The photographic collections housed at the Ohio Historical Society include well over 1 million original images that visually document our entire state. Cleveland, Ohio, one of the states oldest and largest cities, is well represented. There are antique ambrotypes of Cleveland locations, like Public Square, that predate the Civil War.

Hand colored ambrotype of Cleveland Public Squre, circa 1859, by Albert Bisbee.

Other photograph collections document an interesting cross section of Cleveland life. All of the collections listed below are available to researchers in the Archives/Library reading room at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus.

Cleveland School Gardens Collection Call Number T 5:

Kitchen garden planted and tended by Cleveland school girls, ca. 1906-1912. 

Louis Baus Collection Call Number P 223

Storefront occupied by the Soldier’s Aid Society on Bank Street, Cleveland, Ohio during the Civil War, ca. 1861-1865. 

Ohio Adjutant General, Fisher Body Strike Call Number State Archives Series 723 AV Click here to see finding aid.

Fisher Body Division striker seized by police, Cleveland, Ohio, 1939.

Cleveland Guide Photograph Collection Call Number State Archives Series 1038 AV
Women shopping for produce at Central Market, East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, 1940.

Ohio Guide Photograph Collection Call Number State Archives Series 1039 AV Click here for the finding aid.

Group of dock workers having lunch by the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, 1940.

To find more photographs of Cleveland in the OHS photographic archives search these online resources:
OhioPix online image database. Recommended keyword search: Cleveland
Ohio Memory digital library. Recommended keyword search: Cleveland Format type: Photographs
Ohio Historical Society Online Collections Catalog Recommended keyword search: Cleveland Photographs

If you have questions about photograph collections at OHS write to us at Collections