Description: Dated April 26, 1937, this photograph shows the Horace Mann Memorial at Glen Helen Nature Preserve in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in Greene County, with a caption which reads "Greene Co., Yellow Springs, O. April 26, 1937. Horace Mann Memorial." Horace Mann was the first president of Antioch College and held the office until his death in 1859. Antioch College was founded in 1852 as the first nonsectarian, co-educational institution in the nation to offer the same educational opportunities to both men and women. It was also among the first to offer equal educational opportunities to African Americans. The memorial reads "Horace Mann. 1796 - 1859. First President and Founder of Antioch College. This memorial is erected to perpetuate the memory of an able lawyer, a great statesman and a pioneer in education. May his life and example ever inspire and exalt the students of Antioch College. Hugh Taylor Birch, Donor - 1936." 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: index
Subjects: Education; Universities and colleges; Statues; Mann, Horace, 1796-1859; College campuses; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Yellow Springs (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)