Mystery Photo Album
BROWSE ALL IMAGES IN THIS COLLECTION
Two unidentified boys on bench, eating.
Canal Aqueduct, Peninsula, Ohio.
Unidentified family.
Two unidentified men on a bench with a dog.
Bossy Cow.
Lock, Ohio Canal, Barberton, Ohio.
This is a small photo album that Special Collections at the Michael Schwartz Library acquired from a dealer in the 1990s. Nothing is known about it, except what it discloses about itself: namely that it covers territory south of Cleveland, Ohio — in the Kent/Akron area along the Cuyhoga River, Ohio & Erie Canal and nearby towns — and that the photos were shot around 1897. Where something had been penciled in next to any of the photos, it has been noted in quotations. The album contains 49 black and white images showing country scenes of farms, the Cuyahoga River, canal features, bridges and some unidentified people.
Information received from a Munroe Falls Historical Society member on April 23, 2003 suggests that the people depicted may be the Gaylord family. The Gaylords were one of the earliest families in Munroe Falls and owned quite a bit of the land along the river. Also, the writing on the photos identifies areas both upstream and downstream of Munroe Falls.
If you know this area well, you might be able to help pinpoint the locations of the photos better and perhaps even solve the mystery of who the family is, shown in these photos. Any documented information will be added to the site.
