Description: Alfretta Ronemus and her mother took home this engraved tea set as a prize in a baby contest in 1854. It was valued at $300 in 1854, which would be equivalent to approximately $6,000 today. The set consists of eight items, four of which are included here. Many of the items bear the inscription "Presented to ___ by the Clark County Agricultural Society as Premium for being the Finest Baby shown at the Annual Fair - 1854 - ." The first image shows a teapot that measures 18 by 12 inches (46 by 30 cm). The second image shows a cream pitcher that measures 18 by 12 inches (46 by 30 cm). The third image shows a coffee urn that measures 18 by 12 inches (46 by 30 cm). The final image shows a serving tray that measures 11 by 1 inches (27 by 2.5 cm). The first baby contest in the United States took place in Springfield, Ohio at the second annual Clark County Fair on October 5, 1854. The 10-month-old winner, Alfretta Ronemus of South Vienna, Ohio, was picked out of a crowd to enter the contest. Her mother protested that Alfretta was not dressed in suitable clothes for the occasion, but the organizer insisted that she enter the child. Alfretta may have won the first prize because she was dressed in a simple white dress with a black silk jacket, while the other children were decked out in fancy "furbelows." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1490_1534010_001
Subjects: Daily Life; Arts and Entertainment; Teapots; Contests; Prizes
Places: Springfield (Ohio); Clark County (Ohio)
 

Description: Nine slides document a community picnic held in St. Henry, Ohio around 1966. Included are photographs of men and women playing bingo, the band mothers' cake stand, and people eating chicken. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3035_3652810_001
Subjects: Arts and Entertainment; Geography and Natural Resources; Picnics; Bingo; Games
Places: St. Henry (Ohio); Mercer County (Ohio)
 

Description: This 4 by 7-inch (10.16 by 17.8 cm) ambrotype shows Alfretta Ronemus of South Vienna, Ohio at the age of three. As an infant, she was selected as the winner of the first baby contest in the United States, held at the second annual Clark County Fair on October 5, 1854. The 10-month-old Alfretta was picked out of a crowd to enter the contest. Her mother protested that Alfretta was not dressed in suitable clothes for the occasion, but the organizer insisted that she enter the child. Alfretta may have won the first prize because she was dressed in a simple white dress with a black silk jacket, while the other children were decked out in fancy "furbelows." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1361_1160368_001
Subjects: Arts and Entertainment; Daily Life; Infants; Contests
Places: South Vienna (Ohio); Clark County (Ohio)
 

