Description: Photograph of musical instruments for sale at The F. & R. Lazarus Company, on the first floor of the South Front and West State Streets building, ca. 1958-1959. Between 1851 and 1965, the F & R Lazarus Company retail store dominated the trade and physical landscape of Columbus. The company rose from its early years as a men's clothier in a 20 x 40 foot room downtown, to its position by 1965 as a member of the largest department store chain, Federated Department Stores. Lazarus' growth reflects that of the capital city; from small beginnings through a "golden age" of downtown development, and eventually branching out into the surrounding countryside. In 2003, the Lazarus Company was incorporated with Macy's, a member of the Federated Department stores, and is no longer in existence. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04449
Subjects: Musical instruments; The F. & R. Lazarus Company (Columbus, Ohio); Ohio Economy--Economy--Business
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Male and female students on stage with organ and other musical instruments, Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African Americans access to a college education. The university was the first private black college in the United States, and was named by its founders after William Wilberforce, a prominent eighteenth-century abolitionist. A number of African American Ohioans attended the school during its early years. During the American Civil War, attendance declined as many students enlisted in the Union army. Wilberforce University closed in 1862. In 1863, the African Methodist Episcopal Church acquired ownership of the university. Under the direction of Daniel Payne, a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, John Mitchell, the principal of a school in Cincinnati, and James Shorter, an African Methodist Episcopal pastor from Zanesville, Ohio, Wilberforce reopened its doors. The institution operated as a private university serving the African American community for the next twenty-four years. In 1887, the State of Ohio began to provide Wilberforce with funds to help finance the institution, which brought to an end the university's exclusively private status. The state also helped the university create a Normal and Industrial Department that eventually evolved into Central State University. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03802
Subjects: Multicultural Ohio -- African American Ohioans; Wilberforce University; Students -- Ohio; Musical instruments
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of Lew and Ben Snowden playing banjo and fiddle from the second-story gable of the Snowden House in Clinton, Knox County, Ohio. This photograph was probably taken in the 1890s. Together with other family members--their sisters Sophia, Phebe, Martha, Elsie, and Annie--the brothers performed popular songs for both African American and white audiences throughout rural central Ohio between 1850 and 1900. According to local legend, Daniel D. Emmett learned the song "Dixie" from the Snowdens. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC3964_02
Subjects: African American Ohioans; Arts and Entertainment; Musicians; Musical instruments; Musical performance;
Places: Clinton (Ohio); Knox County (Ohio)
 

Description: Taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912, this photograph shows three young women and one young man posing with musical instruments in front of a staged backdrop, including two violas or violins, a banjo, and a cello. Like most of Ewing's work, it was likely taken in southeastern Ohio or central West Virginia. Born in 1870 in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta, Ewing most likely began his photography career in the 1890s. The 1910 US Census and a 1912-1913 directory list him as a photographer. A negative signed "Ewing Brothers" and a picture with his younger brother, Frank, indicate that Frank may have joined the business. After 1916, directories list Albert as a salesman. He died in 1934. The Ewing Collection consists of 5,055 glass plate negatives, each individually housed and numbered. Additionally, the collection includes approximately 450 modern contact prints made from the glass plate negatives. Subjects include infants and young children, elderly people, families, school and religious groups, animals and rural scenes. In 1982, the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) received the collection, still housed in the original dry plate negative boxes purchased by Albert J. Ewing. A selection of the original glass plate negatives were exhibited for the first time in 2013 at the Ohio Historical Center. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV71_B18_F1241
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Portrait photography--United States--History; Musicians; Musical instruments
Places: Ohio; West Virginia
 

Description: Photograph of Lew Snowden (1848-1923), ca. 1920. Lew and his brother Ben (1840-1920) were sons of the first African American in Knox County, Ohio. Together with other family members--their sisters Sophia, Phebe, Martha, Elsie, and Annie--Ben and Lew (the Snowden Brothers) performed popular songs for both African American and white audiences throughout rural central Ohio between 1850 and 1900. According to local legend, Daniel D. Emmett learned the song "Dixie" from the Snowdens. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC3964_03
Subjects: African American Ohioans; Arts and Entertainment; Musicians; Musical instruments; Musical performance;
Places: Clinton (Ohio); Knox County (Ohio)
 

Description: Two women sit beneath a tree with a banjo and guitar in hand. This photograph was taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912. Born in 1870 in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta, Ewing most likely began his photography career in the 1890s. The 1910 US Census and a 1912-1913 directory list him as a photographer. A negative signed "Ewing Brothers" and a picture with his younger brother, Frank, indicate that Frank may have joined the business. After 1916, directories list Albert as a salesman. He died in 1934. The Ewing Collection consists of 5,055 glass plate negatives, each individually housed and numbered. Additionally, the collection includes approximately 450 modern contact prints made from the glass plate negatives. Subjects include infants and young children, elderly people, families, school and religious groups, animals and rural scenes. In 1982, the Ohio Historical Society received the collection, still housed in the original dry plate negative boxes purchased by Albert J. Ewing. A selection of the original glass plate negatives were exhibited for the first time in 2013 at the Ohio Historical Center. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV71_b09_f505
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Portrait photography--United States--History; Musical instruments; Musicians--United States--Pictorial works;
Places: Ohio; West Virginia
 

Description: This varnished musical instrument case, likely made from pine, features a handle and a lock and is rectangular in form. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H8354
Subjects: Society of Separatists of Zoar--History; Musical instruments
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: George Bird's Musical Majorettes was an all-girl marching band that played during halftime for the Cleveland Browns, starting in 1946. The group consisted on female musicians between the ages of 17 and 20. This photograph was taken on December 8, 1947. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07905
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Ohio Sports; Marching bands; Football; Musical instruments
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: This tapered musical instrument case was made from walnut and finished from varnish, and features a brass handle.: View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H8345
Subjects: Society of Separatists of Zoar--History; Musical instruments
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This musical instrument case was made from wood and finished from varnish, and features a brass handle. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H8352
Subjects: Society of Separatists of Zoar--History; Musical instruments;
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows two adults, a man and a woman, observing a young man playing the organ at the Ohio School for the Blind, Columbus, ca. 1960-1970. In 1837 the Ohio government established the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind, the predecessor to the Ohio State School for the Blind. It was the first public school for the blind in the United States. Located in downtown Columbus, the school opened its doors in 1839. Any blind children residing in Ohio could attend the institution. Eleven students enrolled at the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind this first year. The school initially had a maximum capacity of sixty students, but a move to a new building in 1874 increased the capacity to than three hundred students at a time. Between 1839 and 1901, a total of 2,058 students enrolled at the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind, with 339 attending in 1901 alone. In the early 1900s the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind became known as the Ohio State School for the Blind, and the Ohio Department of Education assumed control of the school. In 1953 the school moved ten miles north of its original location to its present home. In 2005, 126 students enrolled in the Ohio State School for the Blind. Students as young as three and as old as twenty-one years of age attended the school. Students could receive their entire education—kindergarten through high school—at the institution. The Ohio State School for the Blind also offers vocational training for its students. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06651
Subjects: Ohio State School for the Blind; Blind--Education; Musical instruments; Organ (Musical instrument); Education; Students
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of three children playing instruments outdoors in Canton, Ohio. The two girls on the left play marching drums, while the boy on the right pretends to play a flute with a stick. Superimposed in the sky above them, an illustration of three American Revolution drummers and flutists stand in the same poses. The image was submitted by photographer Cliff Haga of Canton, Ohio, in an unspecified 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_B03F04_01_01
Subjects: American Revolution Bicentennial (1976); Musical instruments;
Places: Canton (Ohio); Stark County (Ohio)