12th Post, Television and Radio June 9, 2009

Andrew Cayton: Ohio, The History of a People

Television in Ohio, 1950s-1970s

In a world recovering from World War II, television and radio played an important role in entertainment at home. Women especially watched and listened to programs that help their minds escape the tedious work of being a housewife. To escape from small children, laundry, and cleaning to the intellectual and entertaining aspects of an hour long show was very entertaining to women in the suburbs.

 

The Ruth Lyons Show

Every week day at noon, the Ruth Lyons show entertained women in southeastern Ohio. Her local television show was very energetic, opinionated, and was able to reach a large amount of young white women. She often showed new products that she thought highly of, which did wonders for the local Cincinnati market. The show was known for being wholesome so many viewers tuned in to see her talk about celebrities, politics, and sports teams. The Ruth Lyon’s show was a way domestic housewives connected with the outside world.The Phil Donahue Show

 

 

 

A native of Dayton, Phil Donahue was a young man who created his very own talk show. He urged his studio audience and his at home audience to help him interview his guests.  The audience was entertained by his interactive approach to the show and found his controversial topics intriguing. After a success in the local market, Donahue moved his show to Chicago and became a national sensation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music in Ohio

Controversial in every sense of the word, 1950’s music was the leading force that drove teenagers astray from their parents. Young white teens were becoming more inclined to listen to what was referred to as race music. With record sales for black artist booming, the music industry was rapidly changing.

11th Post, The Good Life June 9, 2009

Andrew Cayton
Ohio, the History of a People

Postindustrialization, suburbanization, race, and generational conflict destroyed Caucasian neighborhoods as well as African American ones.  This divided citizens of Ohio rather than uniting them as citizens. It was the cities that suffered the most do to the divide, but small towns suffered in many ways. As residents of the small towns left in large numbers to bigger and better places, the small communities began to wither. By the 1980s, many towns promoted themselves as lost worlds. Cincinnati and Dayton were among two of the cities the small towners were moving too. The attraction of jobs was irresistible to Ohioans so they moved into the suburbs of the cities. Suburbs became the romanticized version of small town life in the city. It combined the complexity of the city with the simple life from their former communities. Every city and town in Ohio wanted to be know for something great to encourage people to reside there. This developed into a massive tourism boom in Ohio.  Every village announced that it was home to some unique event or famous person.  The small towns liked to associate themselves with people who did great things, but they were also advertising that these famous people also moved away and left the town to do better things.

10th Post, The Cincinnati Historical Society at the Cincinnati Museum Center June 9, 2009

Cincinnati Goes to War

The exhibit began with large signs about the involvement for the war by both men and women.
As World War II approached the United States, Cincinnati was ready to jump in and help in any way they could.  Their involvement ranged from scrap drives to Red Cross programs and everything in between. Military service was something many men were interested in, and even those who were not ready to sign up themselves, still complied with the draft.

There was a sign on a display saying, “I’m the girl who makes the little gizmo that screws inside this bigger thing that goes on top of something else.” This sign shows that women were willing to do almost anything to bring their men home with a victory.

The factories in Cincinnati were sub-assembly lines that made components of larger machinery. The pieces made in the city were then shipped to other cities where they were put together to make tanks, airplanes, and so on. Many of the workers did not even know what they were making, this was because much of the machinery was to be kept top secret.  Not only did the workers not really know what they were doing, the factories as a whole were totally reorganized to make different products than when at peace. The Baldwin Piano Company actually started making plane parts during the war and Herschede Hall Clock Company started making gun sights.
The wartime demands on Cincinnati created a problem for the city because of the shortage of workers and materials. The Cincinnati Street Railway Company’s passengers doubled in size due to the rationing of gasoline and tires. The passengers were people going to jobs they never thought they would be doing. Hours were irregular and gender roles were altered. Women were now the ones rising the train to work each day leaving their older children to take care of their younger ones. There was a housing shortage, which caused many couples to get married right away and move in with either family or friends. Once living in these homes, there was still a shortage in coffee, sugar, meant, consumer cars, shoes, and stoves. No one quite knew how to act in a time full of loneliness. Everyone knew someone in the war and missed them deeply. Life was hard to carry on in Cincinnati.

