By: Angela Vanderbilt
An interesting element appears now and again in the subway construction scans. Among the engineers, construction crews and machinery are some four-legged workers. Images of horses being utilized in the subway construction effort appear as late as 1926, and images of horse-powered transportation, including buggies and delivery wagons, are seen as late as 1931.
By Angela Vanderbilt
When construction of the subway started in January, 1920, three contractors had been selected by the Rapid Transit Commission to complete the work: D.P. Foley General Contractors, Hickey Brothers and Fred R. Jones Company. The construction of the 16-mile subway loop was separated into nine sections, with contractors bidding for work on each section. One section might include construction of tunnels within the old canal bed for underground subway tunnels and stations, while another section might require construction of tunnels through a hillside, above-ground station construction, or grading of terrain for tracks to be laid in the open.
By Janice Schulz
Ever since those lovely punch cards were introduced to organizations as a business tool in the 1940s, records managers have faced unique dilemmas, challenging us to fit new electronic methods into our old models of recordkeeping or to come up with new ways of managing information and technologies. Admittedly, the lightning fast pace of technological advancement oftentimes catches us unaware and we end up backtracking and trying to catch up after realizing that the new media is producing information that needs to be managed. From punch card automation to mainframes to personal computers to mobile devices, each new technology has presented new issues and has required us to think creatively about how to deal with their related records.
The Ohio Electronic Records Committee (OhioERC) tackles these challenges by researching issues and crafting guidelines for Ohio’s government and government-funded organizations to use in their own policy and procedure creation. As UC Records Manager, I have been a member of the OhioERC since 2006, serving as Secretary from 2008-2012. For me, this experience has been extremely valuable and frankly very eye-opening as I am exposed to quandaries others are facing and we may face very well in the future at UC. The first quarterly meeting of 2013 was held on Wednesday, January 16, at the Ohio History Center in Columbus. The Committee is very close to releasing a new guideline on cloud computing and an updated version of the Electronic Records Management guideline, one of the very first produced. A subcommittee is working to update the current Managing Web Content guideline and discussion ensued about the need to update the current Managing Email guideline.
By: Angela Vanderbilt
In order for Cincinnati to keep pace with other major cities at the turn of the 20th century, city leaders and citizens recognized that a rapid transit system was necessary for the successful growth and prosperity of Cincinnati. Although several electric street car and interurban railroad lines, as well as horse-drawn streetcars, were utilized for passenger transportation around the city, each line was separately owned and passengers were required to switch from one line to another to reach the downtown business district. A faster, more direct and more efficient means of reaching the downtown was needed.
By Janice Schulz
If you contact ARB with records management inquiries in the next few months you will be greeted by a familiar, but perhaps surprising, presence. To smooth the transition, Janice Schulz, former Records Manager and Archives Specialist, is back to help out with records management in a temporary role while a full-time replacement is sought.
In the coming months Janice will be offering an Introduction to Records Management workshop to familiarize staff in new records management roles with UC’s policies and procedures. Dates and times of the workshops will be announced on the Records Management Listserv and on the ARB Blog. Janice is also available for individual and departmental meetings.
For records management inquiries, please contact us using the following methods:
Email: schulz.janice.rm@gmail.com or archives@ucmail.uc.edu
Phone: 556-1958 or 556-1959
Campus Mail: ML 0113
Web: http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/records_management/index.html
Please note: ARB has no fax
By: Angela Vanderbilt
As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, the collection’s photographer (whose identity continues to elude us) did not hesitate to include scenes of everyday life in his images that document the subway and street improvement projects. As he photographed the progress of the construction, which included images of the workers, engineers and commissioners in charge of the projects, he also captured the curiosity of the city surrounding these projects.
By: Suzanne Maggard
The Archives and Rare Books Library has added some new links on our website for Cincinnati German-American places and events. Have you seen the Sausage Queen at Bockfest? Have you danced the Chicken Dance at Oktoberfest? If not, learn more about these German-influenced events in the Cincinnati area. We’ve also updated other links on ARB’s website for research resources, exhibits, and websites related to our collections. Take a look and see if there is anything that interests you. For more information, contact the Archives and Rare Books Library staff directly at 513.556.1959 or archives@ucmail.uc.edu
By: Molly Gullett
Over winter break, a good deal of progress was made on the Southwest Ohio Folklore Collection (SWOFC) web exhibit. Work on the exhibit is almost complete and it should be available online within the next couple of weeks. This exhibit will feature brief glimpses into the various genres of the collection, as well as a link to the finding aid. All the research materials in the SWOFC were donated by professor emeritus Edgar Slotkin who collected them over the span of his four decades of teaching folklore in the Department of English at UC. He saved the years’ worth of student work which now makes up the collection. Continue reading
By: Suzanne Maggard
Some of our regular blog followers may have noticed that both the Archives and Rare Books Library and the Winkler Center are active contributors to the OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository. This repository was designed to help researchers find special collections, manuscripts, and archival material throughout the state of Ohio. A total of 60 institutions are currently participating and the repository now holds more than 4000 finding aids. Researchers can find 330 of the Archives and Rare Books Library’s finding aids on the site. Although the repository is not yet comprehensive, it does allow researchers to find an important avenue to find collections within the state of Ohio.
By: Angela Vanderbilt
In addition to the scenes of everyday life that are found in the photographs of Cincinnati’s subway and street improvement projects, our photographer also captured a glimpse at the consumer side of this growing city. Images of billboard advertisements, as well as shots of shops and markets, gas stations and factories are found within the photographs, providing a backdrop to the construction and repair work that were the intended subject matter.
Found among the images of neighborhood drugstores and shops are shots of companies such as Cincinnati’s own The Kroger Company. In the images below, early Kroger storefronts are seen, one located at the corner of Mohawk and Central Parkway, and the other (to the right of Linwood Drug Store) at the corner of Eastern and Linwood Avenues.
