Toledo's Attic has reached 25 years in 2022! Since 1997, Toledo's Attic has been Toledo's and Northwest Ohio's virtual museum focusing on the region's commercial, industrial, and social history from the late 19th through the late 20th centuries. It began as a co-operative project led by the Department of History at The University of Toledo in 1997 and joined by the Toledo Lucas County Public Library, the Maumee Valley Historical Society, WGTE Public Media, and the Ward M. Canaday Center of the University of Toledo afterwards. Today, it is a public digital history and storytelling project to connect visitors with the history of the city and surrounding communities.
Toledo's Attic has been completely redesigned, reorganized, and migrated to an updated content management system. It features several original exhibits and galleries from the 1990s and now, there are 63 exhibits, over 4,000 images, and dozens of virtual ours using HistoryPin created over the past 25 years by professional historians, UT students, and other history enthusiasts in the Toledo and Northwest Ohio communities. Use the menu above to view the exhibits, discover resources, interact on social media, or find out more about Toledo's Attic.
Toledo’s Attic: The Beginnings - A commemorative essay by Dr. Timothy Messer-Kruse (original project lead in 1997) on the 25th anniversary of the Toledo's Attic project.
1902 Walking Tour - an original Toledo's Attic project (from 1998) resurrected for new technology: Tour Downtown Toledo of 1902 using the Sanboanr maps and use the Google Street view links for present views.
...and at least a dozen other original Toledo's Attic exhibits were restored. See Exhibits and Collections
Passport project - in collaboation with the Northwest Ohio Cultural Heritage Group, a new resource has been added to raise interest in regional history and cultural heritage
Postcard Puzzles - an interactive feature engaging visitors with the large postcard collection on Toledo's Attic. Viewing recommendation: use a larger screen (tablet, laptop, or desktop). Viewing experience varies on smartphones...besides put it down while driving!
Recent Exhibits
Not sure where to start?
Try an exhibit below or explore the exhibit themes below.
Blogs
Catholic Architecture and History of Toledo, Ohio
The Department Store Museum: Lamson’s Lasalle’s Lion Store
History in Your Own Backyard (Ohio)
Holy Toledo History
The Toledo Gazette
Retro Toledo Metro
Toledo History Box
Historical Societies and Museums
East Toledo Historical Society
Great Lakes Historical Society
Henry County Historical Society
Heritage Sylvania
Historic Old West End
Historic Perrysburg
Historic Vistula Foundation
Holland Springfield Spencer Historical...
"A picture is worth a thousand words" -- according to the adage attributed to advertising executive Frederick R. Barnard Frederick R. Barnard who authored his article in 1921 titled "One look is worth a thousand words." Some others attribute is to U.S. newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane in 1911. Going back, Henrik...
John C. Gipe - Benjamin F. Griffin - John Gunckel - Arthur Hickock - Henry Hinde - Hugh Webb Hubbard - Thomas Hubbard - Samuel Milton Jones - Adrian "Addie" Joss - John Milton Killits
John C. Gipe
Born in Indianapolis on May 12, 1881, John C. Gipe attended Indiana public schools...
The Tiedtke Brothers - Sergeant Ernst Torgler - Thomas H. Tracy - Morrison Remmick Waite - The Walbridge Family - William Spooner Walbridge - Herbert Whitney - Alvin Mansfield Woolson - Samuel Young
The Tiedtke Brothers
The Tiedtke brothers were active members of the Toledo community and during their lives experienced financial success...
Let's meet up on social media! Toledo's Attic visitors can explore local history information resources, meet local history enthusiast, and engage in discussions on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. You can share your photos and videos of historically significant places in the area with others or see what others have...
William H. Scott - Jay K. Secor - James Secor - Joseph K.Secor - Gen. Isaac R. Sherwood - Spitzer Family - Gen. James B. Steedman - George Butler Storer - Robert A. and Frank D. Stranahan
William H. Scott
William H. Scott, a realtor by profession, helped to establish the second...
Bottle Machine
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/owensillinois-history{/gallery}
The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections at the University of Toledo has recently received a collection of records and artifacts from the Owens-Illinois company. This large collection includes business documents, bottle catalogs, photographs, films, books, patents, stock certificates, company newsletters, press releases and two collections of...
The historical time presented first in 1999 has been re-created here, combining the original information and years with a new timeline module.
{loadposition timeline}
The first issue of the Quarterly Bulletins (1929, volume 1, number 1) published by the Historical Society of Northwest Ohio, the predecessor of the Maumee Valley Historical Society.
