Description: This photograph was taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912. 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 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_b12_f698
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Portrait photography--United States--History;
Places: Ohio; West Virginia
 

Description: This image shows the main lobby of the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. It was completed in 1912 by architects Lehman and Schmidt with the distinction of being the second finished building in Cleveland's downtown group plan. The project was developed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, which sought to create a downtown space that combined all of Cleveland's public buildings in a central mall. The other buildings included in the plan are the Federal Building, the Cleveland Public Library and the Board of Education building. Cuyahoga's Beaux-Arts courthouse is said to reflect Cleveland's "turn-of-the-century" prosperity and includes materials like Milford pink granite, marble and English oak. Decorative art is also a major component of this building, from its statues depicting the rules of English law to its dramatic murals and stained-glass window. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV101_B01F02_106
Subjects: Courthouses
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio); 1219 Ontario St.
 

Description: This is a photograph of the grounds at the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company in Columbus, Ohio, 1915. Mr. Joseph A. Jeffrey, president, saw the importance of maintaining pleasant landscaping and had a full-time gardener on his payroll. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01334
Subjects: Ohio Economy--Economy--Business
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio);
 

Description: Dated April 15, 1936, this photograph shows teachers for the Butler County Emergency School, a Works Progress Administration program, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The photograph's caption reads "Emergency School Teachers-April 15, 1936, meeting at Y.W.C.A. H.R. Reade, County Supervisor. Mr. Reade in gray suit in front row." The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a government office that hired unemployed Americans to work on various government projects from April 8, 1935 to June 30, 1943. In the first six months that the WPA existed, more than 173, 000 Ohioans, including both men and women, found employment through this program. More than 1, 500 unemployed teachers in Ohio found work through the WPA teaching illiterate adults how to read. In twelve separate counties, primarily in southeastern Ohio, more than twenty-five percent of families had at least one member working for the WPA during the late 1930s. By the end of 1938, these various workers had built or improved 12, 300 miles of roads and streets and constructed 636 public buildings, several hundred bridges, hundreds of athletic fields, and five fish hatcheries. WPA employees made improvements to thousands of more buildings, roads, and parks within Ohio. WPA artists also painted a number of murals in Ohio post offices. 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_B02F04_011_1
Subjects: Teachers; Education; Schools--Ohio; United States. Works Progress Administration of Ohio; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Hamilton (Ohio); Butler County (Ohio)
 

Description: This oaken sea chest features iron hardware and blue paint. It was brought to America in 1817 by a member of the Zoar Separatist Society. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H8747
Subjects: Society of Separatists of Zoar--History; Furniture
Places: Zoar (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph is a view of the Ohio River near Portsmouth, Ohio View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B11F10_004_001
Subjects: Ohio River; Portsmouth (Ohio)
Places: Portsmouth (Ohio); Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: Interior view of St. Pauls Church, Put-In-Bay, South Bass Island, Ohio. St Paul's' Episcopal Church was established in the fall of 1864. The building was built on land donated by Jay Cooke and was completed in October 1865. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05435
Subjects: Churches; Multicultural Ohio--Religion in Ohio; Lake Erie; Historic Buildings
Places: South Bass Island (Ohio); Ottawa County (Ohio)
 

Description: Rugged scenery in Eastern Ohio View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B11F10_018_001
Subjects: Ohio; Woods; Streams
Places: Ohio
 

Description: #2 Blast Furnace US Steel Corporation Ohio Works. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AC2_YHCIL_MSS0009_B01F36_002
Subjects: Blast furnaces--Equipment and supplies; Blast furnaces--Design and construction; Steel industry and trade--Youngstown (Ohio); Blast furnaces--United States; Blast Furnace--Ohio; United States Steel Corporation
Places: Youngstown (Ohio); Mahoning County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph is a close-up shot of a blooming mill factory line. Blooming mills form ingots into blooms, which are pieces of bar steel with large round or square faces. This photograph belongs to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Audiovisual Archives, so its subject is likely at a Youngstown company plant. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AC2_YHCIL_MSS0140_B02F32_024
Subjects: Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company; Steel industry; Blooming mills
 

Description: Dated October 20, 1936, this photograph shows Bundy Hall at Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio. Wilberforce University is located on US 42, three miles from Xenia, Ohio on land that at one time occupied the Tawawa Springs summer resort. 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. Its founders named the institution 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, 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. 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_B05F02_027_1
Subjects: Architecture; Education; Universities and colleges; Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio; Central State University (Wilberforce, Ohio)
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: This farmer still relies on his horse-drawn wagon to bring hay to his barn, photographed by Joe Munroe, 1947. In the years following World War II, farming technology advanced rapidly, and soon mechanized threshers would become the norm for harvesting crops. Joe Munroe's career began in 1939 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He served in the Air Force during World War II and then joined Cincinnati-based Farm Quarterly magazine. Though raised in Detroit, agriculture became an important subject of Joe's photographs. He moved to California in 1955 and free-lanced, taking magazine assignments and selling his own work. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P400_B27_F576_JPG046
Subjects: Joe Munroe; Farming; Haying equipment; Farm equipment; Horses
Places: Wisconsin