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After just over a month working with the Theodore M. Berry collection, I’m really beginning to feel that I have a strong grasp on who he was as a person, a politician and a civil rights activist and what he meant to the city of Cincinnati and to the United States. During my initial exploration of the collection, I was lucky enough to discover things in a fairly logical, chronological order; finding a large felt “W” from Berry’s stint on the football team at Woodward High School, a membership card for the University of Cincinnati chapter of AΦA , his 1931 class picture from the College of Law, a letter of acceptance from the Ohio Bar Association, literature from his Cincinnati City Council campaigns, over 100 letters of congratulations after his presidential appointment to the Office of Economic Opportunity, newspaper clippings from his 1972 Mayor Inauguration and a 1945 Valentine from Ted to his wife, Johnnie Mae. These things, which on their own would seem too little to be of much significance, are together telling me a story of a man whose impact on Cincinnati and on the United States as a nation seems immeasurable. Continue reading →