The exhibit had little houses and stores set up to see what daily life was like during the war. There was a sign that  advertised gasoline for $0.19 a gallon. Wow.
Investing in the Nation’s future was a big idea that citizens of Cincinnati looked forward to. The sail of bonds gave people something to look forward too. If they bought a bond at $18.75, they would get $25.00 for it once it matured. Residents looked forward to peacetime activities when they could spend their bonds on  cars, stoves, and washing machines. By the end of the war, the nation had 1.7 billion dollars worth of war bonds.
70,000 Greater Cincinnati men were drafted into the U.S. Army Air force. Over 407,000 Americans died in the war, 2300 of these men and women came from Hamilton County. Though there were hardships and many deaths, the war was won and Cincinnati celebrated/. Women celebrated not only the coming home of their men, but their roles in their communities. Women knew that if they could run things now, they would be able to do it in the future. This was the start of a changing history in the lives of women.

Cincinnati Public Landing

Cincinnati was founded in 1788 thanks to the Ohio River. This river played a very important role in the cities early days because it carried people and goods to and from the city. The point at which people and commerce connected the most was at the Cincinnati Public Landing. This area was the land from Front Street to the river, between Main and Broadway. This area was very muddy and sloped because of the seasonal rise and fall of the water. Unfortunalty, Cincinnati did not have the sufficient funds to pave the area at that time. It asn’t until the 1820s that wagons no longer got stuck in the mud. Not only was commerece  popular at the landing, but immigration as well. Immigrants came to Cincinati in early 19th centry and face racist remarks and actions against their race, religion, or nationality. With all of the newcomers, people either stongly welcomed them or strongly opposed them. There were limited opportunities for immigrants and African Americans, but everyone found their place in the city.

The Public Landing Display

 The room where the public landing was set up in the museum was awesome. It looked like the set of a broadway musical with all of the lights, sounds, and people in costumes. There was a boat set up, The Queeen of the West, a print shop, photographer, a bank, etc.

9th Post, Reforming Ohio June 9, 2009

Andrew Cayton

Ohio , The History of a People

In the 1890s a period of reform began in Ohio. This period lasted through the 1910s and gained momentum as it quickly swept through the state of Ohio. Local plans were to restore a sense of common purpose in a period of rapid change. The value of public culture was changing due to immigration, industrialization, and urbanization. Some of the issues people were noticing was the cosmetic change in the looks of the small towns and cities. Rapid change had disfigured the cities and altered the countryside as well. Moral progress had been put on hold, while material processions took over. Reformers tended to think that shaping an environment would succeed only if Ohioans wanted citizenship with all their hearts and minds.

Reform in Ohio began by improving the public institutions.  It was these institutions that allowed citizens to step out of their homes and neighborhoods to learn information that would help them make better decisions. Newspapers, libraries, and schools were among the most important of these institutions.  Ohio had a growing number of professionals committed to objectivity. They envisioned more discussions about public issues and places that would provide information to aid in these discussions.
In the 1900s, many newspapers began to promote “new journalism” in Ohio. The “new journalists” dedicated their stories to the public interest. The public got on board and the papers increased in circulation significantly. James M. Cox brought the people of Dayton the Dayton Daily News to expand news coverage. The paper was more than advertisements, news articles, and society sections, women’s articles, profit, and circulation. It triumphed its independence and became a public institution helping people to do their business. Cox directed the Dayton Daily News to call for civic improvement. The paper’s articles spoke of parks, concert halls, baseball games, public housing,  orchestras, jobs, and many other topics readers intrigued about.  Cox did not support immigration, in fact he wanted to create stricter voting laws to lesson the influence of immigrants in Ohio. His newspaper reflected his views with writings supported by middle-class Protestants who embodied this reform technique.

Public Libraries made a huge effort to revive the public culture. They housed hundreds of books and journals to aid the intrigued population. They were important because they were gathering grounds holding various information to aid in public conversations.  Libraries had specific areas that allowed people to read, gather thoughts, share their opinions, and debate their thoughts.