Northwest Ohio History - The journal (formerly known as the Northwest Ohio Quarterly and even before that the Quarterly Bulletins, starting in 1929)...
Over the past few decades, genealogical research has been revolutionized with the help of electronic databases, DNA analysis, and improved access to historical documents at libraries and archives. The growing number of Web resources and available volunteers have also made a considerable difference to those who could not find information...
Toledo Civic Hall of Fame Commission
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/halloffame{/gallery}
This exhibit is available in PDF format also. [PDF link]
Introduction
Toledo Civic Hall of Fame Commission
Mayor Carty Finkbeiner began the Toledo Civic Hall of Fame in 1998. The Mayor appointed a nine-member commission to select four to eight people who had died at least two...
Barney Oldfield
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/barneyold{/gallery}
Barney Oldfield
Barney Oldfield was born in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Wauseon, Ohio. In 1889, when he was 11 years old, he moved with his family to Toledo. By 1904, Oldfield was America's most famous race car driver, owning the most track wins and virtually all the...
Libbey Cut Glass Works
Glass from the Past: An Exhibition of Collectable Glass at the Wolcott House
The original announcement of the exhibition in 2001
The Lucas County-Maumee Valley Historical Society is proud to display its collection of historic and antique glass beginning April 4, 2001 at the Wolcott House Museum Complex, 1031...
Armory Park
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/Baseball{/gallery}
The Toledo Mud Hens, 1927
The Toledo Mud Hens have had a long and storied history in Northwest Ohio. The club has pushed the color barrier when other teams were trying to exclude African American players, served as training grounds for future Hall of Fame players and managers, and...
Time in a Bottle: A History of Owens-Illinois, Inc.
Bottle Machine with workers
It was called the most significant advance in the production of glass in 2000 years. It has been designated as an international historic engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 1913, it received a commendation from...
Greater Toledo: The City in the World (case views and galleries)
By the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collection
Exhibit Case 1 -- Exhibit Case 2 -- Exhibit Case 3 -- Exhibit Case 4 -- Exhibit Case 5 -- Exhibit Case 6 -- Exhibit Case 7 -- Exhibit Case 8 --...
By the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections
Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections
Introduction (Summary)
By choosing the name “Toledo,” the founders of the city in 1837 seemed interested in promoting it as a place with an international focus. It is uncertain why “Toledo” was selected as the name for...
War In Their Words
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/WarinTheirWords{/gallery}
War In Their Words
War in Their Own Words: Toledo’s Veterans Write Home
By Lauren White, Manuscripts Librarian, Ward M. Canaday Center
The best picture of the realities of war is painted by the words of those who lived it. The Ward M. Canaday Center is honored to hold...
Birmingham Days (cover)
Birmingham Days: Life and Times of Toledo's Hungarian Neighborhood
by John F. Ahern, Thomas E. Barden, and Andrew Ludanyi
Introduction
From the beginning, Birmingham's strategic location near the mouth of the Maumee River was attractive to settlers in northwest Ohio. The locale's easy access to Lake Erie, its abundant fresh fish,...
Nasby Interlocking Tower
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/nasby{/gallery}
By Greg Johnson and John Ehrmin
This exhibit, donated by John Ehrmin of Toledo, is a brief photographic essay on the former Nasby Interlocking Tower, which ended its operations on March 22, 1998. The essays on Petroleum V. Nasby and David Ross Locke were written by Greg Johnson.
Conrail’s...
Aerial view of the new university campus, 1938
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/tower{/gallery}
by Barbara Floyd, 1997
Introduction
As a person grows older and taller in stature, the shadow he casts upon the earth grows longer. His impact on the world becomes more profound as he matures and succeeds. The same can be said of a...
Remembering Battery B
Sue Stankey, Editor Bill Hinsch, Art Director
In Today’s cover story, Robert G. Morris, a local attorney, writes about Toledo men, including his father, Tom Morris, who went into World War I together as members of Battery B. [Read the complete article in Toledo Magazine, March 27, 1988, p....
Uhl Brothers Bicycle Emporium
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/uhlbros-tmf{/gallery}
From Bicycles to Furniture: A Brief Historical Sketch of the Toledo Metal Furniture Company’s First Decade
Historical sketch by: Arjun Sabharwal, Marty Uhl*
Introduction
Capitalism in America was a robust system for enduring ideas, innovation, perseverance, and (of course) capital; from the 1890s through the 1920s, Toledo represented a...
