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

Introduction

The George Adam Negative Collection consists of 84 4.25 x 6.5 in. and 112 3.25 x 4.25 in. glass plate negatives produced by Adam in the early 20th century in the Van Wert, Ohio area.

The first group of 140 negatives were donated to the Center for Archival Collections on February 20, 1987 by Bonnie Adam Wallace, and Edwin L. Adam, Delphos, Ohio. A second group of 43 negatives were donated on May 8, 1990, with a third addition of 13 plates in September 1998. This register was prepared by Marilyn Levinson, Curator of Manuscripts, Center for Archival Collections, May, 1989, with additions in May 1990 and September 1998. No restrictions exist on the the use of this collection.

Biographical Sketch

George Albert Adam was born March 28, 1894 in Jackson Township, Van Wert County, Ohio, the fourth child of John and Della Straley Adam. He married Nellie Catharine Tuohy, a school teacher from Grover Hill, Ohio, on July 19, 1918, and they had two children, Bonnie Isabel and George Clayton. A farmer by occupation, he had a history of poor health, including a medical discharge from Tr. Bn. 158 during World War I after only one week of service. He died on July 25, 1925, at his Jackson Township residence, at the age of 31.

Scope and Content

The George Adam Negative Collection consists of 84 4.25 x 6.5 in. and 112 3.25 x 4.25 in. glass plate negatives. As the work of an amateur photographer active in the first quarter of the 20th century, the collection provides a view of life in Jackson Township, Van Wert County, Ohio. While most of the pictures are typical, personal interest shots showing family activities and individual portraits, there are a number of very good views of farm life, and a few glimpses of activities around Van Wert, Ohio.

Some of the more interesting items in the collection include a series of pictures of work on the farm, showing roofing a shed, threshing, a Deering Reaper, mechanized wood-cutting, and baling hay.

The quality of the exposure and clarity of the pictures is sometimes quite uneven. However, many of the plates are good, with details that can be enlarged without too much loss of resolution. Most of the photographs have no identification, although some have been dated.

Series Description

PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS

NEGATIVES. (4.25 x 6.5 in. glass plate format)
Circa 1900-1925
Includes family portraits, school classes and interiors, and farm life and operations.

NEGATIVES. (3.25 x 4.25 in. glass plate format)
Circa 1900-1925
Includes family portraits, views of store window of Krenzien Jewelers and Opticians, and farm life and operations.

Inventory

Box 1

1. School class picture, Spangler School, Feb. 1912
2. School class picture, Spangler School, Feb. 1912
3. Baxter School class picture, Jan. 1911
4. Baxter School, Van Wert County, Ohio, c. 1910
5. School class picture, unidentified
6. School class picture, unidentified
7. Four people with cats (underexposed plate)
8. Small family in front of house
9. Photo of two children
10. Fishermen along riverbank (center overexposed)
11. Men with teams of horses
12. Family posed on log-pile
13. People in a car
14. Mother and daughter reading a book
15. Photo of a couple
16. Three young women
17. Man with hogs
18. Baxter School interior, Van Wert County, 1911
19. Baxter School class picture, Jan. 1911
20. Dead baby in a casket 1
21. Dead baby in a casket 2
22. Young couple
23. Young man 1
24. Young man 2
25. People in barnyard
26. Family in front of house
27. Young woman (overexposed plate)
28. Team of horses in field
29. Barn
30. House and windmill
31. Two boys in a bare orchard
32. Large group on back porch
33. Family on porch
34. Threshing
35. Family in front of house
36. Threshing operation
37. Roofing a shed
38. Group of young men and women
39. Group with Excelsior Auto Cycle
40. Men at Cloverdale Train Station
41. Horse
42. Horse and buggy
43. Two men with horses by barn 1
44. Two men with horses by barn 2
45. Young man in long coat
46. Barnyard
47. Small child sitting on steps
48. Two women
49. Family group
50. Group of men

