About this collection
Pages
- The Connecticut Western Reserve was the area of northeast Ohio that Connecticut had reserved for her citizens in 1786 in exchange for ceding all western land claims to the U.S. government. The area comprised all land south of Lake Erie to 41' latitude and within 120 miles of Pennsylvania's western border. The Connecticut Land Company (1795-1809) was authorized by Connecticut to purchase and resell most of the Western Reserve, and received title to all Reserve land except for the 500,000-acre Firelands on the extreme west which was reserved for Connecticut victims whose lands were burned by the British in the Revolution. Gen. Moses Cleaveland, a company director and its general agent, led the first company survey party to the Reserve in 1796 and founded the settlement of Cleveland at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The collection consists of records of the Connecticut Land Company, including articles of association, proceedings, reports, minutes, accounts, records of drafts, and other papers, 1795-1827; land surveys, field notes, and plats of early Western Reserve surveyors, 1796-1815; journals and diaries of early residents, 1765-1807; correspondence; newspaper clippings; statements in response to John Barr and others soliciting information on the early history of Cleveland and the Western Reserve; writings of Charles Whittlesey on topics such as the 1797 surveying party, local town histories, history of the Northwest Territory; biographical sketches of early settlers, including Lorenzo Carter, Simon Perkins, Abraham and Benjamin Tappan, and John Walworth; and miscellaneous papers relating to the early history of Cleveland and the Western Reserve, including John Heckewelder's description of northeast Ohio, 1796. Many of the documents in the collection are transcripts of items collected by John Barr and Charles Whittlesey 1840-1860. Also included in the register are two appendices. Appendix I is an alphabetical list by township of land surveys and plats contained in the collection. Appendix II is a conversion chart listing old and new citations to containers and folder numbers within the collection.
- Myron T. Herrick (1854-1929) was a humanitarian, financier, industrialist, Governor of Ohio, and United States Ambassador to France. Herrick served as president and chairman of the board of the Society for Savings, Cleveland, Ohio. He also had numerous other local and national business interests. Herrick was involved in Ohio and national Republican party politics, maintaining close ties with Marcus A. Hanna, William McKinley, and other party notables. He won election as Ohio governor in 1903, serving one term. He was appointed United States Ambassador to France in 1912, serving until November 1914. Herrick played a key role in wartime France, both in his participation in diplomatic relations between combatants and in various humanitarian aid pursuits. Herrick was reappointed Ambassador to France by President Harding in 1921, serving until his death in 1929. The collection consists of correspondence, speeches, articles, memoirs, newspaper and magazine clippings, memoranda, notes, receipts, deeds, programs and other memorabilia, passports, reports, appointment books, bound visitors' and engagement books, luncheon and dinner records, diaries, photographs, and scrapbooks. Includes correspondence covering Herrick's terms as United States Ambassador to France, particularly his second stint 1921-1929. Correspondents include Ida and William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Charles E. Hughes, Frank B. Kellogg, Aristide Briand, Georges Clemenceau, Raymonde Poincare, and Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Also included are materials relating to the 1927 transatlantic flight of Lindbergh and his reception in Paris. A diary kept by Carolyn P. Herrick, wife of Myron T. Herrick, describing a 1900 trip to Europe and cruise on the Mediterranean Sea, is contained in the collection.
- The Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners was created in 1822 through an act passed by the State of Ohio General Assembly. Early members included Thomas Worthington, Isaac Minor, and Alfred Kelley. Their duties were to examine, survey, and estimate the practicality of canals connecting the Ohio River with Lake Erie, and to make an estimation of cost. During construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal, each commissioner was responsible for certain sections of the canal, including hiring laborers, engineers, and building suppliers. In the 1830s, Commissioners continued to mange the completed waterway, employing toll collectors, maintenance laborers, and resident engineers. Commissioners also approved requests for water rights and were responsible for the canal's finances. The collection consists of payment vouchers for work done on the Ohio and Erie Canal, signed by Commissioner Alfred Kelley from 1824-1826, and on the Miami and Erie Canal, signed by Commissioner Micajah J. Williams from 1825-1826.
- The Ohio Historic Preservation Office, Western Reserve Region was a regional office of the state agency designated to regulate funding and organize and administer an historic preservation plan in Ohio. It was established in 1973 and located at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. After state funding ceased in 1981, the Historical Society funded the office until 1990. Eric Johannesen served as the preservation officer. The Western Reserve Region includes 12 counties in Northeast Ohio. The collection consists of nomination forms, inventory forms, correspondence, photographs, and research material relating to the office's National Register of Historic Places program and the Ohio Historic Inventory program collected during the office's operation at the Western Reserve Historical Society. The first program was to recognize and nominate important historic structures within the region to the National Register of Historic Places. The second program was an on-going survey to record all buildings, sites and structures of architectural and historic significance in the state. The files include building and district histories, property records, architectural reports, and information on historic status. These files will be useful to professional preservationists, students of history and architecture, land-use planners, various local and county agencies, and neighborhood researchers.
