Yellow Springs Historical Society

From the Antioch Bookplate Archives — 2000s part 3

Posted on August 8, 2020 by admin

All are now packaged in sleeves of 12.

0453-7 — by Pamela Silin-Palmer

0454-5 — by Josephine Wall

0455-3 — Star Wars

0456-1 — Evelia (Garcia) Sowash, staff artist at the time

0457-X — Evelia (Garcia) Sowash

Posted in Antioch Bookplate Archives | Tagged evelia garcis sowash, jospehine wall, pamela silin-palmer, star wars | Leave a comment

Then (and then) and Now

Posted on August 4, 2020 by admin

The comparison in this post deals with 416 Xenia Avenue, now the offices of psychologists Layh and Associates.

A decade or so before the photo from the Kahoe glass plate negative collection was taken, the lot was still part of the Mills property, and Limestone Street had not yet been extended.

The Sanborn fire map of 1924 shows the new property division, and the building already constructed.

Posted in Artifacts | 1 Comment

Life in the CCC Camp — July 1937

Posted on August 1, 2020 by admin

As we put July 2020 in the rear-view mirror, July 1937 according to excerpts from The Hooey camp newsletter show a familiar concerns — quaranting from illness and employment.

“In the Civilian conservation Corps there are more fatalities resulting from the bite of the Love Bug than from disease bugs, rattlesnakes and black widow spiders combined. While not always fatal, the victim is never the same.
Because Love Bugs are now prevalent around camp, we picture one, magnified 100 times, on the front cover.“

MEASLES BUG BITES ENROLLEE

CAMP QUARANTINE

Lightning, they say, never strikes twice in the same place. Bugs, however, (including CCC Public Enemy No 1, the FLY) do. If you don’t believe this, ask Enrollee Louis Drummond, victim of the Measles Bug.

Last winter, Drummond was nipped by the Meningitis Bug and the camp was quarantined for 21 days. This time it will be only 14 days—from July 17 to July 31—if no other cases of “spots before your eyes” appear.

QUARANTINED

Not so long ago this company was quarantined for twenty-one days on account of a spinal meningitis case in the company. This time it is for measles.

To keep immune3from this disease, it is a good policy to keep clean. Take a shower every day if possible and change clothes at least every other day. Keep clothes laundered: wash them yourself or have them laundered. Keep yourself clean, too. Of course, we have the camp surgeon examine us every day, but unless we help him his help will not be 100% effective.

Some of the men will remember what good times we had during the last quarantine. If things become monotonous, therefore, why not try putting over some shows and stunts to keep up our lagging spirits?

In any event, let’s keep pulling together and make the most of our isolated “camp of the woods.”

WHY NOT LOOK INTO FUTURE WITH AID OF CAMP ADVISER

JOB INFORMATION NOW READY

Do you know what kind of work you want to follow? If you are interested in a certain vocation, do you know what sort of working conditions or what salary to expect? Or what training is necessary to pursue a vocation? Where can I find additional information about the vocation?

These questions can now be answered by Mr. Clifton, Educational Adviser.

Special vocational guidance monographs have been obtained in an effort to help enrollees determine what career they wish to follow. All that you have to do is look up the job you’re interested in and read up on it. A list of the vocations outlined follows:

(1) My Life’s Work; (2) Air Conditioning; (3) Auto & Garage Service; (4) Baking; (5) Barbering; (6) Beauty Culture; (7) Chain-Store Managership; (8) Chiropody; (9) Catering-Restaurant Management; (10) Circulating—Library Management; (11) Dressmaking and Alterations; (12) Jewelry Designing & Engraving; (13) Mechanical Dentistry; (14) The Mortician; (15) Office-Machine Operation; (16) Personnel Management; (17) Pathological Technician; (18) Postal Service; (19) Printing Salesmanship; (20) Photography; (21) Radio and Television; (22) The Retail Meat-Dealer; (23) Social Service; (24) Secretaryship; (25) Watch Making, Watch Repairing; (26 Retail Merchandising; (27 ) Airplane Mechanics; (28) Cleaning and Dyeing; (29) Market Gardening and Truck Farming; (30) Automotive Mechanics—Diesel Engine; (31) Railroading – Commercial; (32) Railroading – Mechanical; (33) Stock Raising; (34) Welding; (35) The Tool and Die Maker; (36) Machine Shop Mechanics; (37) Landscape Gardening and Tree Surgery; (38) Nursery and Flower Growing; (39) The Laundry Business; (40) Carpentry and Millwork; (41 Drafting and Design; (42) Poultry Raising; (43) Bee Keeping; (44) Dairying; (45) The Host; (46) The Dietician; (47) The Hotel Industry; (48) Mining – Coal and Iron; (49) Mining – Petroleum and Metals; (50) The Confectioner.

For additional information, see Mr. Clifton.

This is an opportunity which should be taken advantage of by anyone who is not decided on a career or who want additional information about his planning and career.

Posted in Narratives | Tagged ccc camp, the hooey | Leave a comment

Then and Now (Possibly?)

Posted on July 28, 2020 by admin

This comparison is tentative and something of a puzzle.