We are reviving an original exhibit from 2012 [archive link] an an effort to tap into local knowledge of people, places, and events to get more information on undescribed photographs. A collection of photographs is also on Pinterest: Exhibits Anonymous
UNDER RE/CONSTRUCTION
Libbey-Tschudy-Perkins Home
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/owe{/gallery}
Presented by the Women of the Old West EndResearch, Writing, and Photography by Darren LaShelle and Richard Wall
The Old West End neighborhood is one of the largest collections of Victorian, Edwardian, and Arts and Crafts homes in the United States, and serves as a showcase of architectural styles...
Acklin Plant Exterior, 1925
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/acklin{/gallery}
By Benjamin Grillot, 2000
I. Early Days - "To such men as the late Grafton M. Acklin is the city of Toledo indebted for its prominence in the industrial world.." -The Story of the Maumee Valley, 1929.
A. Toledo, Ohio in 1911, A Backdrop
The story of Acklin Stamping,...
Downtown Toledo Map
Original exhibit text:
Below is a map of downtown Toledo in 1902. By clicking on any city block you will see a detailed map of the buildings, businesses, and general geography of the area. Or you may browse through a detailed index of businesses, places, and attractions that are...
Moses Fleetwood Walker
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/AfricAthletes{/gallery}
African-American athletes in Toledo sport history
From Moses Fleetwood and Welday Walker and the 1883 Toledo Blue Stockings, to the African American sparring partners who helped train Jack Dempsey for his crushing defeat of Jess Willard in 1919, to the various twentieth century football players at the University...
Women making glass
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/worldwar2women{/gallery}
In World War II, Toledo did its part to help the war effort. A silent, but equally important, part of that team was made up of local women who entered the workforce.
Poster of Rosie the Riveter.
Prior to the War
The Great Depression of the 1930s had thrown America...
Paul Laurence Dunbar and Herbert Woodward Martin
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/dunbar-martin{/gallery}
Dunbar and Martin: Printed with the Same Ink
By Patrick Cook
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872 as the son of former slaves. Showing potential from a tender age, Dunbar was the first African American poet...
Chillicothe, first capital of Ohio
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/Bicentennial{/gallery}
"Another View of Ohio's Bicentennial": A Speech Given Before the Annual Dinner of the Lucas County-Maumee Valley Historical Society, June 11, 2003
by Timothy Messer-Kruse, Assoc. Prof. of Labor History, Univ. of Toledo [1]
Being a classroom lecturer I am accustomed to speaking extemporaneously but tonight I...
Experiencing War
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/WWIIVets{/gallery}
Steven Pecsenye's Letters from the Front
Steven Pecsenye was a second-generation Hungarian who was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. He attended Macomber High School and studied at the Toledo Museum of Art as well as in Salzburg, Austria.
Steven Pecsenye
Upon his graduation from high school, he entered the Army...
The entrance to Woodlawn Cemetery
Exhibit Gallery
Photo credits: Josef Schneider (all Woodlawn photogragraphs) and Larry Leach (Doria and Thomas T Tracy).
{gallery}exhibits/woodlawn{/gallery}
Historic Woodlawn Cemetery was recognized as a National Historic site in 1998. The overall landscape design, which follows the principles of the rural cemetery movement, is a significant feature of the...
Gustavus Ohlinger
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/ohlinger{/gallery}
Essay by Patrick Cook (November 2013)
Gustavus Ohlinger was born into extraordinary circumstance. His parents, Franklin and Bertha Ohlinger, served as missionaries in Foochow, China. It was in Foochow on July 15, 1877, that Gustavus was born to his Methodist missionary parents more than seventy five hundred miles from...
Project Description
The Northwest Ohio Cultural Heritage Group (formed in 2019) is a collaborative group of archives, museums, public and private libraries, historical societies and other cultural heritage institutions in NW Ohio and has just created its first project--a passport book featuring over 50 cultural heritage institutions throughout 19 counties of...
Model 118
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/toledoscale{/gallery}
by Timothy Messer-Kruse
Toledo's Attic and Toledo Scale
Among the most recognized brand names of the twentieth century is Toledo Scale, a company whose headquarters and primary design and production facilities were located in its namesake. One of the greatest achievements of the Toledo's Attic Committee (especially its point man...
« Historical Essay
Use the index on the right to view the individual archives. If you have questions about these photographs, can identify any people in the photographs/videos, or have photographs to add, please contact Marie Demer Rader at marie.rader@gmail.com.
