Description: Dated January 1938, this photograph shows the Burnside House in Cincinnati, Ohio, in Hamilton County. The Burnside House was located on the block of East Ninth Street at 24 East Ninth, which is now the Public Library of Cincinnati. This three story red brick building was once General Burnside's headquarters during the Civil War. Ambrose Burnside was a Union Army General, as well as a politician, industrialist and an inventor. It was from this house that he issued Order 38, which stated "The habit of declaring sympathy for the enemy will not be allowed." His characteristic facial hair led to the style which is now called sideburns. Signs on front of the building read "24 East Ninth" and "Hotel America, for Ladies and Gentlemen, Rates Weekly $3 up, Night 75 cents up."
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_B03F05_016_001
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic--Ohio--Pictorial works.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Hotels; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)