About this collection
- In 1925, the Cleveland Water Department opened the Baldwin Water Treatment Plant in the Fairfax neighborhood on the border of Cleveland Heights. Supplying water to the Baldwin facility was the Kirtland Pump Station located on Lakefront Road at E. 49th Street. Just east of the Kirtland Station was Gordon Park Beach, which was a 122-acre recreational area along the lakefront on the eastern side of E. 72nd Street. Euclid Beach Park was located on the southern shore of Lake Erie at E. 156th St. and Nottingham Rd., about 8 mi. from Public Square. On the west side of Cleveland. Adjacent to the Division Avenue Treatment Plant (now known as the Garrett Morgan facility), Edgewater Park was purchased in 1894 by the city's Second Park Board from Jacob B. Perkins, Cleveland industrialist. The collection consists of 53 black and white photographs illustrating Baldwin Water Treatment facility, the construction of bulkheads along the shoreline at the Kirtland Pump Station, and Edgewater, Euclid Beach, and Gordon Parks.
- The College Club of Cleveland was founded on January 15, 1898 in Cleveland, Ohio. Louise Pope and Carolyn Shipman, two college graduates, were concerned with promoting the "social, philanthropic, and literary interests" of other college-educated women in the Cleveland area. The club started with 88 members from 17 colleges and universities. Miss Pope was elected the first president of the College Club, while Miss Shipman served as the first secretary. The group met twice a month on Monday afternoons. By the turn of the century, two years later, club membership blossomed to 115, a group too large to meet in homes of members or in college lecture halls. The Club secured a suite of rooms in the Wedge Building on Euclid Avenue near Erie Street (now East 9th Street) that opened every day to provide a gathering place for the members to engage in tea and conversation. Members took turns hosting the afternoon events, and furnishings were provided by alumnae groups from the 25 represented colleges and universities. Over the years, the College Club adapted to changing social conditions to keep the organization contemporary. Membership was extended to men, as well as people with at least two years of college credit, instead of the previous four-year requirement. Associate membership became available to anyone with employment or community service experience. The special interest groups and committees within the club met many interests. Members could enjoy bridge groups, dance classes, dinner expeditions, book discussions, foreign language classes, investment clubs, community service activities, and cooking clubs, among many others. The College Club prided itself on its charitable and philanthropic services to the Cleveland community. Scholarships were awarded annually to promising young women who were destined for college. The Mittleberger Fund, monies left to the Club after the death of member Augusta Mittleberger, supported a scholarship selectively given to exceptionally qualified young women displaying financial need. Other community projects included the donation of money to schools, libraries, shelters, and programs for the blind.
- Convention of the Nashelsker Relief Society, Cleveland, 1937. This group photograph was taken in front of the Kinsman Jewish Center, a local Orthodox congregation. Renee Morgernstern Saltzman donated the photograph, which is part of the unprocessed small collections at Western Reserve Historical Society, SA2015-036. As identified in handwriting on the photograph, the image includes Phil Wasserman (uncle of donor Renee Morgenstern Saltzman), Mildred Wasserman (cousin of donor), and Esther Saltzman Wasserman (aunt of donor). Further on in the front row is Aaron H. Saltzman (father of donor), Robert Saltzman (uncle of donor), Tante Brandel (Brayndl?, aunt of donor), and Max Saltzman (uncle of donor). The Nashelsker Relief Society supported the Jewish community of the town of Nashelsk, also known as Nasielsk, Poland. Aaron H. Saltzman was the half brother of Maurice Saltzman, noted Cleveland businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist. The town of Nasielsk features prominently in the book Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film, by Glenn Kurtz.
- Eugene R. Grasselli (1810-1882) came to the United States from Strasbourg, France in 1836. He established a chemical plant in Cleveland, Ohio in 1866 and pioneered the refining of sulfuric acid. The plant was incorporated as the Grasselli Chemical Corporation in 1885 with Eugene's son Caesar A. as its first president and other family members as directors. Caesar's son, Thomas S., followed him as president. The company grew to include 28 plants before it was sold to du Pont in 1928. The collection consists of personal and business papers of Eugene R., Caesar A., and Thomas S. Grasselli and other members of the Grasselli family, including wills, deeds, a marriage certificate, correspondence (with translations of some of the letters written in French), broadsides, minutes, invoices, receipts, diaries, ledgers, patents, letter press books, financial records, and drafts of Caesar A.'s autobiography.