One of the more intriguing pieces of ephemera in my collection is a yellow receipt, numbered 9310, issued from Greenlawn Cemetery on October 15, 1942. Signed by cemetery superintendent Arthur Mucha, the receipt was given to Reverend Emory Bracken Frye, a minister from the Stoney Run area of West Portsmouth. It records the purchase of …
The four-paged paper program (Number 65. Friday, February 27, 1903) for Portsmouth, Ohio’s Grand Opera House for the 1902-1903 season. The first page includes advertisements for local businesses such as John Vetter, a tailor, and Haas, Schwartz & Co., a retailer of suits, overcoats, and trousers, and jeweler CH Harris. The program also mentions a …
In February 2023, during a digitization project in Madison Township, Scioto County, Ohio, a postcard postmarked November 12, 1926 surfaced. Addressed by George Piersol Bennett, the township clerk of 22 years, it affirmed the birth of Harold Emerson Allen to Clarence Allen and Jennie Hosier on August 22, 1926. Signed by Clarence Allen, the postcard …
In the bustling streets of southern Ohio, a tale of entrepreneurial spirit unfolds, woven through the decades by the hands of visionaries Joseph Lehman and Henry Richman. It all began in 1856 when they opened a modest clothing factory on the corner of Front & Market, laying the groundwork for what would become a retail …
Today’s piece of ephemera is a program dated Thursday night, January 3, 1901, for the Young Ladies’ Court of Allen Chapel in Portsmouth, Ohio. It featured a recitation by Florence Farley, a solo by Mr. Clifford Peters, an instrumental solo by Miss Oddie Black, another recitation by Miss Bertha Warren and Miss Daisy Farley, a …
Today’s piece of ephemera is a certificate to Scout Howard Ramey who served with honor on the Boy Scout A, B, C, Traffic Safety Police at High School in Portsmouth, Ohio. This certificate was signed by the President of the Exchange Club, Dr. Charles Lee Ferguson, Chairman of the Club A, B, C, Committee, Thomas …
This mid-20th-century placemat from “Huck” Foehr’s Turkey Shoppe serves as both advertising for Southern Ohio’s finest restaurant and a cultural snapshot of Portsmouth’s business district. With a directory of local businesses and a stylized map, the piece captures the spirit of an era and tells a community’s story.
The poster from the 1965 Sesquicentennial Celebration in Portsmouth, Ohio provides a visual representation of the week-long festivities held from June 5 to June 12, 1965. Notably, the historical pageant “From These Waters” held at the Portsmouth Municipal Stadium on June 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 took center stage, a 330 foot stage, commemorating …
Today’s gallery of images from the past comes as donation from life-long Portsmouth resident Mary Martha Questel, who captured these photographs in and around the Chillicothe Street area of Portsmouth in 1995.
This 1912 photo postcard from Elizabeth to Miss Mary McManaway of Lucasville reads as follows: “Dear Mary: This is our Picnic Party taken July 20 isn’t it a dandy ?! This is all the kids there are in Henley. I wish Clell was on it. We did not get them until Sunday. Please don’t be …