties of Indian and Mound Builder Implements, Arranged and Classified According to Size and Use" by W. K. Moorehead, a well-known American archeologist. The image is a drawing of an tall mound that situation in a field near a stream. Three tiny human figures stand between the stream and the mound. The caption reads: "Ancient Mound near Cedarville, Ohio. Relics from this Mound for sale, as follows: Fragment of pottery, Indian bones, and Arrow Head, by Mail 25 cents. W.K. Moorehead, Xenia, Ohio." Fascinated by Indians and their culture since his boyhood in Xenia, Moorehead enrolled in Denison University (Granville, Ohio) in 1884 and began collecting hundreds of specimens from Indian sites near Granville. He later worked at the Smithsonian Institution and then conducted his own exploration of Fort Ancient in Ohio. He also conducted explorations of the Hopewell site near Chillicothe, Ohio, and at pueblos in the Southwest U.S. In 1894 Moorehead became curator of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, a post he held for three years. In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Moorehead to the Board of the U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners. He served on the board until 1934, when it was abolished by executive order. In the earlier part of his career, Moorehead built a personal collection of artifacts found at his excavation sites, he later became a strong advocate for just treatment of American Indians. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05900
Subjects: Moorehead, Warren King, 1866-1939; Mound-builders--Ohio; American Indians--Archaeology; American Indians; Archaeology; Catalogs
 

Description: Trade label from the stevengraph image " The Good Old Days," was manufactured by the Thomas Stevens Company, Coventry, England. The label includes an image of the Stevens factory and a row of medals. A handwritten notation in the upper left corner reads: "From Annette P. Ward, Oct. 1913." Thomas Stevens, a Coventry weaver, invented the woven-silk pictures he called “stevengraphs.” These images were made using a jacquard loom in which mechanically operated devices wove intricate, three-dimensional patterns in silk. The image actually was part of the fabric (as opposed to being painted or dyed on the surface). The printed trade label pasted on the back of a stevengraph helps to identify the age of the piece and the authenticity of the subject. Stevengraph labels list subjects for sale; prize medals and diplomas awarded to Thomas Stevens; the company's address; and trade marks used by the company. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05915
Subjects: Labels--Catalogs; Stevengraph pure silk woven pictures; Jacquard weaving; Stevens, Thomas, 1828-1888; Decorative arts
Places: Coventry (England)
 

Description: The pictured object is an advertising piece used to show the different shapes and sizes of steel bars that the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company was capable of producing, serving as a physical catalog of sorts. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AC2_YHCIL_MSS0140_B01F08_005
Subjects: Younstown Sheet and Tube Company; Advertising; Steel industry; Catalogs
 

Description: This is an advertising photograph used to show the different shapes and sizes of steel bars that the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company was capable of producing, serving as a physical catalog of sorts. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AC2_YHCIL_MSS0140_B01F08_004
Subjects: Younstown Sheet and Tube Company; Advertising; Steel industry; Catalogs