About this collection
Pages
- Allen E. Cole (1883-1970) was a Cleveland, Ohio, photographer who produced over 50,000 photographs of people and places in the African American community of Cleveland, Ohio. Cole opened his first studio in 1922 at 9909 Cedar Avenue, supplementing his income with commercial work and commission work for eight white-owned studios, and earned prizes and commendations at state and local exhibitions. His photographs were frequently published in The Call and Post. The collection consists of four black and white, silent 16mm films.
- The Austin Company, a carpentry and contracting business, was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1878 by Samuel Austin. Austin became known for his quality work, and by 1904 incorporated his business as the Samuel Austin & Son Company. Wilbert J. Austin, Samuel's son, devised "The Austin Method," a unique bundling of engineering, construction, and design services intended to streamline the building process, as well as a model for a "controlled conditions" plant, a major improvement over the hot, stifling factory environment of the day. The Austin Company grew rapidly during World War I and was able to stay solvent following the stock market crash of 1929, mostly due to the firm's major contract to build the Gorky Automobile Plant in Gorky, Russia. Business saw another increase during World War II and again during the post-war years as the company branched out beyond industrial construction to build department stores and retail shopping centers, including the Severance Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Overseas operations flourished in western Europe, Australia, and Argentina. Throughout the 1970's and into the 1990's, the Austin Company faced a decline in business. In 1984, the Company was purchased by the National Gypsum Company. Following National Gypsum's bankruptcy, the Austin Company was purchased by the Kajima USA Group. As of 2017, the Austin Company continued to maintain its headquarters in the Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Heights. The collection consists of acquisition records, Board of Directors minutes, correspondence, stock plans, division reports, business plans and reports, presentations, stock ownership materials, as well as 16mm film, and audio and video tapes documenting various projects, company meetings, and oral history.
- The Austin Company, a carpentry and contracting business, was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1878 by Samuel Austin. Austin became known for his quality work, and by 1904 incorporated his business as the Samuel Austin & Son Company. Wilbert J. Austin, Samuel's son, devised "The Austin Method," a unique bundling of engineering, construction, and design services intended to streamline the building process, as well as a model for a "controlled conditions" plant, a major improvement over the hot, stifling factory environment of the day. The Austin Company grew rapidly during World War I and was able to stay solvent following the stock market crash of 1929, mostly due to the firm's major contract to build the Gorky Automobile Plant in Gorky, Russia. Business saw another increase during World War II and again during the post-war years as the Company branched out beyond industrial construction to build department stores and retail shopping centers, including the Severance Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Overseas operations flourished in western Europe, Australia, and Argentina. Throughout the 1970's and into the 1990's, the Austin Company faced a decline in business. In 1984, the Company was purchased by the National Gypsum Company. Following National Gypsum's bankruptcy, the Austin Company was purchased by the Kajima USA Group. As of 2009, the Austin Company continued to maintain an office in suburban Cleveland. The collection consists of advertisements, agreements, annual reports, blueprints, books, brochures, certificates, charts, contracts, correspondence, film reels, financial statements, indexes, journal articles, leases, ledgers, legal documents, magazine articles, manuals, maps, meeting notices, memoranda, minutes, negatives, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes, office manuals, photograph captions, photographs, presentations, press releases, proposals, reports, resolutions, sales literature, sales letters, scrapbooks, slides, speech texts, and videotapes.
- The Centerior Energy Corporation was founded in 1892 in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Cleveland General Electric Company, with a franchise from the General Electric Company of Boston, Massachusetts. In 1893, assets of the Brush Electric Light and Power Company and of the Cleveland Electric Light Company were transferred to the Cleveland General Electric Company, forming the nucleus of a new organization. On July 21, 1894, the name of the company was changed to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (CEI). In 1926, the company purchased the Cleveland, Painesville and Eastern Railroad Company and its subsidiary, The United Light and Power Company. Other power companies in the northeastern Ohio region were purchased during this time. In 1947 control of the company returned to the hands of public investors, and new power plants continued to be added to the system. The company's first nuclear power plant, the Davis-Besse facility, became fully operational in 1978. A second nuclear power facility, the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, was subsequently added. In 1986 Centerior Energy Corporation, an affiliation between CEI and the Toledo Edison Company, was formed to become one of the largest electric systems in the United States. In 1996, Centerior Energy Corporation and the Ohio Edison Company merged into a new holding company, First Energy Corporation. The collection consists of articles of incorporation, annual reports, bylaws, histories, correspondence, legal briefs, financial records, handbooks, speeches, pamphlets, publications, oral history transcriptions, organizational charts, rate schedules, magazine and newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks. Includes the correspondence of various presidents of the corporation.
- The Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism was a Cleveland, Ohio, organization founded in 1963, by three NASA scientists, to help Soviet Jews to emigrate and to monitor anti-semitism in the USSR. The movement spread to other cities in North America and led to the formation of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews to coordinate the local groups. The collection consists of administrative files, correspondence, documents, subject and program files and publications of the previous hit Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism, and correspondence, subject and program files and publications of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews.
- The Cleveland Development Foundation was a Cleveland, Ohio, non-profit corporation founded in 1954 to provide support for community development and renewal projects. The collection consists of financial records, notebooks of clippings, films, maps, and office files containing letter copies, correspondence, minutes, studies, proposals, speeches, contracts, insurance policies, printed brochures, pamphlets and booklets.
- 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.
- Daniel Jeremy Silver (1928-1989) was a Reform rabbi at The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the son of Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, who preceded and served with him at The Temple. Prior to his years at The Temple, Daniel Jeremy Silver was rabbi at Congregation Beth Torah of Chicago Heights, Illinois. He became Senior Rabbi of The Temple in 1963, serving until his death. He was active in local Cleveland Jewish and secular affairs, particularly with Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Jewish Community Federation's Public Welfare Committee. He was also active in the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and the Zionist Organization of America. Silver was the author of four books and many popular and scholarly articles, and he also edited books and journals. The complete collection in the Research Library of WRHS consists of appointment books, correspondence, minutes, reports, newspaper clippings, programs, sermons, notes, and writings.
- 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.