Box 2

1. Krenzien Jewelers and Opticians, window, 1906
2. Krenzien Jewelers and Opticians, window, 1906
3. Krenzien Jewelers and Opticians, side window, 1906
4. Krenzien Jewelers and Opticians, interior, 1906
5. People building a church
6. Church under construction
7. Men playing croquet
8. Three girls
9. Three boys
10. Group of four children
11. Dogs in fenced enclosure 1
12. Dogs in fenced enclosure 2
13. Rabbits in a cage
14. Rabbits in a cage 2
15. Man with horse and buggy
16. Man with horse buggy
17. Horse with blanket and man
18. Horse with blanket and dog
19. Man sitting by saddled horse
20. Man sitting by saddled horse 2
21. Rail sidings by factory
22. Lincoln/Garfield/McKinley martyr portrait
23. Man with colt
24. Man with young horse
25. Man with horse by barn 1
26. Man with horse by barn 2
27. Chickens
28. Man with chickens
29. People in small boat
30. Girl with fan
31. Woman with hat
32. Two women seated on a wheelbarrow
33. Four women seated on back porch
34. Family group in front of fenced house
35. Children seated on ground
36. Family group seated in a line
37. Family group in front of a frame house
38. Family group in front of a stone house
39. Back porch with three women
40. Large group of children
41. Family group by a park fountain
42. Man on porch of house
43. Women on a small log bridge
44. Ditch or stream by row of trees
45. Stream or pond 1
46. Stream or pond 2
47. Family by house with windmill
48. Women in front of church or mausoleum
49. Street-railroad car
50. Baby in carriage
51. Woman with large bow 1
52. Woman with large bow 2
53. Two women seated on lawn
54. Two women standing by pines
55. Family standing on front porch
56. Building or barn (underexposed plate)
57. Park fountain/Boat on water (double exposure)
58. Woman with a fur stole (broken plate fragment)
59. Dirt road with ruts
60. Orchard
61. Stone house, front
62. Stone house, outside fence
63. Stone house, backyard
64. Potted plant by stone house
65. Distant view of farm field 1
66. Distant view of farm field 2
67. Schoolhouse (?)
68. Frame house with bare tree in front
69. Farm field behind barn
70. Field with haystacks
71. Stack in farmyard (?)
72. Men in hayfield 1
73. Men in hayfield 2
74. Threshing
75. Deering reaper with 3-horse hitch, front view
76. Deering reaper with 3-horse hitch, rear view
77. Cutting firewood 1
78. Cutting firewood 2
79. Baling hay (?) 1
80. Baling hay (?) 2
81. Men with hay baler
82. Field with rail fence and log shed
83. Farm buildings (?) (overexposed)
84. Farm house and barn
85. Farm house and outbuildings
86. Barnyard
87. Barn and outbuildings from field
88. Barn with horses in front
89. Cows
90. Cows by barn (positive lantern slide)

Box 3

1. Five men with bicycles
2. Portrait of Uncle James (Jim) Adam
3. Man in overalls standing by horse with blanket
4. Four women
5. Two teams of horses - one hitched to a wagon
6. Spangler School, looking northwest
7. One of John Adam's sons on porch of home
8. George Adam with camera
9. Haymaking
10. Fourteen youth on porch of John Adam's home
11. Gathering on John Adam's porch
12. Another gathering on John Adam's porch
13. John Adam and Dr. Wolfe family groups
14. George Adam sitting under tree in woods
15. George and Nellie (Tuohy) Adam
16. Gareth Hitchcock (child) sitting on top step
17. Bonnie Isabel Adam in wicker baby carriage
18. Bonnie Isabel Adam playing with bootie tie
19. Bonnie Isabel Adam holding doll while asleep
20. Laura & Dorothy Adam, with hired girl, in winter
21. Pennsylvania RR tracks in Van Wert
22. Child in carriage
23. Woman sitting at a table
24. George Adam, one horse and part of buggy
25. George Adam, wearing overcoat
26. John Adam homestead
27. Five women at north side of John Adam's home
28. Jesse Adam standing with horse in front of barn
29. Unknown man, in pensive pose, wearing hat
30. Laura Adam wearing a large hat
31. Men standing in front of Ditto's Store in Wetsel
32. Men standing by W.H. Straley Store, Semersville
33. Elm Grove Methodist Church, Jackson Twp.
34. Aerial view of granary at John Adam's farm
35. George, Nellie, Jack & Alta Adam in Wetsel, Ohio
36. Nellie & Alta Adam, porch Jack Adam home, Wetsel
37. Group picture, George Adam's home (indiv. ident.)
38. View of Ditto's Store in Wetsel
39. Spangler School, view from bridge west of school
40. Bonnie Isabel Adam in wicker carriage
41. George Adam between two horses, at John Adam barn
42. Butchering time at John Adam's farm
43. Unidentified baby in coffin
44. Young man holding a book
45. Young man with hands in his lap
46. Young man formal portrait
47. Man standing beside automobile
48. Two babies, photo blurred
49. School group, unidentified
50. Young woman, holding flowers
51. Four young boys
52. Small stream or creek
53. Three children, one on a chair
54. Two men and two women, blurred
55. Small child, photo blurred
56. Two women, holding two babies

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