The Local History and Genealogy department of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library continues to work tirelessly to make our materials available as widely as possible to the community at large. To accomplish this goal, we scan books, maps, architectural drawings, and photographs and make them available through our partnership with Ohio Memory.

Highlighting the History of African-Americans in our Community

We recently added new photos, including a collection dedicated to highlighting Toledo’s African-American population and their history here in Northwest Ohio. The collection includes a range of photos including portraits of beloved jazz pianist Art Tatum, Civil War veteran Caswell Samson from the 1890s, and Ellen T. McWilliams a civil servant active in the community to name a few.

Stereograph Images

Before virtual reality existed, tricking yourself into thinking you were stepping into a whole new world was fairly simple. Two identical images were pasted onto a board and held up a few inches in front of the viewers face, which was held in place by a specialized viewer (read more about these at the Library of Congress).

At the Library, we also have stereograph images showing the Oliver House, a dirigible slowly flying over Madison Avenue in downtown Toledo in 1905 and the Lucas County Courthouse from around 1900.

Tiedtke’s Department Store was once a landmark of downtown Toledo. And you can still explore the history of the store through the photos we have available online. The collection includes everything from a store packed with shoppers around 1950 to exterior views of the original building from around 1915 to reliving the experience of seeing the massive yearly holiday cheddar cheese wheel from around 1950.

Decorate Your Home With Historic Photographs

The photos featured in this blog post can be yours to decorate your home with as well! At the links below, you’ll find specially sized versions of the photos fit for eight by ten inch frames. The images can be printed inexpensively from your favorite photo printing service. If you’d like copies of any digital files from our collections, please email digitization@toledolibrary.org and we’ll be happy to work with you.

Jazz pianist, Art Tatum at the piano

Shoppers at Tiedtke’s Department Store

A Stereograph view of the Oliver House