Deiah,

A great way to start is to find out what you do know.  Since it was
found at your parent's home, you will also want to question your family
including extended if at all possible to see if anyone is familiar with
this photo album.  Is it a family member's memento or was it left in the
house.  If left, try to find out who lived in the house previously and
see if the family is still in the area.  If so, you may be able to find
someone who is familiar.

You may also want to contact the Allen County Public Library in Allen
County Indiana (one county to the west) which has a very large and
extensive historical library and genealogy section.  In addition, they
have a huge primary/secondary source reference index of local books,
pamphlets, and journals that are often found in few other places.  It
can be referenced by name, subject, and location.  They also have a
great newspaper index, but I don't know if Van Wert's papers are there. 

In addition, you will want to contact all the major Ohio University
archival collections, the Ohio Historical Society and any local,
neighboring or regional historical museums, archives or libraries.  This
could be anything from a society group to a book club.  

When you start to look at newspapers, you will want to find an index or
a searchable source.  You can "read" through past issues, but it is
still very difficult to find what you need.  You can try the newspaper
archives online (they charge a fee) but they have lots of papers and
this is a lot faster.  

This will probably take some work, but it can be a lot of fun.
Good Luck

Tracie Evans
Collections Manager
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
PO Box 2570, Waco, TX 76706
254/750-8631
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Deiah Haddock
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 8:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: HELP! I found an old photo album of members of the Hawthorn
Club, Van Wert Ohio

Greetings!

My name is Deiah Haddock and I am currently in my senior year at Western
Carolina 
University in Cullowhee, NC. I am finishing a duel degree in English and
Hospitality & 
Tourism, with plans of attending graduate school for museum studies.

I have always loved looking and exploring old things, researching and
what not - and the 
other day I was at my parents house looking through an old box, when to
my surprise I 
found a very old photo album. 

In the front of the album someone has written:
"The Hawthorn Club"
"The first ladies club of VW" (I have determined that VW is for Van
Wert, Ohio, as all but 
a couple of the pictures were taken by a photographer in Van Wert)

What follows are some wonderful portraits of these "first ladies", many
of them 
appearing to be in their 60's or older. According to the back of one of
the photos (that I 
carefully removed from the cracking brown paper) it was taken in 1898. 

I am looking for information on these ladies and the club they were
members of - so far I 
have not found much. I would love to find out who these women were, and
possibly 
where this photo album came from (it looks very official, for being over
100 years old 
that is.).

The following is a list of the names I was able to get from the paper
below each photo:
Georgia Glenn
Lucetta McConahay
Mrs. Conant
Charlotte Baker
Ann Webb Clark
Fidelia Purviort (not sure about this spelling)
Mrs. Bonner
Mrs. David Johns
Maieha  McGovern (again with the spelling of the first name, wasn't very
clear)
Mrs. Marsh
Mrs. Stripe

Please pass this along to anyone who would have some information or at
least an interest 
in this old album! Thanks so much! 

Deiah Haddock

[log in to unmask]

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail
message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should
read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message
to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read
"Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).