Description: This photograph from December 1967 shows the State Auto Insurance Company holiday light display at the company's building on East Broad Street and Washington Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. State Auto is known for its lavish holiday displays, including a life-size nativity scene, a portion of which can be seen in the lower right-hand corner. This photograph was taken for publication in the Columbus Citizen-Journal. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P339_B03F01_07_01
Subjects: Holidays; Christmas; Lighting--Architectural and decorative; Insurance companies; Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows the Municipal Building in Akron, Ohio. The reverse of the photograph documents that this building is the former Academy of Music at the northeast corner of Main and Market Streets in Akron. When the building was photographed in 1937, the building had since been completely remodeled and was then used as an office building. The building opened originally on June 12, 1871, was destroyed in a fire on July 18, 1897, and was rebuilt as an office building by S.T. Everett. It housed several different businesses, including the Cleveland Insurance Company, Charley's Metropolitan Dining Hall, and is presently occupied by Huntington Bank. 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_B11F05_17_001
Subjects: Historic buildings--Ohio--Akron--Pictorial works; Insurance companies--Ohio; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit (Ohio)