Description: Portrait of Betsey Mix Cowles (1810-1876) from the 1909 edition of Henry Howe's "Historical Collection of Ohio." She was known for her contributions to education, abolitionism, and women's rights in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03953
Subjects: Women--Ohio; Abolitionists; Women's rights; Cultural Ohio--Education; Activists
 

Description: Portrait of Platt Roger Spencer who created a new style of penmanship known as the semi-angular or Spencerian system.Platt Rogers Spencer was an educator and developer of a popular style of penmanship. Spencer was born on September 7, 1801, in New York. His family moved to Ashtabula County, Ohio in 1810. Spencer's mother placed a strong emphasis on education. She faced great difficulties in providing her children with schooling on the frontier. Legend has it that Spencer loved to write as a young child, but his family could either not find or could not afford paper for him until he was seven years of age. He did not enroll in school until he was twelve when a school opened in nearby Conneaut, Ohio. On one occasion, Spencer purportedly walked twenty miles barefoot to borrow a mathematics book. To help support his family, Spencer took several jobs, primarily as a clerk in local stores and businesses. In these positions, he actively practiced his penmanship. He created a new style of penmanship known as the "semi-angular" or "Spencerian" system. By the early 1860's, schools across the United States were teaching their pupils the Spencerian style. It became the preferred style for clerks working for the United States government. Spencer personally opened schools to teach his system at Geneva and Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also was a strong supporter of the temperance and abolitionist movements. After he died on May 16, 1864 his sons continued to teach their father's method in various schools across the country for a number of years. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07144
Subjects: Education--Ohio; American frontier
Places: Ashtabula County (Ohio)
 

Description: Postcard of Heidelberg College's main building, in Tiffin, Ohio. Heidelberg College was founded in 1850 by the German Reformed church in response to the large number of Germans then living in Ohio. Over the years, Heidelberg College has gained a reputation for its excellent liberal arts education, ranked numerous times in U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges" survey. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04127
Subjects: Education--Ohio; Universities and colleges--Pictorial works; German Americans
Places: Tiffin (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Albert Belmont Graham at 31 years old, Springfield, Ohio, 1905. Based on his experiences as a school superintendent in rural Ohio, Graham advocated for the consolidation of rural schools and promoted agricultural education. He is best known as the founder of the Boys and Girls Agricultural Clubs which became the 4-H organization. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01112
Subjects: Clark County (Ohio); Cultural Ohio--Education
Places: Springfield (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Reverend W.B. Derrick, D.D., President of the Board of Directors of Payne Theological Seminary at Wilberforce University, ca. 1899. This photograph appears in the Annual Catalogue of Wilberforce University, 1899-1900, which was published in 1900. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African American 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 18th 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, and 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 AME Church, John Mitchell, a school principal in Cincinnati, and James Shorter, an AME pastor from Zanesville, Wilberforce reopened its doors. The institution operated as a private university serving the African American community for the next 24years. 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: 378_771W641h_1899_Derrick
Subjects: Wilberforce University; Higher education; Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Religious education;
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Reverend Abram Grant, D.D., President of the Board of Trustees at Wilberforce University, ca. 1899. This photograph appears in the Annual Catalogue of Wilberforce University, 1899-1900, which was published in 1900. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African American 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 18th 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, and 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 AME Church, John Mitchell, a school principal in Cincinnati, and James Shorter, an AME pastor from Zanesville, Wilberforce reopened its doors. The institution operated as a private university serving the African American community for the next 24years. 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: 378_771W641h_1899_Grant
Subjects: Wilberforce University; Higher education; Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Educators
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: In 1838, Samuel Lewis was named the first Ohio Superintendent of Common Schools. He was tasked with helping the Ohio legislature establish standards that teachers and public school districts needed to meet to ensure that students received a quality education. He also played an important role in determining how Ohio should fund its public schools. After resigning as Superintendent of Common Schools due to health reasons, he remained in politics, running unsuccessfully for governor of Ohio in 1846 on an abolitionist platform. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04134
Subjects: Education--Ohio; Educators; Schools--Ohio; Abolitionists; Activists
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Photograph of the Carnegie Library at Wilberforce University. This image appears in the Annual Catalogue of Wilberforce University, 1909-1910. According to the publication, the library was dedicated on June 19, 1907, and opened to students and patrons on September 1 of that year. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African American 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 18th 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, and 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 AME Church, John Mitchell, a school principal in Cincinnati, and James Shorter, an AME pastor from Zanesville, Wilberforce reopened its doors. The institution operated as a private university serving the African American community for the next 24years. 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: 378_771W648H_Carnegie