The house shown in the early 1900s photo from the Howard Kahoe glass plate negative collection has the note “91 Elm St. Dr. Humphrey” attached, but there’s a problem. Yes, there was an Elm Street in Yellow Springs at that time, and there was a Dr. Humphrey in practice. However, the number “91” would place it on the south side of the street, and that was always free of buildings as the whole block was part of the lawn of Mills House.

The modern photo shows a house on the south side of Elm, and there are good reasons to believe it the same house. The overall design is the same, and the fretwork pattern is identical (although what happened to half of the upper part?). The addition of trees and shrubs is somewhat confusing, but not disproving..

One has to bear in mind that the photographer did not limit himself to Yellow Springs, so it is possible that this was a similar house in a different town (many houses were built according to standardized plans, so it would not be impossible to have a similar house in a different location). In order to confirm that the modern photo is the same house one would need something like a map with “Dr. Humphrey” labelled on the appropriate plot or a journal entry or newspaper article about renovating the fretwork.

Posted in Artifacts, Uncategorized | Tagged dr. humphrey, elm street | 1 Comment

Historical Tours Offered

Posted on July 25, 2020 by admin

Another organization providing valuable input about the history of Yellow Springs is The 365 Project, whose mission is “to serve as a catalyst that challenges and supports the people of Yellow Springs and Miami Township in fighting racism.”

In previous summers The 365 Project held themed walking tours on the history of Blacks in Yellow Springs, led by middle and high school students. The corona crisis this summer has forced a change in how these tours are conducted, but happily has not forced their cancellation. In summer of 2020 the tours will be held live virtually on the organization’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/the365projectys), but they will also be available for later viewing both on the Facebook page and the website’s tour page (https://www.the365projectys.org/blacks-in-ys-tour).

If you want to follow the tours, they begin at 1:00 pm on the following dates:

July 25th — “Wheeling Gaunt’s Yellow Springs”

August 8th — “Blacks in Yellow Springs General Tour”

August 29th — “Blacks at Antioch College”

September 5th — “Black Landownership in Yellow Springs”

October 3rd — “Black Women in Yellow Springs”

October 17th — “A Black History Tour of Glen Forest Cemetery”

Posted in Announcements | Tagged the 365 project, walking tour | Leave a comment

J. Peery Miller Memoirs — Part 22

Posted on July 21, 2020 by admin

In which J. Peery Miller starts his military adventures…

It was plain to be seen that when I said good-bye to mother the morning we started that her suppressed manifestations of grief were for my sake. She would not weaken my courage on this momentous occasion. The period of service was to be short and she hoped for the best.

The trip to Springfield was made in an open springwagon in a snow storm—one of those unseasonable squalls that sometimes befall us. However the snow soon succumbed to the direct rays of the bright sunshine, and the green grass and leaves were all the brighter and refreshing for the whitewashing received.

On the night of May 2^nd, we were quartered in the town hall, the upper story of Springfield’s old market house, which stood on the ground now occupied by the Arcade stores. Military discipline was not yet vigorously enforced and the noise and racket of a gang of irresponsible men and boys were not at all conducive to sleep; also a bed on a bench or the hard floor without a mattress was a source of discomfort to which we were not yet accustomed.

The next day (May 3^rd, 1864) we marched to the little Miami depot where we took passage in freight cars to Camp Dennison. Here we were quartered in huge barracks, our home until the regiment could be reorganized and consolidated. Our organization (the 35^th O.N.G.) was far below the regulation number to form a regiment of U.S. Troops, therefore it was divided and attached to other organizations coming from different parts of the State. Our Donnelsville company was divided—one half assigned to the Enon company under Capt. Harry C. Cross and one-half to the Medway company under the command of Capt. James l. Mckinney. These two companies were then placed with an aggregation from Clearmont county which had been consolidated into eight companies. This organization of ten companies was then mustered-in to the United States service and denominated the 153^rd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.). Col. Israel Stough of Clark county was appointed commander of the regiment, which pleased the Clark county boys immensely, but the Clearmont county contingent was sadly disappointed that their O.N.G. Colonel was not retained. It took some time to overcome the bitterness engendered over these changes, but the orders of the superior officers were final and had to be obeyed.

**PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30993361**

While in Camp Dennison 10,000 of these recruits were formed in mass to listen to Governor Brough speak. I remember that he expatiated over the condition of the armies in the field,– their successes and failures, the special need of taking advantage of the gains made by the Union forces just at that time and following them up at once under the command of our distinguished commander, General Grant; closing with very complimentary remarks as to our patriotic response to his recent call for our assistance, which, he assured us, would redound to our everlasting glory, &c. &c.

Posted in Narratives | Tagged camp dennison, J. Peery Miller | Leave a comment

A Loss for the Historical Society and the Community

Posted on July 18, 2020 by admin

A former board member and dedicated supporter of the Yellow Springs Historical Society has left us. Phyllis Jackson came from many generations of local residents and dedicated much time and energy to research and promotion of local hist ory. She was frequently consulted by national news organizations at Christmastime looking for the background to the Wheeling Gaunt flour and sugar bequest to local widows.

