Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

Introduction

The Charlotte Buyer Collection consists of sixty-two glass plate negatives, twenty-seven safety film negatives and thirteen original prints. Every negative is accompanied by a contact print made by the Center for Archival Collections for research use.

All of the negatives and prints depict scenes and events which occurred in and around Bellevue, Ohio between the 1870s and the 1960s.

This collection was donated to the Center for Archival Collections on December 3, 1984, by Mr. William Oddo of Bellevue, Ohio, who obtained it from its former owner, Mrs. Charlotte Buyer. This collection is open for research and copy prints are available for all negatives. This register was compiled by Christopher W. Haley, graduate student, Bowling Green State University, April 27, 1985.

Biographical Sketch

Mr. William Oddo, the donor of this collection, owns and operates a barbershop in downtown Bellevue, Ohio. He is an avid local historian and has written several articles on the history of Bellevue which have been published in the Bellevue Gazette newspaper.

Mr. Oddo acquired this collection from Mrs. Charlotte Buyer, also of Bellevue, Ohio. These negatives and photographs were given to Mr. Oddo to accompany his history articles in the local newspaper. These articles and photographs have been collected and published in a book entitled, Stories of Old Bellevue which was published by the Bellevue Gazette Community Printing Company, February 1, 1985. Mrs. Buyer requested that upon completion of this book, the photograph collection be donated to the Center for Archival Collections in Bowling Green, Ohio for its permanent preservation and for use by the public.

This collection was passed on to Mrs. Buyer by her late husband, Mr. Ben Buyer, who died in 1984. Mr. Buyer had owned and operated a photographic studio in Bellevue for many years. The studio was the continuation of a business which was originally established in 1867. Several photographers owned the studio throughout the years. They were: S. Gaugler, A. D. Hale, I. G. Ferrier, a Mr. Jewell, and finally, Mr. Ben Buyer.

It is known that Mr. Buyer did not produce any of the original negatives. The photographer of specific photographs is unknown, but it could be assumed that one or all of the former owners were responsible for their creation.

Mr. Buyer discovered these negatives when he purchased the studio several years ago. He produced copies of some of them, which will be evident in the collection.

Scope and Content

The Charlotte Buyer Collection consists of sixty-two glass plate negatives, twenty-seven safety film negatives, and thirteen original prints. Every negative is accompanied by a contact print made by the Center for Archival Collections for research use.

The photographs depict street scenes, steam locomotives and cabooses, portraits, festivals, including the Columbus Day Parade of 1892, ex-President Hayes' visit in the 1890s and numerous street fairs. Also depicted are downtown Bellevue buildings and aerial views of the city. All of these photographs were taken of scenes and events in and around the city and date from the 1870s to the 1960s.

One of the major strengths of this collection is the number of well-preserved and clear photographs of the downtown area of Bellevue, Ohio. Several photographs of the same buildings exist which were taken at different times throughout the development of the city. One can easily identify many of the buildings from the earliest scenes through to the present. Many of these structures still exist in the city and can be seen there today (1985).

Some rather unique photographs are included in the collection. Number seventy-nine is a photograph of Theodore Roosevelt giving a campaign speech in May 1912. Photograph number seventy is of "The Largest Buffalo (hide) in the World," and dates back to 1915.

This collection is in excellent condition. The negatives, prints, contact prints, and any existing copy negatives are stored in separate envelopes within their own folder. The location and identification numbers are marked in the left-hand corner of the folder, on the negative envelope, and on the back of the print. Each item of the same subject will bear the same number of its storage folder. Hence, file folder number one contains glass plate negative number one, contact print number one and copy negative number one. These numbers are used consecutively throughout the entire collection and are not re-numbered by storage box.

The photographs are arranged according to subject, and not chronologically, except for a group of stereo-view glass plate negatives which were grouped by format instead of subject, because of their uniqueness.

Series Description

PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL

GLASS PLATE NEGATIVES
c. 1870s-1910s.
Arranged by subject in numeric order. Listed in inventory as (GPN).
Depicting street scenes, steam locomotives and cabooses, portraits, festivals, street fairs, parades, buildings, churches, schools and homes.

SAFETY FILM NEGATIVES
1923-1960s.
Arranged by subject in numeric order. Listed in inventory as (N).
Depicting festivals, parades, steam locomotives and cabooses, copies of glass plate negatives and aerial views of Bellevue.

STEREOVIEWS (glass plate negatives)
c. 1890s
Arranged in numeric order. Listed in inventory as (GPN) under "stereoviews."
Depicting downtown street scenes, churches, schools, and buildings.

