Description: Exterior photographic view of the home of President James A. Garfield in Mentor, Ohio, ca. 1930-1960. On December 28, 1980, the house was authorized as a National Historic Site. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02624
Subjects: Mentor (Ohio); Ohio History--Presidents and Politics
Places: Mentor (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of a steam locomotive taken by Daniel Gaskill of Mentor, Ohio. The image was one of ten to win Honorable Mention in the Amateur category of the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photo Contest. In August 1976, the Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Committee (OARBAC) began the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photo Contest as part of a larger effort in Ohio to celebrate the 1976 American Bicentennial. The contest was meant to document "the spirit and character of the people and places which represent Ohio during [the] bicentennial year," and to create a permanent photographic archive of the year's festivity for use by future researchers. Both professional and amateur photographers submitted over 500 photographs for consideration, all taken within the state between January 1 and December 31, 1976. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA2734AV_B01_01
Subjects: American Revolution Bicentennial (1976); Trains; Transportation--Ohio--History; Steam engines; Railroads--Ohio;
Places: Mentor (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows the James Garfield House in Mentor, Ohio. James Abram Garfield was the twentieth President of the United States. Garfield purchased the home in 1876 to accommodate his growing family. The home, named Lawnfield by onlookers, was the site of the first successful front porch campaign in 1880. That same year, Garfield had 11 more rooms added to the building to accommodate his large family. James A. Garfield was President from March 4, 1881, until his death on September 19, 1881. Four years after his assassination, the Memorial Library wing was added by Mrs. Garfield and her family - setting the precedent for presidential libraries. In 1859, Garfield began a political career, winning election to the Ohio Senate as a member of the Republican Party. During the Civil War, Garfield resigned his position as president of Hiram College and joined the Union Army. He began as lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry and fought in the Battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga. He resigned from the army on December 5, 1863, with the rank of major general. Garfield resigned his commission because Ohio voters had elected him to the United States House of Representatives. He served nine consecutive terms in the House of Representatives before he was elected President of the United States in 1880. In Congress, Garfield was a supporter of the Radical Republicans. He opposed President Andrew Johnson's lenient policy toward the conquered Southern states and demanded the enfranchisement of African-American men. Garfield served for only four months before he was shot by Charles J. Guiteau. The president lived for two more months, before dying on September 19, 1881. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06509
Subjects: Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; National parks & reserves; Historic houses
Places: Mentor (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows a group of men at harvest time on the Goodhold farm in Mentor, Ohio, in the 1930s, and documents the increasing mechanization of farming that took place in the 20th century. Although horses were still being used as motive power for the wagons to bring wheat from the fields, steam power is being used for threshing, the process of separating the wheat from the chaff. This photograph was to be included in the Cleveland Guide, one of several guides on selected American cities to be published by the Federal Writers' Project. The Federal Writers' Project was a Depression-era program created to employ writers, under the umbrella of the Works Progress Administation. Most of the work for the Cleveland Guide was complete when the program was abolished in 1943, but the Cleveland Guide was not published. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1038AV_B01F04_01
Subjects: Agriculture--Ohio; Agricultural machinery; Farming; Federal Writers' Project;
Places: Mentor (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: The James A. Garfield House in Mentor. Garfield purchased this home in 1876 to accommodate his large family. At this house, he held the first presidential front porch campaign. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06564
Subjects: Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; Presidents--United States; Lake County (Ohio)
Places: Mentor Hills (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: Harvesting on a farm near Mentor, Ohio, in Lake County, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B06F04_012_1
Subjects: Agriculture--Ohio--History--20th century.; Harvesting
Places: Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: Built to relieve a dilapidated main lighthouse, the West Breakwater light at Fairport Harbor was completed in 1925. The light's iron shell and other cast-iron sections were fabricated in Buffalo; masonry and interior work for the keeper's quarters were completed on-site. In 2009, deeming the light unnecessary, the U.S. Coast Guard auctioned off the site to Jerome Osborne, a Mentor, Ohio building contractor and lighthouse enthusiast. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F11_02_01