Public universities also helped public culture during this period of reform. Ohio was dedicated to developing institutions of higher education to aid its citizens in further knowledge. The universities were focused on helping the general public, not just local or religious interests. In 1870 the Oho Agricultural and Mechanical College was founded in Ohio which served the needs of Columbus area farmers. A liberal arts curriculum was created and the college then became The Ohio State University. Kent State as well as Bowling Green were created in 1910 for similar purposes. Universities serving whites were growing, but there were also universities created to help the growing number of African Americans. Central State University and Wilberforce were established in 1887.

8th Post, Carillon Historical Park June 9, 2009

The School House

Carillon Historical Park

Discovering the history of Dayton is fun and easy at the Carillon Historical Park. There are so many different buildings to go into and see, it takes quite a while to see everything there.  Among the many attractions, the park’s first stop is the family education center which also houses the museum store, a research room, and archives.  The next stop is the school house, Locust Grove School House Number 12. It was built in 1896 and served as a one roomed school house at the corner of Possum and Bird Roads near Springfield. The school house was rather small but makes a big impression. The desks got larger as they get father from the front and they were made out of wood. The room was lit by oil lanterns and  was decorated very patriotically. The Newcom Tavern was next to the school house and is the oldest building in Dayton. It has two floors which held a living room, a family room/kitchen, and an upstairs bedroom. The tavern held several church services and council meetings. The William Morris House is right next to the Tavern. It is a small one-roomed house with a table, cooking ware, a bed, chairs, and an attic. There is a wood chopping area in the back of the home. The next stop on my tour was Deed’s Barn, a replica of the Colonel Edward Deed’s barn that housed the invention of the electric self-starter.  With in the barn was a movie and several displays which showed the development of transportation in Dayton . The Sugar Camp/WAVES Cabin is located next to the Barn and was used for the National Cash Register Company employees. This cabin was one of 60 cabins used to house 600 WAVES for a code breaking project at NCR. WAVES stands for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. The Print shop housed several working printing presses that were actually in use at the time of my visit. It is a 1930’s style shop with period equipment that prints everything for the park right there. The man working in the shop showed us around and told us how the machines worked. Next to the print shop was  Sun Oil Station. Its original location was at the intersection of Brown Street and Warrant Street. This station was from 1924 and exhibited clear glass cylinders that helped customers drain gasoline into their cars. The Bowling Green Station was a small building that housed several period automobiles. On one side it had cars,. furniture and other equipment, the other side had a small window and long bench where travelers would wait to catch their trains. My next stop was viewing the John W. Berry, Sr. Wright Brothers Aviation Center. This building was rather large and showcased  several exhibits explaining the story of the Wright Brothers’ Flyer III aircraft. Both Orville and Wilbur worked for years to make the Flyer and were ecstatic when the flight worked and exceeded their expectations. The Gristmill is a major attraction for visitors of Carillon Historical Park. On a hot day, the water can be very appealing. The sound of the large wheel turning the water is accompanied by the sound of the giant flour grinder. The purpose of the mill is be powered by water so the machine can grind flour more efficiently.

The Print Shop

7th Post, Wright Dunbar Interpretive Center June 9, 2009

Wright Brothers and the Pail Laurence Dunbar Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park’s Wright and Dunbar Center

“We now hold all the records!” Orville Wright

This museum was full of exhibits about both Paul Laurence Dunbar as well as the Wright Brothers. Upon walking in the museum, there is a virtual exhibit to prepare you for the rest of the tour. Once you  walk past this giant screen, there is an exhibit introducing you to Paul Laurence Dunbar. Raised in Ohio, Dunbar was a well accomplished poet, but he wasn’t always so popular. In the late 1800’s it was very difficult for African American Writers to get published. He started out as an Elevator Repair Operator who published a small book of poems and sold them only from his elevator. It was this small book that lead him to be a very important writer by 1900.

The next exhibit introduced you to the Wright brothers. Wilbur Wright was four years older than  his brother Orville. They put their minds together to solve problems, understand inventions of their time, and created many inventions themselves. In their early teens, the Wright brothers started their own newspaper called West Side News. Their print shop served many purposes such as business cards, news letters, advertisements, and their newspaper. It was the Wright Brother’s print shop that printed Paul Laurence Dunbar’s tickets and handbills for his public readings. The Wright brothers were not just interested in printing, they rode their bicycles when ever they could. Friends of the family would often come by to get their bicycles fixed and as time went by the numbers of repairs increased. Eventually, Orville and Wilbur opened up a bicycle shop selling their own line of bicycles to their community. After taking interest in travel on the ground, Orville and Wilbur decided to focus on travel by air. They studied aviation closely and determined that the machine they needed to build should contain three things; wings for lift, a power plant, and it would need to be fully controllable. An exhibit demonstrating these three key things provided pictures of what the planes looked like.

