Description: Reverse reads: "School lunch and Matron Service, Toledo, Ohio. (Party held at Marshall School with W.P.A. Recreation entertainers.)" This is a photograph of Works Progress Administration recreation entertainers performing a hula dance for the School Lunch and Matron Service in Toledo, Ohio. There were many dance classes and group performances taught through the W.P.A. Recreation Project, part of the Works Progress Administration. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B13F11_019_001
Subjects: Recreation; Music and dance; Dance--1930-1950; Hula (Dance); Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project.
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Participants in a Ray C. Alvis "Walkathon" dance contest held in Columbus, Ohio, are tended to by a nurse while taking a break from the competition, ca. 1920 - 1930. Marathon dance contests were popular during the 1920s and 1930s when people were eager to participate for cash prizes or publicity. Generally, participants tried to keep dancing (or at least walking) for as long as they could without stopping. Some contests allowed periodic rest breaks or one partner in a couple to take a break. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04952
Subjects: Dance marathons; Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Teenagers
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Group photograph of the staff of a Ray C. Alvis "Walkathon" dance contest held in Columbus, Ohio, including three, trainers, two nurses and two floor judges, ca. 1920 - 1930. Marathon dance contests were popular during the 1920s and 1930s when people were eager to participate for cash prizes or publicity. Generally, participants tried to keep dancing (or at least walking) for as long as they could without stopping. Some contests allowed periodic rest breaks or one partner in a couple to take a break. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04953
Subjects: Dance marathons; Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Teenagers
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Taken in 1936 in Cincinnati, Ohio, this photograph shows members of an African-American dance team. The Federal Theater Project was one of five projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. This project was designed to help fund theater productions, live artistic performances and employ actors, writers, and producers. 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_B10F08_032_001
Subjects: African American women--Ohio; Dancers; Recreation; Performers; Music and dance; Dance--1930-1950; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Copy -- Aug. 8, 1937 Hungarian Dance Team Dayton Ohio People at Work + Play" View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B10F10_025_001
Subjects: Hungary; Dance
Places: Ohio
 

Description: The information attached to the reverse of the photo is unclear, but it seems to read: "Children's Home,Dayton,Ohio,April 25,1936 Group of [?] in their costumes made by the WPA Sewing Project at the Children's home, for a performance of folk songs and folk dances to be given first at Brown School, April 28, '36. The costumes represent those of some 16 nationalities." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B12F08_009_001
Subjects: Folk dance music; Dancers; Dance--Folk and national dances; ' Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project; Costumes;
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: Program for a Shaker concert given at E. Meyers Hall in Fairfield County, Ohio, on October 20, 1848. The performers were from the Society of Shakers in New Gloucester, Maine. The program included lectures, singing and dancing, as well as appearances by Miss L.A. Palmer, Mr. William Palmer, and Mr. J. Adams. The Shakers were a religious group that originated in Great Britain around 1750, and who believed in celibacy, community, equality of the sexes, simplicity, and humility. They were originally known as "Shaking Quakers" because they commonly trembled in religious fervor during their services. Shakers arrived in America during the 1770s, and reached Ohio in 1805. They established several communities in the state, with the most successful ones at Lebanon and North Union (modern-day Shaker Heights). By 1846, more than four hundred Shakers called Lebanon home. The Shakers established typical communities in Ohio, making productive livings from their orchards, livestock, and other farming activities, as well as from their furniture-making endeavors. By 1900, Ohio's Shakers had virtually disappeared, mainly due to the lack of new converts. As their numbers declined, many Ohio Shakers moved to Shaker communities in other states. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02700
Subjects: Fairfield County (Ohio); Multicultural Ohio--Religion in Ohio; Dance--Religious aspects--Shakers; Concerts--United States--History--19th century
Places: Fairfield County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Federal Music Project. Negro Dance Orchestra performing on the terrace in front of Union Station, Cincinnati, Ohio." The Federal Music Project (FMP), part of the Federal government of the United States New Deal program Federal Project No. 1, employed musicians, conductors and composers during the Great Depression. People in the music world had been particularly hard-hit by the era's economic downturn. In addition to performing thousands of concerts, offering music classes, organizing the Composers Forum Laboratory, hosting music festivals and creating 34 new orchestras, employees of the FMP researched American traditional music and folk songs, a practice now called ethnomusicology. In the latter domain the Federal Music Project did notable studies on cowboy, Creole and "Negro" music. The FMP's director—for the majority of its brief life—was Nikolai Sokoloff. During the Great Depression, many people visited these symphonies to forget about the economic hardship of the time. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F11_003_1
Subjects: Music--Performance; African Americans--Music; Dance orchestras; Federal Music Project (U.S.); Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated August 28, 1940, this photograph shows children performing in a Briar Rose Pageant at Walbridge Park in Toledo, Ohio. Walbridge Park opened in the late 1800s and was located on Broadway Street in downtown Toledo. It was largely destroyed by a fire in 1938. The city bought the land in 1874 and created Riverside Park, which included a midway, restaurants, rides, a dance hall and boat and canoe rentals. 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_B13F11_020_001
Subjects: Theater; Theaters--Stage setting and scenery; Music and dance; Children; Ohio--History--Pictorial works
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads: "Group from Pageant give at U. of D. Stadium." This is a photograph of a pageant group posing at the University of Dayton stadium in Dayton, Ohio. The University of Dayton was founded in 1850, by the Society of Mary, an Order within the Roman Catholic Church. It is currently the largest private university in the state of Ohio, and has a reputation as one of the best Catholic universities in the nation. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F08_013_1
Subjects: Recreation; Music and dance; Children; University of Dayton; Dance--Performance; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Dancers; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Two Dancers from Pageant given at U. of D. Stadium Aug. 29, 1936." Although the caption on the reverse of the photograph claims there are two dancers, there appears to be three dancers performing in this photograph. At the time the picture was taken, the stadium held 7,000. The University of Dayton's current stadium, Welcome Stadium, opened in 1949 and seats 11,000. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F05_007_001
Subjects: University of Dayton; Dance--Competitions
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Some of the Children who took part in Pageant at U. of D. Stadium Aug. 29, 1936. These children were all used in the Movie Film taken on Sept. 1, 1936 Dayton Ohio" The children in this photo are dressed in costume and were used for a film recorded two days later. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F05_013_001
Subjects: University of Dayton; Dance--Performance
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)