Description: Taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912, this photograph shows three women and a boy standing outside a small log cabin on their farm. The words "Rural Life" are etched on the glass plate negative. 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_b15_f926
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Portrait photography--United States--History; Families; Rural Life; Log cabins
Places: Ohio; West Virginia
 

Description: Early print by Currier & Ives titled "October afternoon," from the "American Country Life" series, published before James Ives was added to the company name. This illustration shows two men and a young boy returning from hunting to a waiting mother and infant. During the mid to late nineteenth century, the Currier & Ives printing firm was a well-known producer of lithographic prints. Common subjects matter included historical events such as the Civil and Revolutionary Wars, the North American landscape, rural life in the United States and wildlife. Nathaniel Currier began his career in the printing business as an apprentice at a Boston printing firm in 1828, and opened his own printing firm in New York in 1835. James Ives joined the firm in 1852 as a bookkeeper, and was soon made a partner in 1857. They sold prints from their own New York shop and also distributed them through peddlers and country stores across the United States. Currier and Ives were both succeeded in the printing business by their sons, Edward West Currier and Chauncey Ives. Both sons eventually sold their interest in the firm, and in 1907 the last owner, Daniel W. Logan, closed the business and sold the printing equipment. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H39604
Subjects: Art, American--Ohio; Prints and printmaking; Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Hunting; Rural Life;
Places: New York (New York);
 

Description: Early print by Currier & Ives titled "American Farm Scenes, No. 1," published before James Ives was added to the company name. This illustration shows a man plowing a field as a boy leads the two oxen pulling the plow. During the mid to late nineteenth century, the Currier & Ives printing firm was a well-known producer of lithographic prints. Common subjects matter included historical events such as the Civil and Revolutionary Wars, the North American landscape, rural life in the United States and wildlife. Nathaniel Currier began his career in the printing business as an apprentice at a Boston printing firm in 1828, and opened his own printing firm in New York in 1835. James Ives joined the firm in 1852 as a bookkeeper, and was soon made a partner in 1857. They sold prints from their own New York shop and also distributed them through peddlers and country stores across the United States. Currier and Ives were both succeeded in the printing business by their sons, Edward West Currier and Chauncey Ives. Both sons eventually sold their interest in the firm, and in 1907 the last owner, Daniel W. Logan, closed the business and sold the printing equipment. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H42925
Subjects: Art, American--Ohio; Prints and printmaking; Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Farming; Rural Life;
Places: New York (New York);
 

Description: The village of Gates Mills, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, derives its name from its founder, Holsey Gates, and from the importance of mills in this agricultural community. In 1826, the year of Gates Mills' founding, a sawmill was constructed to increase the lumber supply and attract new settlers. The following year, a rake factory was established, and by 1829 a gristmill was in operation. The Chagrin River was dammed to create a millrace that regulated the flow of water to the wheels that powered the mills. Shops and houses encircled the mills, which were then the center of industry in Gates Mills. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07061
Subjects: Mills; Villages; Factories; City and town life; Rural Life
Places: Gates Mills (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Snowy rural scene, from the Silas Martin Collection. Silas Martin (1841-1906) was born and raised in Westerville, Ohio, a small community north of Columbus. He studied with noted portrait painter John H. Witt, who is remembered for the numerous Ohio governors' portraits he painted. Martin served as head of the art department at The Ohio State University from 1898 until 1906. One of his most famous and devoted pupils was fellow Ohioan George Bellows. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04150
Subjects: Winter; Snow; Cultural Ohio--Art and Artists; Ohio State University--History; Landscape photography; Rural life
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows three young women and two young men in a wheat field. One of the young men sits on a wheat bale, and one of the young women holds an armful of wheat. Photograph by Harry Evan Kinley (1882-1969), a native of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Kinley was active in local events and organizations, and spent his professional career as a clerk at his father's store, and later as a traveling salesman for the Marion Paper & Supply Company (1934-1962). Kinley was also an avid lifelong photographer, and the bulk of the Harry Kinley Collection is comprised of glass plate negatives documenting the Kinley family, the city of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County and surrounding areas. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV30_B01F03_50
Subjects: Portrait photography; Farm life--Ohio; Rural life
Places: Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Wyandot County (Ohio);
 

Description: The photograph shows 18 people posed on and around a tree stump on a large hill of dirt, located at the O'Brien farm. Photograph by Harry Evan Kinley (1882-1969), a native of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Kinley was active in local events and organizations, and spent his professional career as a clerk at his father's store, and later as a traveling salesman for the Marion Paper & Supply Company (1934-1962). Kinley was also an avid lifelong photographer, and the bulk of the Harry Kinley Collection is comprised of glass plate negatives documenting the Kinley family, the city of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County and surrounding areas. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV30_B01F03_57
Subjects: Portrait photography; Farm life--Ohio; Rural life
Places: Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Wyandot County (Ohio);
 

Description: The photograph shows a group of nine young people sitting on the ground and looking through the slats of a fence. More fences, a telephone pole, and farm fields lie behind them. The location is identified as "Halm's," possibly the farm of T. Francis Halm of Crane, Wyandot County, Ohio. Photograph by Harry Evan Kinley (1882-1969), a native of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Kinley was active in local events and organizations, and spent his professional career as a clerk at his father's store, and later as a traveling salesman for the Marion Paper & Supply Company (1934-1962). Kinley was also an avid lifelong photographer, and the bulk of the Harry Kinley Collection is comprised of glass plate negatives documenting the Kinley family, the city of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County and surrounding areas. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV30_B02F03_72
Subjects: Portrait photography; Farm life--Ohio; Rural life
Places: Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Wyandot County (Ohio);
 

Description: This photograph shows the back of a man identified as "Doc Smith" standing in a field. He is slightly hunched over with his hands in his front pant pockets. A pipe and handkerchief hang out of his back pockets. Photograph by Harry Evan Kinley (1882-1969), a native of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Kinley was active in local events and organizations, and spent his professional career as a clerk at his father's store, and later as a traveling salesman for the Marion Paper & Supply Company (1934-1962). Kinley was also an avid lifelong photographer, and the bulk of the Harry Kinley Collection is comprised of glass plate negatives documenting the Kinley family, the city of Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County and surrounding areas. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV30_B04F02_67
Subjects: Portrait photography; Farm life--Ohio; Rural life
Places: Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Wyandot County (Ohio);
 

Description: A farmhouse with barn and windmill, surrounded by a white fence in rural Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B06F03_008_1
Subjects: Agriculture--Ohio; Farmhouses; Farming; Rural life
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Depression-era house in rural Ohio. A horse-drawn cart can be seen inside the fence. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F04_003_005_001
Subjects: Great Depression; Rural life; Horse-drawn carts; Farms
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Clothesline outside of a large rural Ohio home during the Depression era. This photograph was taken during the winter sometime between 1935 and 1943 as part of the Ohio Federal Writers' Project. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F04_003_009_001
Subjects: Great Depression; Rural life; Clotheslines
Places: Ohio