After building several kites and gliders, Wilbur and Orville faced failure over and over. Traveling back and forth from Dayton to Kitty Hawk the brothers never gave up on flying. Dayton is where they developed their ideas and built the pieces to the gliders, but due to the overwhelming amount of trees, and soft winds of Dayton, the brothers traveled to Kitty Hawk North Carolina to find better winds and a more isolated place. In 1900 the brothers built a glider that was big enough to carry a pilot which proved to be successful at Kitty Hawk. In 1901, the brothers built a wind tunnel in their bicycle shop and conducted many experiments. The results of the many experiments allowed them to  fix the equation they were using to determine wing design. It was this equation that aided them in building the first aircraft that roll, pitch, and yaw were controllable. From this, they determined that a flyable aircraft would need to weigh less than 200 pounds, provide 8-9 horsepower and run smoothly.  Using the principles of lift, control, and power they seeked the help of a local mechanic in building their aircraft which worked, but was unreliable and broke down often.. They flew their first circle in 1904, but in 1905 their aircraft was able to pitch up and down. Flyer III was the brother’s pound practical airplane and was the start of something amazing. The Wright Company was established in 1909.

After touring the museum, I picked up a flyer at the front desk that showed how you can use your cell phone as a tour guide. All you have to do is call a number and it will talk you through the museum. There are also rewinding, pausing, and fast forward options just by using your key pad.

6th Post, Harriet Beecher Stowe House June 1, 2009

Stowe living room

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s House, located in Cincinnati Ohio, is a historical site that is still up and running. The home was restored in the 1970’s, but no one currently lives there. It is opened during the day by friends of the Stowe family and survives today only on donations by those who see its historical significance. If it were not for the donations by friends, tourists, supporters, and family, the home would have been torn down years ago.

 

 

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Connecticut in 1811. Her family moved to Ohio in 1832 when her father became the pastor of the city’s Second Presbyterian Church and President of the Lane Theological Seminary. The Seminary was where Hariet’s father took part in several debates about the abolitionism and education for freeed slaves. She married her husband Calvin Stowe, a professor at the Seminary, in 1936. They moved near by the house and spent much of there time there.

 

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a best-seller that created an awareness of the act of slavery. Harriet made it very apparent that the slavery was the total opposite of Christianity and that if you clamied to be a Christian, you could not possible support any kind of slavery. The book was written in 1852, as an anti-slavery reaction to the Fugitive Slave Law enacted in 1850. The book sold over half a million copies in it’s first five years and it was also translated into 37 different languages. The book is still in publication today, now published in 70 different languages. Within its pages, readers learned of the stuggles and hardships of slaves as they discovered the Underground Railroad.

 

The first level of the home is decorated in a Victorian style set up to be similar to the way it was in the 1800s. There is a study, a formal living room, and more of an informal living room that is for viewing. Each room is filled with information about the Beecher family, as well as the Stowe family. In the back of the home, there is a room with a large table and many chairs. It has information reguarding group visits, authors, artists, volunteering oppotunities, etc. It also contains some of the original writings of Harriot Beecher Stowe.  The upper level of the home is set up as an art gallery demonstrating many of the Stowe family’s personal art. Each bedroom door has a sign posted on it infroming visitors who’s beroom it was.

 

Upon going upstairs, I noticed a sign posted on the wall from 1851 that said, “Caution Colored People of Boston.” The sign went on to say that black people should stay away from all policemen since they are ordered by law to return any fugitives. If they valued their liberty, or the liberty of their fugitive family members of friends, they would keep them far away from the police. Uncle’s Tom’s Cabin popularized the belief in anti-slavery and aided fugitives by influencing many people to become abolitionists.