Her contribution to the Yellow Springs News series “Elder Stories” in 2016 gives a vivid portrait of her life and interests.

The above photograph was taken by Diane Chiddister for the Yellow Springs News in an article on her selection in 2013 as the recipient of the Greene County Council on Aging Senior Center Leadership Award.

Posted in Announcements | Tagged phyllis jackson, wheeling gaunt | Leave a comment

A Yellow Springs Woman of Adventure, Literature and Politics

Posted on July 14, 2020 by admin

The next entry from Women of Greene County had boundless interests and achievements.

Jean Elizabeth Barlow Hudson (1915 – 1992)

Jean Elizabeth Barlow Hudson devoted her life to family, friendships, literary pursuits, community service, social activism, and feminism. She was born on August 21, 1915, the daughter of Wesley and Vesta Barlow, in the northwestern Pennsylvania town of Sugar Grove. After her mother died in 1927 her father operated the town’s dairy with the help of his two sons and two daughters. But Hudson dreamed of traveling the world like Amelia Earhart.,

As a college student at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, she envisioned writing novels like Jane Austen but began with writing lyrical poetry, penning lines like:

Why should I not wear a rapturous look
and my heart always carry a song?
For I have lived with the beautiful,
and I have loved it long.

After earning a B.A. In English literature she did a stint as a copyeditor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. During a visit to Yellow Springs in the summer of 1940 she met Benjamin R. Hudson and they were married a few months later. They then lived in San Diego, CA; Golden, CO; and Casper, WY, as her husband worked as an hydrologist. While living in Casper in the late 1940s, she gave birth to three sons—Jon, Rex and Chris. She also wrote and performed radio plays and was named Wyoming’s Poet Laureate in 1947 for “Wyoming Legend.”

After establishing their home base in Yellow Springs, the family lived in Saudi Arabia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Taiwan, and Jordan. In 1965 she returned to Yellow springs from her husband’s post in Lahore, Pakistan, and, at age fifty, gave birth to a daughter, Holly. In the 1970s Jean, Ben and Holly Hudson lived in Senegal, the Philippines, Majorca, Spain, Oman, Tunisia, and Somalia.

Residing in Yellow Springs for much of the last two decades of her life, she resumed her writing of poems, short stories, and novels. Her first novel in print, Rivers of Time, set in West Africa, was published by Avon books in 1979. For seven years in the 1980s, she, along with other women, wrote a weekly regional newspaper column, “Women’s Voices.” A member of the Feminist Writers’ Guild, she developed an expertise in the literature of feminism and women novelists in general. Among the latter, she particularly admired Ursula Leguin, with whom she had met and corresponded.

Yellow Springs’ first elected woman mayor, she served two terms—from November 1987 to November 1991. Her initiatives as mayor included founding the Committee for a Barrier-Free Community. She was an active member of Women, Inc. and played a key role in establishing Women’s Economic Assistance Ventures (WEAV), a regional nonprofit branch of Women’s World Banking. She served as WEAV’s president. She was an activist in the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and the Coalition for Survival, a group concerned about the threat of nuclear war. She was also active in the Unitarian Fellowship, serving as its president for several years.

Hudson’s mayoral successor honored her community service by proclaiming June 20, 1992, Jean Barlow Hudson Day. She received a Greene County Woman of the Year Award that August. She died on August 22, 1992, at Hospice of Dayton, with her family at her side. Spanning six decades of her poetry writing is a posthumous book, Foreverness: The Collected Poems of Jean Barlow Hudson (Yellow Springs, Fallen Timbers Press, 1993), edited by her son Rex.

Posted in Narratives, People, Uncategorized | Tagged jean barlow hudson, rivers of time | Leave a comment

A Change of Location, But Not Purpose

Posted on July 11, 2020 by admin

This following advertisement from the special centennial issue of the Yellow Springs News in October of 1956 might be applicable today.

How today Yellow Springs people help each other build financial security

When pioneers settle Yellow Springs 100 years and more ago, neighbors gathered together to help a newcomer build a home. Down through the century this tradition of mutual aid has characterized Yellow Springs.

The same spirit prevails today. Meeting family financial needs can often be difficult—sometimes impossible—for the individual alone. He needs help. So families in our community found an effective way to provide themselves with financial help when needed. They joined together in a credit union to operate their own savings and borrowing system under federal supervision.

Saving together, members build a fund from which loans are made to help those of their group who need money for worthwhile purposes. As the credit union exists solely for the benefit of its members, loan cost is low and a good return is earned on savings.

Thus, the credit union serves a two-fold purpose, encouraging thrift and providing a convenient source of credit. Those who belong to the credit union are economically more secure. They can improve their living standard without getting into financial difficulties.

The enitre credit union idea is democracy in action, people working things out together with dignity of spirit. All who live or work in Miami Township are welcome to join in this community enterprise.

Yellow Springs Community Federal Credit Union

218 Xenia Avenue 2^nd floor, Bookplate Bldg. Phone 7-7358

The Bookplate Building is now the building fronting Xenia Avenue occupied by Toxic Beauty and Bonadies Glass Studio.