PRINTS
c.1870s-1960s
Arranged by subject in numeric order and located with corresponding negative. Listed in inventory as either (OP) for "original print" as donated with the collection or as (P) indicating "contact print" made by the Center for Archival Collections.

Inventory

Box 1

Subject: Trains
Folder Number

1. 1-3 1/2 x 5 GPN
1-"x" P
Steam locomotive #165 of the New York Central & St. Louis Railroad with two crew members posing in foreground. Ca. 1880s

2. 1-3 1/2 x 5 P
Steam locomotive. Ca. 1880s

3. 1-3 1/2 x 5 P
Steam locomotive and coal tender with five crew members posing in foreground. Ca. 1880s

4. 1-3 1/2 x 5 P
Steam locomotive and coal tender with two crew members posing in foreground in railroad yard. Ca. 1880s

5. 1-3 1/2 x 5 P
Steam locomotive #757 with coal tender; NYC & St. Louis RR (Nickel Plate Road). Ca. 1940s

6. 1-3 1/2 x 5 P
New York, Chicago & St. Louis RR wooden caboose #1005 with four crew members posing in foreground.

7. 1-3 1/2 x 5 P
New York, Chicago & St. Louis RR wooden caboose #1036 with three crew members posing in foreground (two are holding dinner baskets). Ca. 1880s.

Subject: Portraits

8. 1-3 x 4 1/4 GPN
1-"x" P
Portrait of old man wearing a stove pipe hat, holding a cane and a string of fish. Ca. 1870s?

9. 1-3 x 4 1/4 GPN
1-"x" P
Portrait of an elderly woman in a dress sitting in an armchair. Ca. 1870s.

10. 1-3 1/4 x 4 1/4 GPN
1-"x" P
Portrait of a middle-aged woman in a dress sitting at an armchair. Ca. 1870s.

11. 1-8 x 10 GPN
1-"x" P
Portrait of 33 members of the Bellevue Business Men's Club posing on sidewalk outside of the Bourdette Hotel on Main Street. 1910

12. 1-8 x 10 GPN
1-"x" P
Portrait of 12 men dressed in overcoats and capes sitting and standing. Ca. 1870s?

13. 1-5 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Portrait of the Railroad YMCA football team of 1912 in front of the YMCA house. 1912

Subject: Parades and Festivals

14. 1-3 x 4 N
1-3 1/2 x 4 1/2 OP
1-5 x 7 P
Columbus Day Parade--Brass band marching down Main Street in front of the Union block at square facing NE. October 21, 1892

15. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Columbus Day Parade--Brass band and floats on East Main Street. October 21, 1892

16. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Columbus Day Parade--School Children marching in parade-- "C & D Grammar Schools" on East Main Street. October 21, 1892.

17. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Columbus Day Parade--parade and floats on East Main Street. October 21, 1892.

18. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Columbus Day Parade--parade on East Main Street taken from second story window w/ American flag in foreground. October 21, 1892.

19. 1-5 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Columbus Day Parade--floats and crowd on East Main Street. October 21, 1892.

20. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Columbus Day Parade--"C & D Grammar School" children marching. October 21, 1892

21. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Columbus Day Parade--Brass band forming in front of the Wright Bank. October 21, 1892.

22. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Parade beginning--Memorial Day? Marching into town from west Main. Ca. 1900

23. 2-5 x 8 GPNs
1-"x" P
Brass band playing street in front of the Wright Bank. (See #21) October 21, 1892.

24. 1-4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
R. B. Hayes' visit--parade crowd facing Main Street; arch of evergreens over street. Ca. 1890s.

25. 1-5 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Street fair--squash and pumpkins on tables in street in front of A. P. Hale Drug Store on East Main Street. Ca. 1909

26. 1-5 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Street fair--apples, jams and ciders on tables in street in front of the Mayne House Hotel, East Main Street. Ca. 1909.

27. 1-5 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Street fair--apples stacked on tables in street in front of Cook's clothing store, East Main Street. Ca. 1909

28. 1-5 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Street fair--vegetables and toy houses on tables in street in front of the Main Street block. Ca. 1909.

29. 1-5 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Street fair--squash and toy houses on tables in street in front of the E. A. Stranahan store. Ca. 1909.

30. 1-4 1/4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
The Michigan State Fireman's Tournament--Rube Miller climbing ladder in contest in street in front of the city hall building. August 25, 1884.

31. 1-4 1/4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Hot air balloon in street with large crowd in wagons surrounding it. Ca. 1880s.

32. 1-4 1/4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
House wagon team in street at the Fireman's Tournament (see #30). August 25, 1884.

