German-American Places & Events and Other Updates on ARB Website

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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

Screen Shot from German-Americana website

Progress on the Folklore Collection

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By:  Molly Gullett

Edgar SlotkinOver 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 →

OhioLINK EAD Task Force Annual Report Now Available

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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.

OhioLINK EAD Finding Aid Repository website

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Consumerism in 1920s Cincinnati: Adventures in the Subway and Street Improvements Digitization Project

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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.

Kroger Storefront

Kroger Grocery Store Continue reading →

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: New Finding Aid Available

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By Mary Kroeger Vuyk, Sabin Student Assistant

I recently completed the processing of additional materials belonging to the Albert B. Sabin collection. This addendum to the original collection finding aid was received after Sabin’s initial donation of materials and consists of letters, lab data, photographs, and other items. A significant part of this collection reflects Dr. Sabin’s tenure as President of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The finding aid for this addendum can be found at the OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository.

This photo of Dr. Sabin and Hal Linden was taken at the 1990 Weizmann Founders’ event.

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Bearcat Winters

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By: Kevin Grace

With the first major storm of the winter about to hit us in the next couple of days, it seems appropriate for a campus trip down memory lane.  And, it should be a quintessential Cincinnati weather experience of warm temperatures, rain, driving rain, gale-force winds, sleet, and snow all in the same 24-hour period.  If any ghosts of ancient Mayans visit the Queen City tomorrow or Friday, in all likelihood they will say, “See! Told you so!”

Beecher Hall

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The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Super Sabin!

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By Mary Kroeger Vuyk, Sabin Student Assistant

In 1983, Amanda Magary wrote Dr. Sabin to tell him “Your [sic] my hero!”

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Albert Sabin? While many may view Albert Sabin as a super scientist or a super doctor, I’m not entirely sure that many would consider him a Superhero. And yet… that’s exactly how hundreds of thousands of people worldwide viewed him almost 50 years ago.

While I was aware of Dr. Sabin’s contribution, it wasn’t until I began going through the letters sent to Sabin that I started to fully understand the impact that he had on the lives of others. In one letter, Julie Harrison writes, “How much you have enriched the lives of all of us! Your oral vaccine for polio is surely one of the greatest accomplishments. We do thank you; you are truly an American hero.”[1] Continue reading →