Richly illustrated with the work of well-known Cleveland-area artists and architects, past and present, Creative Essence explores the region’s tradition, beginning with the “Cleveland School” of artists that was active and influential during the first half of the twentieth century. It moves on to examine the changes that occurred in the last half of the century and the development of the visual arts in northeast Ohio. Creative Essence is an important resource for understanding the significant role the visual arts play in our cities and societies and how they contribute to the region’s quality of life. For those interested in regional history and for students of art history and the visual arts, this will be especially valuable.

There is an unusually rich photographic record of the community and its people as well as many descriptions and comments by writers who wished to share their impressions of the Old World town. Today a restored village with a ten-museum complex operated by the Ohio Historical Society, Zoar has consciously maintained its German roots. Zoar continues to attract the curious individual, the traveler, the day-tripper, and the magazine and newspaper writers of the day.

The Finnish American Heritage Association of Ashtabula County was organized in 1995, and one of its first projects was the interviewing and taping of elderly Finnish Americans to obtain historical accounts of early immigrants. These first-person accounts were written as the narrator told them. Many of the first- and second-generation Finns were in their eighties or nineties at the time of their interviews, yet their recollections of times gone by were told with frankness and clarity. Photographs representative of these early years are also included in this volume.

Drawing upon heretofore unavailable archival materials and oral histories, Rosie the Rubber Worker offers readers a personal as well as scholarly account of the era and highlights the important role many women played in wartime production and how their work affected their lives during the war and after.

Cleveland’s Harbor chronicles the challenges, struggles, and politics of establishing and maintaining this major port—from General Cleaveland to Mayor Michael White. Among those whose dedication and ingenuity fostered the port were Lorenzo Carter, who cultivated the first settlement; Levi Johnson and the Turhooven brothers, builders of The Enterprise—Cleveland’s first commercial vessel; Alfred Kelley, Governor Ethan Allen Brown, and Micajah Williams, who were instrumental in getting the canal built connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River; John Malvin, a freedman, who became the first black vessel owner, a captain, and minister for the First Baptist Congregation; Eli Peck, designer of the forerunner of the classic ore boat; Alexander McDougall, who fashioned the innovative shaleback hull; and George Hulett, who, with the support of Andrew Carnegie and Charles Schwab, revolutionized harbor operations with his invention of the unloader.

George (“Barney”) Crile considers himself a lucky man, lucky to be born when and where he was, lucky to have had the parents he did, lucky in his career, and most of all, lucky in his wives. Barney Crile’s parents were of Cleveland’s elite during that city’s self-described golden age. His father was a founder of the world-famous Cleveland Clinic and a pillar of the medical community. His mother took care of the family and in particular doted on Barney. She kept volumes of letters, photographs, and memorabilia from which her son wrote this fascinating memoir.

This seasoned newspaperman has been soaking up stray facts and vanishing information for more than five decades. Condon’s voracious appetite for facts and a nose for where to find them bring alive this Cleveland history, engaging the reader with his authentic stories, humorous anecdotes, and fond perspective. West of the Cuyahoga fills a gap in the history of Cleveland, Ohio, and reveals the gleanings of a lifetime for a local journalist and raconteur.

Euclid Avenue, which runs through the heart of downtown Cleveland, was for 60 years one of the finest residential streets of any city in 19th century America. Showplace of America is the fascinating account of the rise and fall of this elegant promenade, including portrayals of the eminent architects who created its opulent residences and colorful details about the lives of the wealthy people who occupied them.

This illustrated guide to the architecture of Oberlin, Ohio, mixes the remarkable social history of college and town with architectural commentary about one hundred thirty-two buildings built between 1837 and 1977. The result is a unique record of the ways in which the people of one Midwestern college town organized and housed their lives over the past one hundred fifty years, from the layout of the village square in 1833 to distinguished samples from the work of such twentieth-century architects as Cass Gilbert, Frank Lloyd Wright, Wallace Harrison, Minoru Yamasaki, Hugh Stubbins and Robert Venturi.

The May 4 episode has been recounted many times, in many ways. The events of the succeeding years, particularly as they affected the community in which they happened, are less well documented. As event and as symbol, Kent State/May 4 means many things to many people. This unique collection of essays and personal interviews presents a broad spectrum of these viewpoints in recounting the events of May 4 and those of the aftermath years. The result is a composite history from the perspectives of many of those who lived it, a reflection of the differing ideological stances and life experiences characteristic of that tumultuous era in American history.