Subjects: Lighthouses; Lake Erie; Lakes; Landscapes; Geography and Natural Resources; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works
Places: Fairport Harbor (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: The east annex of the Ohio Penitentiary, where death row and the execution chamber were located, displayed photographs of hundreds of prisoners who were condemned to death throughout the state’s history. This portrait of 32-year-old Harry Pierpont is one of them. Pierpont was a friend and mentor of notorious gangster, John Dillinger. He helped plan a successful escape from the Indiana State Prison in 1933 with seven other prisoners. Afterwards, Pierpont along with Russell Clark, Charles Makley, and Harry Copeland (all infamous cohorts of Dillinger) hatched a plan to free Dillinger himself from a jail in Lima, OH. Upon reaching the jail, the four men attempted to pass themselves off as officials from Indiana State Prison who had come to collect Dillinger for parole violations. However, their attempted deception was unsuccessful and they ended up shooting Clark County Sheriff, Jesse Sarber, in order to set Dillinger free. At this point Dillinger and his gang committed a handful of bank robberies across the Midwest and raided two police arsenals in Indiana. They were later apprehended in Tuscon, Arizona. Dillinger was sent back to face trial in Indiana while Pierpont, Mackley, and Copeland were returned to Ohio where they were convicted for the murder of Sheriff Sarber. After their convictions Pierpont and Mackley promptly attempted an ill-fated prison escape. Mackley was shot and killed during the incident and Pierpont was badly wounded. He was executed soon after. The caption at the bottom of the photograph reads: “No. 183, Harry Pierpont of Allen County, Electrocuted October 17th, 1934, for the Murder of Sheriff Jesse Sarber. Altogether there were 315 people who were electrocuted at the Ohio Penitentiary between 1897 and 1963. Harry Pierpont was the 183rd prisoner to be executed in this manner. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08242
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Capital punishment--Ohio--History; Electrocution; Death row; Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus, Ohio); Dillinger, John, 1903-1934
Places: Allen County (Ohio); Clark County (Ohio); Lima (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Columbus (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Paul Laurence Dunbar, ca. 1890-1900. Josephine Watkins Lehman, known to Dunbar as "Aunt Bam," was the daughter of Dunbar's high school principal and mentor, William Watkins. She is credited with taking this photograph. Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872 to Joshua and Matilda Dunbar, both former slaves, and was encouraged by his mother in poetry and his schooling from an early age. He attended Dayton Central High School and was the sole African American student at that time. Following his high school graduation, Dunbar worked as an elevator operator while writing poetry in his free time. He built a reputation as a successful literary voice and writer of dialect poetry, and was the first African American poet to receive critical acclaim for his work. Dunbar authored twelve collections of poetry, five novels, one play, and a large number of newspaper articles before his death from tuberculosis on February 9, 1906. He is buried in the Woodland Cemetery in Dayton. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03381
Subjects: Dunbar, Paul Laurence, 1872-1906; African American poets; American poetry--Ohio; Literary Ohio
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar with his mother, Matilda Dunbar, Dayton, Ohio, ca. 1890-1900. Josephine Watkins Lehman, known to Dunbar as "Aunt Bam," was the daughter of Dunbar's high school principal and mentor, William Watkins. She is credited with taking this photograph. Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872 to Joshua and Matilda Dunbar, both former slaves, and was encouraged by his mother in poetry and his schooling from an early age. He attended Dayton Central High School and was the sole African American student at that time. Following his high school graduation, Dunbar worked as an elevator operator while writing poetry in his free time. He built a reputation as a successful literary voice and writer of dialect poetry, and was the first African American poet to receive critical acclaim for his work. Dunbar authored twelve collections of poetry, five novels, one play, and a large number of newspaper articles before his death from tuberculosis on February 9, 1906. He is buried in the Woodland Cemetery in Dayton. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01055
Subjects: African American women--Ohio; Dunbar, Paul Laurence, 1872-1906; African American poets; American poetry--Ohio; Literary Ohio
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: A postcard of the restored school house at the Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site in New Salem, Illinois. Also known as the "blab" school, the students would repeated out loud their daily lessons over and over throughout the school days. Mentor Graham was the first teacher to teach in New Salem and tutored Abraham Lincoln during his time in New Salem. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV83_B01F04_013
Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Pictorial works
Places: New Salem (Illinois); Menard County (Illinois)