33. 1-4 1/4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Hot air balloon in street with crowd. (See #31). Ca. 1880s.

34. 1-4 1/4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Brass band marching in parade on Main Street. (See #24). Ca. 1890s.

35. 1-5 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Outdoor stage with crowd gathered in front, in street near the H. V. Stone furniture store on Main Street. Ca. 1915.

36. 1-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Bellevue High School band marching down Main Street at opening of new railroad "subway." ca. 1950s?

37. 1-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Bellevue High School band marching down Main Street at opening of new railroad "subway." Ca. 1950s?

38. 1-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Bellevue Boosters' car decorated with flowers for parade; in front of Immaculate Conception School. Ca. 1950s.

39. 1-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Nine State Highway Patrolmen on motorcycles leading "subway" parade down Main Street. Ca. 1950s?

40. 1-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Ribbon cutting ceremony for new railroad "subway" on Main Street. Ca. 1950s?

41. 1-4 x 5N
1-"x" P
Dedication ceremony at opening of new railroad "subway" on Main Street. Ca. 1950s.

Subject: Stereoviews--Miscellaneous

42. 1-4 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
H. M. Sinclair Building on Main Street--the first bank in Bellevue. Ca. 1870s.

43. 1-4 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
"Great Delivery of Champion Harvesters" (see #50); Brass band on wagon and man on horse-drawn harvester in street. May 4, 1872.

44. 1-4 x 6 GPN
1-"x" P
Allen and Bourdette Hotels on dirt Main Street. Ca. 1870s.

45. 1-4 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Biebricker Building on Main Street with horse tied up in front. Ca. 1870s.

Box 2

46. 1-4 x 6 GPN
1-"x" P
Union Public School house. 1904

47. 1-4 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Allen Hotel; Bayr & Eichorn store; 1st National Bank. 1871

48. 1-4 x 7 GPN
1-"x" P
Church outside of Bellevue with white picket fence. Ca. 1870s.

49. 1-4 x 5 1/2 GPN (broken, half missing)
1-"x" P
Exchange Hotel on Main Street. 1882.

Subject: Views of Downtown Bellevue--streets and buildings

50. 1-4 1/2 x 5 P
Copy from a woodcut illustration of the "Great Delivery of Champion Harvesters" (see #43). May 4, 1872

51. 1-3 1/2 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Copy of an older photograph of the Exchange Hotel, built in 1829 and torn down in 1892. (See #52). Ca. 1880s.

52. 1-3 1/2 x 5 GPN
1-"x" P
View of Main Street looking west in winter; Exchange Hotel, Tremont House; blanketed horses pulling wagons on runners. Ca. 1870s.

53. 1-4 x 5 GPN
1-"x" P
Copy of older photograph of the Tremont House Hotel on Main Street with horses and wagons tied up in front. Copied for sale at the 1915 street fair. (1 of 4)

54. 1-4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Main Street Scene. Ca. 1880s.

55. 1-4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Union Block with Local News Office, A. J. Stahl Drug Store, G. S. Schuster Harness Shop. (See #56). 1875.

56. 1-4 1/2 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Union Block with Hale and Cupp Drug Store, J. H. Weber store. Ca. After 1882. (See #55)

57. 1-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Union Block with Kaiser's store, R & R Drug Store, Snyder Stationery Store. Truck parked in front--sandblasting?. Ca. 1947.

58. 1-4 1/4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Northwest Street. J. L. Painter Carriage Works building (torn down in 1985). John L. Painter standing next to rail and C. F. Heading l or r upstairs? 1882

59. 3-1 1/2 x 2 1/4 N
1-3 1/2 x 3 1/2 OP
1-5 x 7 P
"Round corner building"--E. G. Woleslagel Clothier store. Sign painter Charlie Barber on ladder. 1907.

60. 1-1 1/2 x 2 1/4 N
1-4 x 6 OP
1-5 x 7 P
East Main Street at Sandusky Street; J. D. Cook clothing store. 1915

61. 1-4 1/4 x 5 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
West Main Street view looking west; water barrel on sidewalk next to hitching post; dirt street. Ca. 1880s.

62. 2-1 1/2 x 2 1/4 N
1-6 1/2 x 8 1/2 OP
1-5 x 7 P
Stahl Block--Bellevue Savings Bank on corner of East Main and Sandusky Street. Ca. 1930s.

63. 1-1 1/2 x 2 1/4 N
1-4x4 1/2 OP
1-5 x 7 P
View of Main Street from corner of West Main and Kilbourne Street; Alexander and Walters Palace Livery Stable; IOOF building. Ca. 1901.