Description: World War I soldier's monument to honor those that served in the first world war. The statue is located outside the William Oxley Thompson library at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04D_006_1
Subjects: Arts and Entertainment; Sculpture; World War I; Miltary Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows a portrait of Benjamin Russel Hanby (1833-1867), a famous composer from Westerville, Ohio, who attended Otterbein College and became a minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. A music composer, he wrote "Darling Nellie Gray," (1856) which depicted some of the evils of slavery. He also wrote "Up on the Housetop" and "Who is He in Yonder Stall?" View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04124
Subjects: Composers; Multicultural Ohio--Religion in Ohio; Music; Arts and Entertainment
Places: Westerville (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Sheet music for Benjamin Russel Hanby's "Santa Claus (Up On the Housetop)." Hanby (1833-1867) was a famous composer from Westerville, Ohio, who attended Otterbein College and became a minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. He composed "Up on the Housetop" in 1864, while living in the town of New Paris, near Dayton. Hanby also wrote "Darling Nellie Gray," (1856) which depicted some of the evils of slavery, as well as the hymn "Who is He in Yonder Stall?" (1866). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04125
Subjects: Composers; Multicultural Ohio--Religion in Ohio; Music; Arts and Entertainment; Christmas
Places: Westerville (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This 40-page scrapbook compiled by the Timken Company documents the opening of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on September 7-8, 1963. The scrapbook was presented to Senator Frank Lausche, who was also a former governor of Ohio. The Pro Football Hall of Fame expanded in 1971, nearly doubling in size. By the end of the twentieth century the museum grew two more times and drew crowds of 200,000 people annually. The scrapbook measures 8.5" x 11" (21.59 x 27.94 cm). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3203_4418080_001
Subjects: Arts and Entertainment; Sports; Football; Football players; Athletes; Pro Football Hall of Fame (U.S.); Parades; Galleries and museums
Places: Canton (Ohio); Stark County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows a billboard advertisement, managed by The Columbus Bill Posting Company, which is divided into three panels with each featuring a different company. The left panel advertises "The Light from St. Agnes" at B.F. Keith's Theatre featuring Bertha Kalich. The center panel advertises a performance by the Anderson Gaiety Company at the Hartman Theatre. The right panel promotes electricity in Columbus homes with the caption "Electricity in the Home; Just press the button, easy, quick, clean; Now on, see demonstration of everything electrical, 104 North Third Street." This photograph is part of the Columbus Railway, Power, and Light Company collection, consisting of 53 glass plate negatives with images related to the Columbus Railway, Power and Light Company in Columbus, Ohio. In the mid to late nineteenth century, there were many power and streetcar companies in Columbus, Ohio. These companies eventually merged into four main companies, and by 1914 all the remaining companies merged to form the Columbus Railway, Power and Light Company. In 1933, with 1,509 employees, the Company was the largest employer in Columbus, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV118_B01F25
Subjects: Columbus (Ohio); Electric utilities; Advertisements; Theater--Ohio; Arts and entertainment;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This pipe in effigy (a likeness or representation) of a raccoon, made of gray and white mottled stone, was excavated from Tremper Mound, a Hopewell culture site located five miles north of Portsmouth in Scioto County. The effigy straddles the cylindrical bowl and the animal's legs are hanging down from the body, not flexed. The tail is out of proportion to the rest of the body as a means of additional support. The eyes are drilled; remnants of copper stain suggest they had been inset. The right margin of the bowl, the animal's right shoulder, and the platform have been restored. The effigy pipe measures approximately 1.5" x 3.5" x 1.25" (3.81 x 8.89 x 3.18 cm). This pipe is part of a large collection of pipes found at Tremper Mound. The pipes were carved of Ohio pipestone, a silica-based material that can be easily carved when freshly quarried from the hills east of the Scioto River. The pipes represent a variety of animals significant to the Hopewell, including owls, wolves, deer and beaver. Skilled Hopewell craftsmen carved the pipes with flint knives and some are embellished with pearls or copper. In Ohio, the Hopewell Indians (100 B.C.-A.D. 500) built burial mounds and large earthen enclosures in geometric shapes (circles, squares, and octagons) to mark the places where the people gathered periodically to participate in many social and ceremonial events. Some of these sites were quite large--the Newark Earthworks complex extends over a 4-square-mile area. The Hopewell people also maintained a large trade network extending as far as the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, the Florida coast and Appalachians, and northern Lake Superior. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1357_1136398_062
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; Plants and Animals; Arts and Entertainment; Geography and Natural Resources; Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400); Mounds (Burials); Pipes (Smoking); Raccoons
Places: Rush Township (Ohio); Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: The photograph shows two men identified as Oscar Veith and Frank Schwilk dressed in hobo costumes. Their clothes are torn and patched, and they both hold broken umbrellas and pose for the camera with their left hands on their hips. 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_B01F01_53
Subjects: Arts and Entertainment; Entertainers; Performers; Costumes
Places: Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Wyandot County (Ohio);
 

Description: This home, also known as the Baum-Longworth-Taft House, was built in 1820 for Martin Baum, was later occupied by Nicholas Longworth and finally was the home of Charles P. Taft, the half-brother of William Howard Taft. In 1908, William Howard Taft accepted the presidential nomination while standing underneath the home's portico. The house and the Tafts' art collection was bequeathed to the city of Cincinnati in 1927. After the deaths of Charles and his wife in 1929 and 1931, the house was remodeled and reopened as the Taft Museum in 1932. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F10_001_001
Subjects: Arts and Entertainment; Buildings; Galleries & museums
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This pipe in effigy (a likeness or representation) of a squirrel is made of olive gray and red mottled stone. It was excavated from Tremper Mound, a Hopewell culture site located five miles north of Portsmouth in Scioto County. The squirrel is shown sitting erect with its front paws relaxed at chest level. Its toes on all four paws are indicated by incised lines. The tail is erect against the back with the tip curled. There is some restoration on the bowl at the effigy's "shoulders" as well as left foot and portions of the platform at either side of the effigy. The effigy pipe measures approximately 1.5" x 3.5" x 1.25" (3.81 x 8.89 x 3.18 cm). This pipe is part of a large collection of pipes found at Tremper Mound. The pipes were carved of Ohio pipestone, a silica-based material that can be easily carved when freshly quarried from the hills east of the Scioto River. The pipes represent a variety of animals significant to the Hopewell, including owls, wolves, deer and beaver. Skilled Hopewell craftsmen carved the pipes with flint knives and some are embellished with pearls or copper. In Ohio, the Hopewell Indians (100 B.C.-A.D. 500) built burial mounds and large earthen enclosures in geometric shapes (circles, squares, and octagons) to mark the places where the people gathered periodically to participate in many social and ceremonial events. Some of these sites were quite large--the Newark Earthworks complex extends over a 4-square-mile area. The Hopewell people also maintained a large trade network extending as far as the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, the Florida coast and Appalachians, and northern Lake Superior. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1357_1136500_074
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; Plants and Animals; Arts and Entertainment; Geography and Natural Resources; Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400); Mounds (Burials); Pipes (Smoking); Squirrels
Places: Rush Township (Ohio); Scioto County (Ohio)