Subjects: Wilberforce University; Higher education; Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Libraries--Ohio;
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Reverend Samuel Thomas Mitchell, A.M., LL.D., retiring President of Wilberforce University ca. 1899. This photograph appears in the Annual Catalogue of Wilberforce University, 1899-1900, which was published in 1900. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African American 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 18th 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, and 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 AME Church, John Mitchell, a school principal in Cincinnati, and James Shorter, an AME pastor from Zanesville, Wilberforce reopened its doors. The institution operated as a private university serving the African American community for the next 24years. 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: 378_771W641h_1899_Mitchell
Subjects: Wilberforce University; Higher education; Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Educators
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption on reverse reads: "Cinci., O., Mar 1938. Copy. O.M.I. Parade Grd. College Hill." This photograph shows the Ohio Military Institute Parade grounds in on Belmont Avenue in College Hill near Cincinnati, Ohio. From the OMI alumni website: Ohio Military Institute was established in 1890, on the site the former Belmont College. Freeman Carey, a graduate of Miami University at Oxford (Ohio) had established Carey Academy in his home on the family farm in 1832. It was a success, and within a few years, Carey built a small brick school building, apparently on the site of what later became Carey Hall. Carey Academy was "the leading private school west of the Alleghenies." Dr. Robert H. Bishop, first president of Miami University, joined the faculty of Carey Academy during its final year in 1846. In 1847, the academy became Farmers' College, and it was at this time that Carey Hall was erected. This combination class-room building and dormitory would serve for the next 111 years. Dr. Bishop laid the cornerstone and stayed on to fill the chair of Philosophy and History in the faculty of the college. Shortly before his death in 1855, he ask that his body and that of his wife "might find a final resting place on the College grounds." [Old Boys will remember the Bishop burial mound, which was located at the edge of the woods directly behind Henshaw Hall. This gymnasium/drill hall was built in 1949. When the school closed in 1958, the remains of Dr. and Mrs. Bishop were dis-interned and reburied on the grounds of Miami University. There was, it turned out, no truth to the rumor that Dr. Bishop's horse had also been buried with him!] Farmers' College claimed that "its distinctive feature [was] the practical character of its course of instruction.... to qualify our youth for a higher position in any of the industrial pursuits." With the coming of the Civil War, fully two thirds of the student body rushed to enlist in the Union or Confederate forces. Farmers' College was forced to close, but not before it became a stop on the "underground railroad", assisting escaped slaves to migrate to the north. After the war the school re-opened as Belmont College, offering a curriculum more typical of the classical model of education. But Belmont debuted just as the land grant colleges were beginning to demonstrate that modern "vocational" education at the collegiate level was of more immediate utility in the dawning Industrial Age than was a classical education of philosophy, Greek, Latin, etc. With a shrinking student body, the school began to shift toward the education of younger men. In 1890, Belmont College closed, and the Ohio Military Institute opened on the same site in 1890. But the past was not completely abandoned: Portraits of Mr. Carey and Dr. Bishop hung on opposing walls of the main Study Room in Carey Hall until the buildings were torn down in 1958. Originally, the grounds comprised about ten acres of woodland, fronting on Belmont Avenue and extending westward to a deep ravine. To this was later added a large tract of virgin forest land, nearly sixty acres in extent, surrounding the original property on three sides. This land had originally been part of the Carey farm and was acquired by that family from John Symmes, who secured the grant from the U.S. Government at the close of the Revolutionary War. Harrison Hall (the old Daller House), which was used as a dormitory and recreation building for Lower School cadets, was acquired sometime in the late 1940's, and yet another four acres to the campus. The school buildings included Carey, Belmont, Bishop, Perry, Henshaw and Harrison Halls. Of these, only Henshaw Hall remains and it is apparently still used as a community center for basketball. The other school buildings were razed to make way for Aiken High School, which opened in 1961 View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F14_008_1
Subjects: Military academies; School Buildings--Ohio; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works; Education; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: College Hill (Ohio); Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image depicts the Bailey and Barclay Halls of Urbana Junior College in Urbana, Ohio. The college in Urbana was funded in 1850 as Urbana Seminary for elementary and secondary students. College level classed began in 1874 when the construction on Bailey Hall, the first building for the school. The school was suspended during the Civil War. The college reopened after the war was over and in the early 20th century, the curriculum was shortened to a two year college. It was not until 1868 the it again became a four year college. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06411
Subjects: Urbana (Ohio); Education, Higher--Ohio--History; College buildings
Places: Urbana (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photographic reproduction of a drawing by Henry Howe depicting Ohio University at Athens, Ohio in 1846. Ohio University, founded in 1804, was the first institution of higher education established west of the Allegheny Mountains. This photographic reproduction of Howe's drawing dates ca. 1970-1979. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00219
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Education; Ohio University; Cultural Ohio--Education; Universities and colleges; Education, Higher
Places: Athens (Ohio); Athens County (Ohio)