THE CHARLES E. FROHMAN PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
Johnson's Island on Lake Erie
Lake Erie, Its Shoreline Communities, and the Erie Islands
The late local historian Charles E. Frohman of Sandusky, Ohio, collected more than 14, 000 historic photographs documenting Lake Erie’s Western Basin, its shoreline communities, and the Erie Islands. The collection includes images that date from before the Civil War and span nearly one hundred years. From the Civil War prison on Johnson’s Island, the early years of Cedar Point Amusement Park, and Put-in-Bay’s Hotel Victory to the fishing industry, lighthouses, harbors, and ice harvesting, the collection chronicles the everyday activities of residents whose lives were shaped by Lake Erie. Included in the collection are photographs by A. C. Platt, W. A. Bishop, Otto Herbster, Ernst Niebergall, and the Mound Studio. Nearly every photographic process is represented - tintypes, stereo views, albumens, and black and white prints. Many original glass plate negatives are housed with the collection.
The extensive subject index created on cards by Frohman was included in his donation of materials to the Hayes Presidential Center. Housed in the library’s reading room, the card index provided the only means of access to the collection. The index, including Frohman’s notes and numbering system, has been converted to electronic format and can be browsed on-line. Photographs can be viewed at the Hayes Presidential Center between 9 A.M. and 5 P. M. (EST) Tuesday through Saturday. Reproductions can be ordered by contacting Head of Photographic Resources Gilbert Gonzalez.
Through a partnership with the Sidney Frohman Foundation and OhioLINK Digital Resource Center, the Hayes Center is making some of the photographs available on-line via the OhioLINK searchable image database LAKE ERIE'S YESTERDAYS.
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