 

 

5th Post, Carriage Hill Metro Park May 1, 2009

 

Carriage Hill Metro Park has several attractions for tourists to see. The park is located in Huber Heights Ohio and is free of charge. The site was home to Daniel and Catherine Arnold along with their five children. As their children grew older, more and more of the land was bought by the children and the farm prospered under their ownership. Some of the sites to see are the Original Log House that the Arnold family resided in, the engine Shed, the blacksmith Shop, a log barn, an icehouse, Daniel Arnold house, a summer kitchen, an ash house, gardens, buggy shed, a poultry house, a sawmill site, a truck patch, equipment graveyard, a cemetery, crop demonstrations, a pond, as well as other attractions. There are also activities to do at the park. Tourists can enjoy fishing, horseback riding, picnicking, hiking, camping, and eating candy from the penny candy shop. 

 

The large barn holds several exhibits explaining what was going on in the world at the time of the Arnold Family’s ownership. Upstairs of the barn contains several displays about farm life in the 1800s. Dowstairs there is a store made to look like a store from that time period. It even sells candy by the piece, just like long ago. I bought two malted milk balls for just five cents.
There is a mock school house on the second floor which allows visitors  to see what schools were like for farming communities. The school room was very small, but was able to fit many children for a day of learning.
There was an audible display along the wall that compared rural women to urban women of the 1800s. One side of the exhibit is a rural women and her point of view, the other side of the display is the urban women and her point of view. Both have very contradictory views, but have so much in common. Both women are philanthropists, but have different ways of volunteering their services.  They both have different roles in their communities, take care of their families in different ways, and are looked at differently by their communities. Both women were strong women and highly respected.

The following is a slideshow of two children enjoying their day at the farm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk5gB1InqfE

4th Post, *Just a note about the STAC* May 1, 2009

The STAC stands for the Student Technology and Assistance Center in Dunbar Library at Wright State University. I recently was able to go check it out and was amazed at what it had to offer. I have only ever briefly used the center for things like to view a VCR tape, barrow headphones, and to rent a DVD; this place offers way more than that. I think I am most excited that they have photo shop available for students to use. A few of my friends have this program and have made some awesome projects with it. I hope I can incorporate photo shop into my final project somehow. 

 

 

 

 

 

At Wright State, Education majors are required to take EDT 221. This course focuses on computer technology to aid you in your future classroom. The STAC offers many of the programs used in the class and even has a staff to help you put into use what you have learned.

This Picture is a view of the STAC in the Dunbar Library at Wright State University.

3rd Post, Creating the Northwest Territory May 1, 2009

Of all the dates that you learn about in United States history, July 4, 1776 always stands out to me. The day this country became indeed this country is  a very important part of our past. Proclaiming our rights from Great Britain must have felt wonderful for all involved with it. Overthrowing government, establishing independence, and starting the American Revolution had to of been a wonderful feeling, at least for the Americans. The British were very upset about it.

The Treaty of Paris (1783) was when the British finally signed off their power of our country and let us become an independent country. It was the end of the war and settlers were finally moving westward into the Ohio Valley. Once again, American’s were upsetting someone with their actions, the Indians.  With every expansion westward, the Indians had to move further west as well. They did not agree with the treaty, and for good reasons.

The Land Ordinance of 1785 called for the land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River to be divided into ten separate states. The government was to then divide up land and put it for sale for ownership. The price of the land ended up being about a dollar an acre. All sections of land were given a number and after they sold so many sections, government officials auctioned the remaining land off to those interested. At this time, Ohio had many squatters; people who were living on the land illegally. Government also had to face the Native Americans that would not leave the area. Once again, this created tensions between the Native Americans and the Americans.

Tensions escalated between the Americans and the Indians during the summer of 1794. On June 30, 1,500 Shawnee Indians, Miami Indians, Delaware Indians, Ottawa Indians, and Ojibwa Indians led by Little Turtle attacked a supply train leaving Fort Recovery for Fort Greene Ville, killing or capturing many of the white Americans. Anthony Wayne, commander of the United States Army, set out to battle the natives. Little Turtle refused to lead his men in an all out war, but did want revenge for what the Americans had done to their land. The Native Americans had set up a plan to attack Wayne and his men in an area where there were few trees remaining from a recent tornado. They fasted there and waited for the American army. Even though the natives knew the area well, the Americans won the battle.