Baldwin Memorial photograph   Save
Ohio Guide Photographs
Description: Dated ca. 1930-1939, this photograph shows the Baldwin Memorial in Norwich, Ohio. The monument's inscription reads "In Memory of Christopher C. Baldwin, librarian of the American Antiquarian Society Worcester, Mass., killed on this curve Aug. 20, 1835, by the overturning of a stage coach. This being the first traffic accident on record in this state." Located on Old U.S. 40, East Pike, the monument was placed here 90 years after the accident in 1922 by a local Boy Scout troop. An Ohio Historical Marker was erected in 2006 at the intersection of Main Street and Lodge Street, in front of the Masonic Lodge, in Norwich. 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_B09F10_017_1
Subjects: Memorials--Ohio; Traffic accidents--Ohio; National Road (Cumberland Road); Baldwin, Christopher
Places: Norwich (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)