Club Grounds
This archive contains photographs of the Middle Bass Club including...
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/dunbar{/gallery}
By Timothy Messer-Kruse
February 2002
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar was a young man who witnessed firsthand the fruits of struggle. His father escaped slavery in Kentucky and made his way to Canada through Ohio, and then returned to fight with a Massachusetts regiment against the system that had...
Richard Gosser, 1942
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/FBIGosser{/gallery}
by Timothy Messer-Kruse, October 1, 2002
Richard Gosser speaking on occasion of Army Navy production award given to Willys-Overland in 1942
In the history of labor in Toledo, no figure stands taller than Richard T. Gosser.
Gosser's life both spanned and reflected the major trends of labor in the Twentieth...
« Historical Essay
Use the index on the right to view the individual archives. If you have questions about these photographs, can identify any people in the photographs/videos, or have photographs to add, please contact Marie Demer Rader at marie.rader@gmail.com.
Members
This archive contains photographs of Middle Bass Club members enjoying themselves...
S.S. Willis Boyer
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/willisboyer/{/gallery}
Side view of the S.S. Willis Boyer pilot house.
In the shadow of the downtown Toledo skyline, moored alongside the rolling landscape of International Park, a splash of history and romance awaits you on the S.S. Willis B. Boyer. Careful, authentic restoration has made the ship come alive!...
St. Patrick's Church
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/stpatchurch{/gallery}
Essay and photographs by Gregory Johnson, 2007 Revised by Tamara Jones, 2012
This is a brief history, in both pictures and text, of the creation and renovation of the Historic St. Patrick's Church of Toledo. Archival footage courtesy of The Historic Church of St. Patrick's and the Toledo...
Archives
Bowling Green State University, Center for Archival Collections
Ohio History Connection, State Archives
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museum: Research and Collections
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration: Presidential Libraries
The University of Toledo, Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections
Veterans History Project...
Pinterest: Toledo Sister Cities -- Libraries
In 1931, Toledo, Ohio and Toledo Spain forged the world's first sister-city relationship. While Toledo may have been named after the former capital of Spain, Toledo, on December 1, 1837, the latter responded with gifts of swords and other items in 1876. Toledo's steel industry...
The list below includes archive websites and digital collections maintained by states and territories (marked by *) in the U.S. Many regional collections are jointly created and maintained by multiple states and these collections tell the stories of communities in those areas.
Arrangements: By State and Territories -- Diverse and Underrepresented...
Discover important facts about the area's history here! Toledo's Attic is linked to several digital archives, library catalogs, and databases to support local history research. While traditional archives maintain rare book and manuscript collections, the growing volume of digital content provide access to historical collections of documents, photographs, and recordings....
Alonzo Chesbrough - Albert "Bert" S. Close - Elmer Harry Close - Frank Collins* - John Craig - Frank, Howard and George Crosby/Crosby Brothers - Frances Crosby - William Culver - Judge Joseph W. Cummings - Robert S. Cummings - William Cummings
*The original list from 1995 (not used herein)...
Erwin P. Raymond - Colonel William H. Raynor - Frazier Reams - Dr. Calvin Hamilton Reed - S.C. Reynolds and W. B. Reynolds - Ramson Richards - William Edgar Richards - George W. Ritter - Jefferson D. Robinson - Horton C. Rorick
Erwin P. Raymond
Erwin P. Raymond was a prominent Toledo attorney,...
"Our Girls' Club Magazine"
Toledo working women banded together in the early twentieth century for support and camaraderie. Our Club Girls Magazine stood for the "social and commercial education of young wage-earning women." Experience life for young working women through its pages. This exhibit is drawn from four issues of Our...
Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum Ship
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/schoonmaker{/gallery}
By Richard Kruzel
Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum Ship
Toledo’s history and the history of commerce on the Great Lakes has been intertwined since the city’s inception. Toledo’s position on the Maumee River at the western end of Lake Erie has made it one of...
Rotary Club of Toledo
Exhibit Gallery
{gallery}exhibits/rotary{/gallery}
Rotary Club of Toledo Emblem
The Toledo Rotary Club was founded in May of 1912 in the Chamber of Commerce of Toledo. During its 90+ years of service, the Rotary Club of Toledo has been instrumental in helping physically and developmentally disabled children as well as...
"Faith, Vision and Hard Work: The University of Toledo, 1872-2022" (Exhibition focusing on the history of the University of Toledo) [More on this exhibition...]