Year of Wonders

Recto of undated (but sometime between 1866 and 1901) trade card for William Rininger’s dry goods store, Wellington, Ohio. Author’s collection.

Little could I have imagined, when I posted confidently in February that we were about to mount our annual Women’s History Month display on East Herrick Avenue, what a strange turn of events was about to happen in the world. I once wrote on this blog, “History is today. Remember that while you are living it.” 2020 has certainly borne that assertion out.

Though life has not allowed for research and regular publication since the spring, it has continued chugging along nonetheless. I have been quietly adding to both the trade card and Sawtell photography pages. In August, the blog passed its seventh anniversary, and with this writing I inch closer to the two-hundredth post mark. Just this week, I was delighted to reach 75,000 visitors to the site.

Needless to say, the Women’s History Month display did not happen in 2020. Hopefully the new year will be kinder to us all.

Recto of an undated trade card for Eugene Thomas Robinson (1846-1911), an African-American businessman who owned and operated a barber shop and bath house on Liberty Street (today West Herrick Avenue) in the late nineteenth century. The Robinson family first settled in Wellington during the Civil War. Eugene’s daughter, Edith (1876-1936), was the longest serving librarian in the history of Herrick Memorial Library. A house she and her brother, William, built still stands on Forest Street today. Author’s collection.

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