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: This is a photograph of dozens of furniture items set up on an unknown theater stage in Ohio. Streamers are strung across the ceiling. Propped against a drum in the center of the stage is a sign for Bashore Music Store of Mount Pleasant, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B11F04_09_001
Subjects: Theaters--Stage setting and scenery; Theater; Furniture; Musical instruments
Places: Mount Pleasant (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Water Pagent? [sic] Scott Pool." This photograph depicts participants in a water pageant at Scott Pool in what is most likely Toledo, Ohio. There are six actors shown, four on the edge of the pool, one sitting on stage portraying Poseidon, and one standing next to the set. There is a map of North America on one side of the set and South America on the other, and a large painting of the Statue of Liberty in the center. There are people standing behind a fence in the background who appear to be watching the pageant. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B13F03_0017_001
Subjects: Theater, Open-air; Swimming pools; Acting; Swimming; Theaters--Stage setting and scenery; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project.
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)