What Style is That? = Adventures in the Subway and Street Improvements Digitization Project

Posted on by

By Angela Vanderbilt

Row House

3926 Feemster Street, June 17, 1932

The photographs contained in the Subway and Street Improvements collection are a valuable source of information for anyone who might be researching the urban development and built environment of Cincinnati in the period surrounding the turn of the 20th century. Many of the images in the collection capture buildings and homes in Cincinnati’s downtown district and the surrounding neighborhoods as the city grew and expanded up the hills and along the Ohio River. And because the photographer wrote location and date information on the negatives, anyone interested in finding a picture of the house in which their grandparents or great-grandparents lived in 1923 may very well find it within this collection. Continue reading →

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Remembering Hilary Koprowski

Posted on by

By Jeff O’Flynn, Sabin Student Assistant

Telegram from Hilary Koprowski to Albert Sabin, indicating he would be unable to attend a polio conference.

Hilary Koprowski is considered by many to be equally important as Salk and Sabin in the quest to eradicate poliomyelitis. When Koprowski passed away last month, his illustrious career was recounted in his obituary and included such notable achievements as the development of a live-virus polio vaccine, improvement of the rabies vaccine, and directorship of the world-renowned Wistar Institute in Pennsylvania. His interest in the live-virus polio vaccine caused his career to overlap with Albert Sabin’s work regularly. The obituary details the competition between Sabin and Koprowski for the eventual triumph of their various polio vaccines.[1] Letters in the Albert B. Sabin archives indicate that the two great scientists often shared material and data though, unfortunately, they did not have an entirely conflict-free relationship. Continue reading →

Philosophical "Ames" of the Archives and Rare Books Library

Posted on by

By Lauren Fink

Owl BookplateThanks to a generous donation from Anthony Graybosch, The Archives and Rare Books Library now has in its holdings a collection of philosophy books from Van Meter Ames’ private library.  Van Meter Ames was a faculty member in the UC philosophy department, beginning in 1925, and served as its head from 1959 until 1966 when he retired.  Many of the books in this collection have Ames’ annotations, notes, and article clippings in them, as well as correspondence between Ames and fellow philosophers or friends. Continue reading →

Records Update Highlights Ohio Public Records Cases

Posted on by

By:  Janice Schulz

A new Records Update is now available on the Records Management Program website. Records Update is released periodically to convey timely information between publications of Records Quarterly. This issue offers “Records in the News” stories found in the media and legislative action taken in March and April.

As reported in the Spring 2013 Records Quarterly article, “Public Records: Your Rights and Responsibilities,” Ohio’s public records laws are dynamic and are continually being tested in Ohio’s courtrooms. Ohio courts decided seven public records cases in March and April and there are currently six open cases in front of the Supreme Court of Ohio. In a case close to home, on April 24 the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that lease terms and rents between Findlay Market private management company The Corporation for Findlay Market and its tenants are trade secrets and are not open to disclosure under the public records act. In 2010, Kevin P. Luken requested copies of lease agreements from The Corporation for Findlay Market and ultimately from the City of Cincinnati. While he received the agreements, terms and rents were redacted from the released documents and cited as trade secrets. Luken initated a mandamus action against the parties, which resulted in the recent decision.

The Findlay Market decision and more are available through this issue of Records Update.

Records Management, University of Cincinnati

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: New Lesson Plans Available

Posted on by
Dr. Albert B. Sabin

Dr. Albert B. Sabin

Sabin project student assistant Katie Pintz created a couple of lesson plans to encourage the use of the the newly digitized materials in the Albert B. Sabin Archives. They are:

We look forward to hearing what you think about these lesson plans. Please give us feedback either here on the blog, or you can send your comments to chhp@uc.edu.
Continue reading →

New UCBA Library Guides/Tutorials Web page

Posted on by

The new UCBA Library Guides & Tutorials web page is now available at http://guides.libraries.uc.edu/guideshome.  This web page provides a basic starting point for research on any topic.

cg home


UCBA Subject Guides: Use this web page to find guides based on these characteristics:

  • Special Topics: guides that cover a specific topic or issue
  • How To Do Research: guides cover a variety of research tips and strategies
  • Faculty Guides: guides for UCBA faculty members
  • Tutorials: Online web videos give step-by-step directions on how to use a variety of research tools.

You can also use the search box to search for any UCBA Library guides.

This is the final step in the CampusGuide transition of subject and class guides that began during the 2011-2012 academic year.

The Guides/Tutorials link on the UCBA Library homepage has been updated to point to this new page. Please be sure update your bookmarks if you frequent this web page.

 

Slip, Slide and A Parkway = Adventures in the Subway and Street Improvements Digitization Project

Posted on by

By:  Angela Vanderbilt

Cincinnatians who drive along Columbia Parkway from downtown to the eastern suburbs know the parkway for its breathtaking scenic views of the Ohio River below. But these commuters also know the danger of driving along this parkway after a quick, heavy downpour or a prolonged period of rain-drenched days.

Landslide along railroad tracks

Columbia Parkway Bridge

The hillside embankment along the parkway, cut at a steep angle when the road was constructed in 1938, is well known for becoming unstable after heavy rainfalls, causing mudslides that leave debris strew across the roadway as it passes over the low retaining wall at its base. One of three major urban projects undertaken by the city during the 1930s, nearly half the cost of the parkway was paid for by a grant from the Works Project Administration. In 1929, the city of Cincinnati passed an ordinance to upgrade and expand the existing road, which at that time was named Columbia Avenue and was a simple dirt and gravel road that meandered above the Ohio River eastward from downtown. Continue reading →

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: An Unsolved Mystery

Posted on by
Dr. Sabin and Mr. O'Connor

Albert Sabin and Basil O’Connor pose with Dr. Sabin’s bust, sculpted by Edmond Romulus Amateis.

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) recently launched, and, of course, I wanted to see if there was anything Sabin-related in the collection. Doing a quick search for Albert Sabin revealed a bust which resides at the National Portrait Gallery. According to the DPLA, this bust, a 1966 cast after 1958 terra cotta original, was originally sculpted by Edmond Romulus Amateis.[1] This bust was originally created for the Polio Wall of Fame in Warm Springs, Georgia. We have a photograph in our collection of Dr. Sabin and National Foundation President Basil O’Connor posing with the bust created by Amateis. Continue reading →