Cincinnati Historical Society Library and Cincinnati History Museum
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[edit] Address and Contact Info
Address: Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, OH 45203-1138
Phone: (513) 287-7000
Fax: (513) 287-7095
E-mail: library@cincymuseum.org
Web page: http://www.cincymuseum.org
Online Finding Aid: http://library.cincymuseum.org
Archivists (principal contacts for advice on the collection):
[edit] Hours and usage restrictions
[edit] Collection Summary:
The collections of the Cincinnati Historical Society are administered by four departments: Archives, Audiovisual Collections, Printed Works, and Museum Collections.
The society, founded in 1831 as the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, maintains one of the most extensive regional history collections in the United States. It collects two- and three-dimensional materials pertaining to the social, cultural, economic, and political history of metropolitan Cincinnati, the Miami Purchase, and the Old Northwest Territory. Specifically, the society may collect materials relating to the settlement, agriculture, business and industry, transportation, communication, science and technology, the arts, domestic life, education, religion, politics, wars, ethnic groups, neighborhoods, and other aspects of the history of Cincinnati and the surrounding region.
The Archives division contains over 2,500 major and 4,000 smaller collections including the personal papers and records of early settlers, lawyers, politicians, artists, and businessmen and the records of civic, educational, cultural, political, social, and financial settlement. Papers of 20th-century politicians include those of Murray Seasongood, Nicholas Longworth III, Joseph Benson Foraker, Charles P. Taft II, and John B. Hollister. Company records, ledgers, catalogs, as well as products relate the talents of Cincinnati’s 19th-century craftsmen. Immigrants and ethnic groups are represented, as well as local businesses, from Miles Greenwood’s Eagle Iron Works (an important munitions manufacturer during the Civil War) to the records of the machine tool and heavy industries of the late Industrial Revolution for which Cincinnati has become world famous.
More than six million feet of film, videotapes, and sound recordings are housed in Audiovisual Collections. The collection, acquired by donation from individuals and Cincinnati television and radio stations over the past 50 years, includes newsreel film, radio broadcasts from the 1930s and 1940s, and television programming from the past four decades. The Photograph Collection includes approximately one million images that document the history of the city. The work of many prominent Cincinnati photographers is represented in the collections of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, glass lantern slides, postcards, early and modern prints, glass and film negatives, and slides. The work of photographers J. B. Ball, Paul Briol, Daniel J. Ransohoff, Felix Koch, and George S. Rosenthal is represented. The records of the advertising studio, Marsh Photographers, Inc., have been given to the society; businesses such as Kelly Auto Body and Palm Brothers Decalcomania have donated images of their products. Photographs of the Windisch, Carson, and Robinson families are representative of the many family portraits in the collection.
Approximately 80,000 drawings, blueprints, and renderings of over 50 19th- and 20th-century Cincinnati architectural firms are contained in the Architectural Records Collection. Also included in this important collection are office files, specifications, scrapbooks, and the records of the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
In addition to standard reference works for the study of U.S. and Cincinnati history, the Printed Works division consists of approximately 40,000 books, 50,000 pamphlets, 140 newspaper titles, 350 broadsides, 300 periodical subscriptions, and a collection of ephemera. More than 2,500 maps record the development of the eastern United States, the Old Northwest Territory, Ohio, and Cincinnati. The Printed Works Collection is especially strong in the representation of 18th- and 19th-century accounts of visitors to the region and city, and the history of 19th- and 20th-century politics and educational and social institutions. The library also contains an important print collection with over 800 items from Hennegan & Co. and 1,000 posters from the Strobridge Lithographing Company. Items include circus, theater, and festival posters.
To access the library’s online catalog, go to http://library.cincymuseum.org. The Library Catalog contains over 29,900 records with information about books, pamphlets, newspapers, photographs, maps, and manuscript collections. The catalog also contains an inventory of Ohio Civil War monuments, the Guide to 20th Century African American Resources, and 20,000 pages of history and science journals published by the Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC). The journals are word searchable.
The Preservation Department conducts a comprehensive preservation program designed to maintain the collections in useable condition. As part of the preservation program, the department conducts environmental monitoring, emergency/disaster planning for the collections, collections maintenance activities, staff training, conservation treatment, and exhibit support. The Preservation Department includes an in-house conservation treatment laboratory and a preservation microfilming operation. The History Museum collection contains three-dimensional products from the city’s 19th- and 20th-century manufacturing industries, including furniture, machine tools, brewing implements, and printing equipment. Local transportation history is represented by steamboat, automotive, and railroad objects with original items from Cincinnati Union Terminal. The collection also includes decorative arts, textiles, and costumes. Fine art consists of prints by the Hennegan and Strobridge companies as well as works by artists Henry Mosler, Robert Duncanson, Elizabeth Nourse, Hiram Powers, and Edward T. Hurley.
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