9 results
John Robinson's Circus
This 1929 photograph shows the interior of John Robinson's Circus during a spectacle, or “spec,” performance of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the American circus, the spec developed as a procession that took place around the hippodrome track inside the big top, or circus tent, featuring as many of the performers and animals as the circus director was able to costume. John Robinson’s Circus was especially known for its dazzling productions of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, which offered a ...
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Circus World Museum
Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley
Early in the 19th century, as wagon trains streamed into the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, settlers came upon vast numbers of abandoned earthworks that they attributed to a sophisticated race of long-gone mound builders. Giving rise to often-loaded questions about human origins, the mounds and the artifacts found within them became the focus of early American efforts toward a science of archaeology. Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley (1848) was the first major work in the nascent discipline as well as the first publication of the newly established Smithsonian Institution ...
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Smithsonian Institution
Carnegie Library, Columbus, Ohio
The Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) funded the construction of more than 2,500 public libraries in the English-speaking world, some 1,700 of them in the United States. Carnegie made his first library gift in 1881, to his native village of Dunfermline, which was followed by the gift of a public library and hall to Allegheny City, Carnegie’s first home town in the United States. This architectural rendering shows the main library of Columbus, Ohio, which was built in 1903–7 with a $200 ...
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Library of Congress
View of Cincinnati, Ohio, Circa 1866
This panoramic photograph shows the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, as it appeared around 1866. Panoramic photography was developed in the mid-19th century, soon after the invention of photography, and was used to show wide overviews of cityscapes and landscapes. Making a panorama involved rotating a camera through successive exposures and then splicing the exposures together to produce a composite view. Some of the earliest panoramic photographs were made for the Union army during the Civil War to help military engineers analyze fortifications and terrain. Located on the north side of ...
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Library of Congress
Bird's-eye View of Massillon, Stark County, Ohio, 1870
This panoramic map shows Massillon, Ohio, as it appeared in 1870. Located along the east bank of the Tuscarawas River, Massillon was an important port town on the Ohio Canal linking Lake Erie and the Ohio River. The indices at the bottom of the map indicate points of interest, including schools, churches, the railroad depot, and mills, factories, iron works, and other industrial installations. The panoramic map was a cartographic form popularly used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ...
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Library of Congress
Bird's-eye View of the City of Akron, Summit County, Ohio, 1870
This panoramic map shows Akron, Ohio, as it appeared in 1870. The key at the bottom indicates points of interest, including the courthouse, high school, county jail, railroad, and numerous churches. Illustrations depict important buildings, including the academy of music, Masonic temple, knife works, and two large factories for making mowers and reapers. The panoramic map was a cartographic form popularly used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also known as bird's-eye views or perspective maps, they are ...
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Library of Congress
Toledo, Ohio, 1876
This panoramic map shows Toledo, Ohio, as it appeared in 1876. Toledo is located at the western end of Lake Erie and is where the Miami and Erie Canal enters the lake. The map shows a busy harbor and major points of interest, including freight elevators, the city’s many churches, and the depot of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, the main rail line between Chicago and Buffalo. The panoramic map was a cartographic form in popular use to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns in the ...
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Library of Congress
Map of the Country about the Mississippi, Circa 1755
A handwritten note on the back of this manuscript pen-and-ink map from around 1755 states: “Map of the country about the Mississippi. Drawn by Chegeree (the Indian) who says he has travelled through the country.” It is not known who Chegeree was, but he appears to have made the map for an anonymous British official early in the French and Indian War (1754–63). The map and accompanying notes portray the extent of French forces and troop strengths in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys at the outset of the ...
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Library of Congress
Map of Ohio and Indiana
David H. Burr (1803–75) was a surveyor and cartographer, who served as topographer to the United States Post Office Department in 1832–38 and as geographer to the House of Representatives in 1838–47. Under the direction of the postmaster general, Burr compiled information from postmasters throughout the country about transportation routes—post roads, railroads, and canals—and the location of post offices to produce a large set of state and regional maps. Published in 1839 by the prominent London mapmaking firm of John Arrowsmith, Burr’s The American ...
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Library of Congress