- Paul Bellamy (1884-1956) was an author, journalist, and editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (1933-1954). He also served as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and director of the Plain Dealer and Forest City Publishing Companies. The collection consists of correspondence, speeches, newspaper clippings, non-correspondence, awards and tributes, lecture notes and papers from Harvard, and papers of Bellamy's father, Edward Bellamy.
- Perry B. Jackson (1896-1986) was Ohio's first African American judge. He was active in Cleveland, Ohio civic, religious, and educational organizations. The collection consists of correspondence, reports, minutes, programs, speeches, financial material, personnel lists, bench notes, judicial election material, and other material relating to Judge Jackson and his judicial, church and civic activities.
- The Ratner (formerly Ratowczer) family has been prominent in the Cleveland, Ohio, area since the mid-twentieth century. The family immigrated to the United States in 1920 and settled in Cleveland in 1921. Leonard Ratner began his business career by opening two creameries in the Glenville neighborhood. He then formed the Buckeye Material Company in 1924, later merging it with his brother Charlie's business, Forest City Material Company, in 1929, to form the B & F Building Company, a major builder of prefabricated homes in the east side suburbs. The family consolidated their business interests into Forest City Enterprises, Inc. in 1960. Leonard Ratner married Lillian Bernstein in 1924 and had two children: Ruth Ratner Miller and Albert B. Ratner. Leonard Ratner held many important positions on community boards during his lifetime, including the positions of honorary life trustee at the Jewish Welfare Federation, the Jewish Community Federation, and Mount Sinai Hospital. His children were also heavily involved in philanthropy. The Ratner family was particularly instrumental in establishing the Cleveland Jewish Archives at the Western Reserve Historical Society in 1976. The collection consists of advertisements, annual reports, census reports, certificates, correspondence, reports, lists, newspaper clippings, newsletters, programs, scrapbooks, ship manifests, songs, and speeches.
- Ruby L. Terry was a former engineer and marketing executive for Bell Laboratories and the Ohio Bell Telephone Company, later Ameritech/SBC, and currently AT&T. She was responsible for generating $300 million in annual revenues from the engineering of large communication systems for such corporations as East Ohio Gas, Cleveland Clinic, Timken Company, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber. She also was assigned by her division engineer to design the first cable television system for cities in the northern and southern Ohio Bell service area. As an engineer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she had to overcome many obstacles as both an African-American and as a woman. This oral history was conducted by Celeste Terry, daughter of Ruby Terry, at Western Reserve Historical Society on July 28, 2018.
- The Severance family was a prominent Cleveland, Ohio, family known for its philanthropic activities. Solon Severance, a Cleveland banker, was the son of Solomon Severance and Mary Helen Long, and a brother of Louis Severance. He was also a descendent of John Walworth, an early settler of Cleveland who was a civil engineer and was appointed in 1806 as the Custom Collector for the District of Erie. Solon's wife, Emily Allen, was the daughter of Dr. Dudley Allen, and the sister of prominent surgeon Dudley P. Allen. Solon and Emily's daughter, Julia Severance Millikin, was the wife of Benjamin Millikin, a noted Cleveland opthalmologist. Julia's children included Helen Millikin Nash and Severance, Marianne, Dudley, and Louise Millikin. The collection consists of historical and biographical data on various family members; diaries and travel journals, especially of Julia Severance Millikin and her mother, Emily Allen Severance; correspondence, especially between Julia and her mother, Emily Severance; wills, genealogical notes, deeds, notices of events, and newspaper clippings. Among the correspondence are numerous letters from Julia's friends from Wells College. The collection also includes a certificate appointing John Walworth collector for the district of Erie, 1806, and a journal kept by Dudley Allen detailing early medical practice in the area. There is also material on author Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) and his voyage around the world, which included Solon and Emily Severance, and became the basis of his novel "The Innocents Abroad".
- The Shakers were a religious communal society founded and originally led by Mother Ann Lee, who came to America from England in 1774. By 1826 communities were established throughout New England and the Midwest, as well as in Georgia and Florida. In 1911 Wallace H. Cathcart, Director of the Western Reserve Historical Society, began collecting Shaker memorabilia. The collection consists of covenants, laws, legal records, land records, financial records, membership records, correspondence, diaries, journals, testimonies, biographies, addresses, sermons, essays, inspired writings and drawings (also known as spirit drawings), other writings, music, poetry, recipes, prescriptions, school books, instructional texts, scrapbooks, photographs, and miscellaneous material relating to 20 Shaker communities located in 10 eastern States.
- Simon Perkins (1771-1844) was a surveyor, soldier, and banker, of Ohio. The collection consists of correspondence, land agreements, promissory notes, powers of attorney, deeds, field books, surveys, financial accounts, receipts, ledgers, daybooks, and other papers, relating to Perkins' career as surveyor and land agent for the Erie Land Company. Includes account books and business papers of Henry B., Jacob, Jacob B., and Joseph Perkins.