64. 1-2 1/2 x 6 1/2 N
1-"x" P
Panoramic view of downtown Bellevue--West Main, NW Street, East Main, June 7, 1928.

65. 1-2 1/2 x 6 1/2 N
1-"x" P
Panoramic view of downtown Bellevue--same as #64, but at an earlier date), ca. 1906.

66. 1-6 1/2 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
The Wright Banking Co. building (built 1875) on corner of SW Street and Monroe Street (see #67). 1908.

67. 1-6 1/2 x 8 GPN (corner is chipped)
1-"x" P
The Wright Banking Co. building on fire at night in winter (see #66). January 18, 1918.

68. 2-4 1/4 x 5 1/2 GPN
2-"x" P
Bellevue City Hall and Bellevue Local News buildings with exact copy on second glass plate negative; Dr. Baker and son standing in front of building. Ca. 1877.

69. 1-3 1/2 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Coliseum movie theater playing "This is Th' Life." 1915

70. 1-6 1/2 x 8 1/2 GPN (broken)
1-"x" P
1-3 1/2 x 5 N
Rex movie theater (later the Mystic), playing "The Village Smithy" with Cowboy displaying "the largest buffalo (hide) in the world." 1915

71. 1-6 1/2 x 8 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Bellevue Public High School built in 1845 and used until 1860s. Torn down in 1922. Ca. 1880s.

72. 1-6 1/2 x 8 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
B. R. Brinster's Bakery with delivery truck in front on corner of Monroe Street. Trolley car tracks run down middle of street. 1914.

73. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Church with white picket fence in front, next to cornfield (see #48). Ca. 1880s?

74. 1-6 1/2 x 8 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Congregationalist Church celebrating its 75th anniversary (1836-1911) with congregation posing in front. 1911.

75. 1-5 x 8 GPN
1-"x" P
Two-storey brick house with white picket fence in front and wooden sidewalk. Ca. 1880s.

76. 1-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
View of West Main Street. Ca. 1954-1955.

77. 1-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Newly paved parking lot for the city with truck loaded with chain link fence parked upon it. 1953.

78. 2-4 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Seaman's restaurant on East Main Street. November 11, 1963.

79. 1-3 1/2 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Theodore Roosevelt giving campaign speech during his 1912 election campaign in front of the Wright Banking Company building. 1912

Subject: Store windows--displays

80. 1-3 1/2 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Stranahan's women's clothing store window decorated for the Spring 1915 "Spring Fest". Spring 1915

81. 1-3 1/2 x 5 N
1-"x" P
Store window displaying bathing suits. Spring 1915.

82. 1-3 x 4 1/2 N
1-"x" P
E. M. Wolf & Sons' store window featuring men's and boys' clothing. Spring 1915.

83. 1-3x4 N
1-"x" P
People's Clothing store window (at night) featuring women's clothing. Spring 1915.

84. 1-8x10 GPN
1-"x" P
View of the Ohio Cultivator foundry; photograph taken from water tower next to foundry looking northwest. Ca. 1890s?

Subject: Aerial views

85. 1-8x10 GPN
1-"x" P
Aerial view of Bellevue looking west; The Gross Lumber Company and part of the Ohio Cultivator Company foundry can be seen. Taken from nearby water tower. 1888.

86. 2-1 1/2 x 2 1/4 N
1-4 1/4 x 6 OP
1-5 x 7 P
Aerial view of Reservoirs numbers 1-3 (built between 1873-1900), and Max Endle's ice house. 1888.

87. 1-6 1/2 x 8 1/2 GPN
1-"x" P
Aerial view of Reservoirs numbers 1-3 with Bellevue Krauter Pickle Company on far left and part of Ohio Cultivator lumber yard in foreground. Ca. 1880s.

88. 1-4 x 6 1/2 N
1-"x" P
Copy of woodcut of aerial view of Bellevue. 1888

89. 1-4 x 5 P
Aerial view of Bellevue. Ca. 1950s.

90. 1-5x5 P
Aerial view of Bellevue. Ca. 1950s.

91. 1-4 x 5 P
Aerial view of Bellevue.

92. 1-4 x 5 P
Aerial view of Bellevue.

93. 1-4 x 5 P
Aerial view of Bellevue.

94. 1-4 x 5 P
Photograph of an airplane taking off.

95. 1-4 x 5 P
Aerial view of Bellevue

96. 1-4 x 5 P
Aerial view of Bellevue

97. 1-6 1/2 x 8 1 /2 P
1="x" P
Large shale boulder probably taken at Higgins' Quarry near Bellevue. ca. 1880s.

98. 1-7 x 3 1/2 P
"Just eight dogs" cartoon. ca. ?

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