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On this day in 1872, novelist Zane Grey was born in Zanesville, Ohio. Grey’s ancestors were some of the early settlers of Ohio; Zanesville was founded by his maternal great-great uncle Ebenezer Zane. As a child Grey enjoyed fishing and baseball, and was also an avid reader of adventure stories. He attended Zanesville High School until his father moved the ... Read More

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this week we’re highlighting a recent addition to our collection: Controversy and Hope: The Civil Rights Photographs of James Karales. Karales was born in 1930 in Canton, Ohio. He attended Ohio University, switching his major from engineering to photography after seeing the work of his photographer roommate. After graduation, Karales moved to ... Read More

This week we’re sharing a few vintage Christmas-themed books from Ohioana’s collection. First is Christmas Every Day and Other Stories Told for Children by William Dean Howells, published by Harper & Brothers Publishers in 1893. We talked about Howells in our last post about decorative publishers’ bindings here. This particular book is a first edition donated to the library by Carl ... Read More

This past weekend, keepsakes and other items belonging to Nancy Drew author Mildred Wirt Benson were sold at auction in Toledo, where Benson worked as a newspaper reporter for nearly 60 years until her death in 2002. Items sold at the auction included a desk, typewriter, books, and a few hundred cancelled checks signed by Benson. The typewriter she used ... Read More

During the 1800s publishers began looking for an economical way to produce books in large quantities. Cloth covers replaced leather, and case binding (where the text block and cover were produced separately and the cover was then attached with glue) became the norm. Although these bindings were economical, they were often ornately decorated with gold or silver stamping and illustrations ... Read More

Today we have a guest post by Ohioana’s executive director, David Weaver, who served as development director for nearly eight years before assuming his new position in September. On the anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, David reflects on his memories of that day and on the Ohio connection to one of Kennedy’s trusted advisors and friends. “Today marks the ... Read More

One hundred and fifty years ago today, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in U.S. history. In honor of this we’re highlighting a new book in Ohioana’s collection: Writing the Gettysburg Address by Martin P. Johnson. Johnson, an assistant professor of history at Miami University, conducted extensive research using numerous primary sources and contemporary accounts of the speech. His book ... Read More

Today we’re highlighting a recent addition to Ohioana’s collection: Edison and the Rise of Innovation by Leonard DeGraaf. The author is an archivist at the Thomas Edison National Historic Park, and it shows; almost every spread contains images such as family photographs, Edison’s homes and laboratories, advertising ephemera, correspondence, and pages from Edison’s notebooks. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, ... Read More

In the spirit of election week, we’re featuring a few items from our Ohio Presidents collection. We’ve featured some ephemera from this collection in a previous post; today we’re sharing some pre-presidential correspondence. This letter signed by Ulysses S. Grant was written in July 1865 to John Aaron Rawlins, Grant’s chief of staff at U.S. Army headquarters and later his ... Read More

In addition to biographical files on Ohio authors, the Ohioana Library’s collection includes manuscripts, artwork, correspondence, and more. To celebrate the last day of National Archives Month, we’re highlighting some items from our Lois Lenski collection. Lenski was born in 1893 in Springfield, Ohio, but soon moved to the small community of Anna. She was a voracious reader throughout her ... Read More