How Much Did You Pay For That Education?!?!

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By Tyler Morrison, ARB Student Worker

Oh, the things you can find when you go to an auction.  Even the typical items that you find for sale, such as books, sometimes contain a surprise for the unsuspecting buyer.  That’s exactly what happened to Linda Sheets of Jonesboro, Indiana when she bought a box lot of books and discovered a University of Cincinnati tuition receipt dated October 1, 1917.  The strip of paper has yellowed with age, and fortunately Ms. Sheets realized it might have historical value for UC, and was kind enough to share her discovery with the Archives and Rare Books Library.

Jordon Alcott, the student from the 1917-1918 academic year, probably thought that $63.50 in tuition for one semester here at the university was expensive.  That total comes from a $5 library fee, $50 for tuition to the College of Liberal Arts, a $ 1 registration fee, $2.50 fine to use the gymnasium, and a $5 contingency fee.

Receipt for Tuition

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Home Interiors of the 1920s = Adventures in the Subway and Street Improvements Digitization Project

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By:  Angela Vanderbilt

Contained within the subway portion of the photograph collection are images of the interiors of homes along McMicken Avenue taken during the construction of the subway. Originally intended to serve as evidence for claims by homeowners of structural damage to the houses caused by blasting for the subway tunnels, the pictures now serve as a historic reference of domestic life during the 1920s.

Interiors of Homes with damaged walls

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Ezzard Charles Drive, the Making of a Parkway

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By Angela Vanderbilt

Road construction. It seems like it’s never ending. Some have joked that Ohio has only two seasons – winter and road construction. And the images in the Street Improvement collection would certainly seem to validate that. What is interesting about the images in the collection of street improvements is that many of the streets recorded in the photographs no longer exist. Or, where they do still exist, they are named differently or the surroundings have been altered to the point that the location in the photograph is no longer recognizable.

One major example of a street changing in both name and appearance is Laurel Street – or as we know it today, Ezzard Charles Drive. Originally a narrow street lined with brick row houses and businesses, Laurel Street extended from 1247 Plum Street west to Freeman Avenue, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Hall towering over the eastern end of the street, as if keeping watch over all who passed. In the winter of 1921, subway construction made its way north along the canal bed to the Laurel Street intersection, where a tunnel ventilator was constructed.

Music Hall and Ventilator Construction

(Left) Construction of subway ventilator opposite Laurel Street, January 12, 1921, 2:02 p.m.
(Right) Laurel Street, west of Canal, with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Hall in center background, April 21, 1920, 3:47 p.m.

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UCBA Library: Reduced Hours July 1-July 5

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Please Note: Reduced Hours have been amended as of June 27th. The UCBA College Library will now be closed Wednesday, July 3rd through Friday, July 5th. The new UCBA Library will be open on Monday, July 8th. Please see below for more details on hours and locations.

Monday, July 1:  12p-5p [temporary location]
Tuesday, July 2:  12p-5p [temporary location]
Wednesday, July 3: Closed for move
Thursday, July 4: Closed for Holiday
Friday, July 5: Closed for move

Monday, July 8: Re-Open with Regular Summer Hours [new library location]
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New Digital Collection: The Elliston Project: Poetry Readings and Lectures at the University of Cincinnati

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bob

The Elliston Project holds over seven hundred recorded readings and lectures given under the auspices of the University of Cincinnati Department of English and Comparative Literature and the U.C. Libraries since 1951. Material includes readings and lectures on poetry by those who have served as George Elliston Poet in Residence, among whom are Robert Frost, Denise Levertov, Louise Glück, Thom Gunn, and C.D. Wright. Other major figures, including Czeslaw Milosz, Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, and Rita Dove, are also represented, as are many prose writers and a wide range of poets at various stages of their careers. Readings in this ongoing audio archive feature poets’ comments on their work; both complete performances and individual poems are accessible.
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Paving the Way through Cincinnati = Adventures in the Subway and Street Improvements Digitization Project

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By:  Angela Vanderbilt

Downtown Cincinnati at the turn of the 20th century was a bustling business and commercial center, but with a dangerous mixture of pedestrians, horse-pulled wagons and carriages, street cars, and unseasoned automobile drivers. Add to this a mess of unpaved or cobblestoned streets, a lack of traffic laws, speed limits, and stop signs at intersections, with streetcar tracks criss-crossing lanes. It was a recipe for disaster.

