Looking to reconnect with the history of our area? The Library’s Local History Resource Page is a great place to start!
Located under Research Tools, you will find some great virtual resources to begin your own exploration of the history of Rocky River and the wider Northeast Ohio region. Have questions about using these resources? Contact our Reference Desk and we will be happy to assist.
The Cowan Pottery Museum’s first virtual exhibitions are now live on the library’s website. The Cowan Pottery Museum was one of the nation’s leading potteries during the 1920s and the Cleveland area’s only major pottery. We have an over 1200 piece collection at our library! Visit the virtual exhibits here https://rrpl.org/museum-exhibits/ .
Our Library’s webpage for the Cowan Pottery Museum has been updated! Go to https://rrpl.org/cowan/ to see a gallery of highlights from our collections and stay up to date on all the Museum offers. Right now we are featuring the activities we have planned this month to celebrate 100 years of Cowan in Rocky River.
Make sure to check back this up coming Monday August 17th when the Museum’s first virtual exhibitions go live! These two exhibits feature a selection of historic photos from the Museum’s archives and give viewers the chance to see how these pieces were made and marketed.
The Studio on Lake
Cowan Pottery Studio in Rocky River
Cowan Style
The Photos that Sold Cowan Pottery
Stop by and walk the front lawn sidewalk while learning the history of the Cowan Pottery Studio and the Cowan Pottery Museum.
From August 3-17, 2020, patrons are invited to Walk Through History with Our Cowan Pottery Timeline. Important dates in the history of Cowan Pottery Studio and Cowan Pottery Museum will be displayed on individual signs, spanning the past 100 years, on the Library’s front lawn.
Come learn more about our area’s rich artistic history!
During this virtual presentation Leslie Cade, Director of Museum Archives at the Cleveland Museum of Art, will present:
Artists in Residence: Researching Local Artists at the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
Register and you will be emailed an invitation to join this virtual event. Registration required.
Audiobooks are a great way to enjoy a story. Their portable format allows for them to be enjoyed while on the move.Whether you are exercising, gardening, or working on your newest creative project, audiobooks can make for a great addition.
If you are new to audiobooks why not try our pick for our upcoming:
Imagine Your Story Virtual Book Discussion
Listen to this family memoir about how 81-year-old Jay Mendelsohn, who had been a professor of mathematics, enrolls in his son Daniel’s class on The Odyssey. Later, the two men take Mediterranean cruise, retracing the mythical journeys of Odysseus.
Or checkout the selection of biographical audiobooks over at Overdrive!
This week we are providing links to resources might find helpful in your hunt when looking up the history of your home. These resources were assembled for a program that the library partnered in Virtual 4th Annual Living in the Digital World Senior Expo.
Cleveland Memory Project- Rocky River
In partnership with the Cleveland Memory Project, a digital history collection at Cleveland State University, we are digitizing our photograph collection. We are also adding photographs of Rocky River from the Cleveland Press Collection at CSU.– rrpl.org
http://www.clevelandmemory.org/rockyriver/index.html
Cleveland State Research Guides
This is the Library Guide for information on the history of greater Cleveland and NE Ohio. Notice the tabs across the top of this page, detailing specific types of resources and other information topics designed to help you. Note too that many of these pages give you room to comment and rate this information for usefulness. -csuohio.edu
http://researchguides.csuohio.edu/localhistory
Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer- Real Property
The Real Property department maintains a complete historical record of all property transactions, maintains records of property ownership, valuation, and taxation, and collects special assessments for public improvements. In addition, the Real Property department prepares the first and second half property tax duplicate, computes tax refunds, gives credits based on decisions by the Board of Revision, Board of Tax Appeals, the Appraisal department and the Courts.-fiscalofficer.cuyahogacounty.us
https://fiscalofficer.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/real-property.aspx
Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer- The Cuyahoga Recording Division
This site is provided to allow the citizens of Cuyahoga County, and the world, access to information housed at our office. Here you will find data on all the documents filed at the Recorder’s office from 1810 until present day. -fiscalofficer.cuyahogacounty.us https://fiscalofficer.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/RecordedDocumentsServices.aspx
Sanborn Fire Maps
Fire insurance maps of Ohio from 1867 to 1970 for history and genealogy research. Library Card Required. -rrpl.org
http://www.oplin.org/sanborn
This week we are profiling the online resources of The Henry Ford.
Located in Dearborn, Michigan, a short drive from Detroit, this institution boasts a collection of objects from 300 years of American history. The museum was dedicated on October 21, 1929 and opened to the public in 1933. For the first 10 years visitors dealt with construction as the exhibits weren’t fully complete until the early 1940s. You can learn more about the history of the campus here on their History & Mission page.
While the museum and campus are closed, the website features many digital resources.
Their Virtual Visit page is a great place to start your exploration. Here you will find a list of objects with links to the Ford’s Google Maps project from 2015. The photos give you a better sense of scale of these artifacts and allow for 360 degree experience. A great example is the museum’s towering Allegheny Steam Locomotive. There are also links to the object’s record in the Digital Collections.
The Digital Collections can be explored much like the other institutions we have highlighted in these posts. Additionally there are the Expert Sets. These curated groupings are a great resource for educators building lesson plans as well as individuals looking for a more structured way of exploring the vast collection.
For researchers there is the Digital Resources page. There are Research Databases which include oral histories, the library’s catalog, photographs, and historic films.
A really interesting resource is their collection of historic Cookbooks. You can see what the people in the past ate and get some ideas for your own culinary efforts.
The Henry Ford has many education resources on their Online Learning Resources and Activities page. The available programs are arranged by grade level for easy navigation and their Innovation Program is currently free for public.