Miami & Erie Canal

On the left, deliveries to the Raschig School are unloaded from a horse-drawn wagon while, on the right, automobiles park along a drained Miami & Erie Canal, looking east down Canal Street as subway construction begins, April 20, 1920

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Eugene Ruehlmann, former Cincinnati Mayor, will be missed

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By:  Suzanne Maggard

Construction of Riverfront Stadium

Construction of Riverfront Stadium begins, Eugene Ruehlmann is second from the right

We began our Monday in the Archives and Rare Books Library with the sad news that a dear friend of our library passed away over the weekend.  Former Cincinnati mayor and city councilman, Eugene Ruehlmann died on Saturday June 8 at the age of 88.  Since the Archives and Rare Books Library holds his papers, I had the pleasure of assisting Mr. Ruehlmann on several occasions.  For someone so accomplished, I always found Mr. Ruehlmann incredibly approachable, easy to talk to, and humble.  Our student workers especially enjoyed meeting and talking with him.  He will be greatly missed.

Ruehlmann, 1947

Eugene Ruehlmann, 1947, from The Cincinnatian Yearbook

Eugene Ruehlmann, the second youngest of John and Hattie Ruehlmann’s ten children, was born in 1925.  He grew up on Cincinnati’s West Side and attended Western Hills High School and graduated in 1943.  After high school, he joined the U.S. Marines and served in World War II.  He then entered the University of Cincinnati, where he was a successful and active student.  Ruehlmann was a member of Beta Theta Phi, ODK, and Sophos and was on the board of The Cincinnatian (yearbook) and was a member of the varsity football team.  He graduated with honors in 1948 with a degree in Political Science and received the McKibbin Medal from the College of Arts and Sciences.  Ruehlmann earned his law degree in 1950 from Harvard. Continue reading →

June Lunch & Learn Series

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lunchANDlearnThe Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library invites you to join us for our June Lunch & Learn instruction series, Thursdays, June 13 – 27, 12:10-12:50pm, in the Health Sciences Library Classroom (MSB G005G).

Bring your lunch and learn during these quick information sessions. Come to one session, a few, or them all! Seating is limited, so registration is recommended.

Schedule:

Thursday, June 13         iPad 101

Thursday, June 20         Excel Tips

Thursday, June 27         Free Screencasting Tools

View the complete Lunch & Learn schedule below. See descriptions and register online at http://webcentral.uc.edu/hslclass/

False Facades Offer Aesthetic Disguise = Adventures in the Subway and Street Improvements Digitization Project

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By Angela Vanderbilt

The story of abandoned subway stations and tracks hidden beneath busy city streets is not unique to Cincinnati. Other large cities, such as New York, London, and Paris have similarly mysterious and intriguing stories to tell. An article I recently read in The New York Times introduced me to this underground world of hidden subway ventilation shafts disguised by false building facades, with doors from which people occasionally exit, but never seem to enter. Some of these subterranean secrets are in use, while others have been abandoned like Cincinnati’s own subway stations beneath Central Parkway.

What’s fascinating is the effort made to disguise these facilities, to blend them in with the neighboring buildings. While it seems a logically aesthetic means of making the utilitarian more appealing, some have argued that the cities in which these structures are located are trying to hide a deep secret. For comparison, consider the Cincinnati subway – when the subway and Central Parkway were first being constructed, the ventilation chimneys and the entrances to the below-ground stations were nicely appointed with decorative stonework.

Ventilation Shart

Ventilation shaft, looking north along Parkway from Liberty St., July 2, 1928

Ventilation Shaft

Close up of decorative stonework for ventilator railing, Central Parkway,
Nov. 19, 1928

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