This is a continuing series of stories about the donation of black & white negatives we received in January of this year from a gentleman in Kentucky.
In a previous blog on February 21st Majorette Found in Middlebranch… we introduced you to Victory Chapman who photographed many weddings in the Canton, Ohio area in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Victory was born on the last day of The Great War, participated in the Pacific Theater in WWII and had a long career at the Timken Company in Canton.
Eric Chapman writes: My dad was born on November 11, 1918 – the day WWI ended. When my dad was 17, he heard that the Timken Company was hiring, so he went right down there and applied, lying on his application that he was 18. The gentleman that interviewed him said something like this: “Hmm, you were born exactly one year to the day before WWI ended and your parents named you Victory? They must have had amazing foresight!” The guy hired him knowing full well he was only 17. He worked there for 46 years, retiring in 1982. Eric Chapman continues, my dad was a chemist and he worked his way up from the bottom of what he called the “Chem Lab” becoming chief chemist sometime in the mid to late 1970’s. When he retired, he was the last person in that position in any steel mill in the country with only a high school degree. Victory Chapman is a Marine Corp Veteran and fought on Okinawa in the Pacific Theater. He must have stopped over on Hawaii because there are photographs that appear to have been shot by him, and a small collection of period postcards of the islands. He also documented the First Marine Division cemetery, his barracks, some of the natives, and their lifestyle, the landscape, military trains, and Bolo and Yontan airfields.
These are just a few of the printed photographs in this archive, wait until we get to the negatives!
Thank you to Eric Chapman for his contribution to this blog, and the wonderful donation of invaluable photographs.
Eric Chapman, PhD
University of Kentucky
Mark G. Holland
Archivist
McKinley Presidential Library & Museum
On January 2nd of this year a donor brought into our Library a large box of negatives from a photographer that operated in Canton, Ohio in the nineteen fifties. The donor told me his father was the photographer and the photography business was finished before he was born. Victory Chapman was a wedding photographer and we now have hundreds of negatives of weddings that happened in Stark County during the 1950’s. This week I decided to unpack the box and see what I really had in this archive.
One of the Kodak boxes was marked Middlebranch High School Majorettes taken October 13, 1956. Wanting to know more about these photographs from Plain Township I asked one of our volunteers in the library if he knew anything about them and he suggested I talk to another one of our volunteers who knows some history of Middlebranch High School. This volunteer suggested I speak to Connie Blinn and went on to say because of the time these photographs were taken Connie may even be one of the majorettes. Taking a closer look at the carefully packaged negatives of each group of photographs of majorettes I discovered Connie Pavey whose married name is Blinn.
Where do you go in Stark County to pose for pictures? The “Monument!” Connie graduated in 1957 making this photography session the fall of her senior year.
Connie Pavey October 13, 1956
Judy Pocock who volunteers in our library and is a longtime friend and was a year behind Connie at Middlebranch called her to let her know. Connie subsequently visited our library and viewed four photographs that Victory Chapman had taken of her at the McKinley National Memorial. She brought with her a framed photograph in color of one of the poses. Connie was thrilled with what we found in our archives and she told us how fun it was to come and see a bit of her history. Thank you Connie for making our work fun too.
Miss Ida Saxton of Canton, Ohio would go on to be Mrs. William McKinley and eventually First Lady when her husband William took the oath of office of the President of the United States in 1897. Ida’s sister Miss Mary Saxton known as Pina (Peen Ya) would later marry Marshall C. Barber of Canton and serve on the Board of Directors of the George D. Harter Bank and Aultman Hospital both in Canton, Ohio.
Ida and Mary Saxton
Ida & Mary’s parents James & Katherine (Dewalt) Saxton had the means to give their children a well-rounded education. They sent their two daughters to Brooke Hall Female Seminary in Media, Pennsylvania.
James and Katherine (Dewalt) Saxton
Photographer W. L. Germon of nearby Philadelphia took an early photograph of Brooke Hall that found its way into our McKinley Archives.
Brooke Hall Female Seminary
W. L. Germon worked in Philadelphia at 914 Arch Street, in what is present day Chinatown. The building was razed and the area is now a parking lot.
Courtesy of Google Maps
Brooke Hall was located on Lemon Street near Baltimore Street in Media, Pennsylvania.
Courtesy of Media Historic Archives
William Jennings Bryan who ran for president against William McKinley in both 1896 and 1900.
With help from the generous team of the Media Historic Archives Commission my wife Alyson and I were able to learn more about the “finishing school” Ida and Mary Saxton attended in the mid nineteenth century. We started at the Upper Providence Library in Media where the Media Historic Archives are housed. We met with Kathy a commissioner of the historical group. She allowed us to explore books, archival photographs, and papers on Brooke Hall. The commission’s archivist, Adam generously took the time to pull all the items connected with the school. Walt, another commissioner in the group took us on a two and a half hour tour of the Borough of Media. Our first stop was an area where a house once stood that was associated with William Jennings Bryan who ran for president against William McKinley in both 1896 and 1900. Another place in town that is connected to Mr. Bryan is the Delaware County Courthouse where he gave a speech on the steps.
Using both the 1882 and the 1892 atlases of Delaware County, PA we were able to locate the footprint of Brooke Hall.
Courtesy of Media Historic Archives
Courtesy of Media Historic Archives
It was an exhilarating experience to visit another place where Ida and Mary Saxton once walked and lived for a time in their young lives.
Brooke Hall Footprint on Lemon Street
The Media Elementary School became the first anchor in the revitalization of the downtown area.
Students of Brooke Hall were not permitted to write letters to boys or visit Media without an escort. Shortlidge Academy for Boys also operated in town at the same time as Brooke Hall. Walt, our tour guide told us the all too familiar story of the suburbanization of Media, and the decay of the borough in the mid-20th century. The beginnings of the rebirth of the downtown area rested in the land where the poorhouse once stood. The same area then became the Shortlidge Boy’s Academy, and finally one of the borough’s elementary schools. The Media Elementary School became the first anchor in the revitalization of the downtown area.
Media Elementary School
Other anchors were established and eventually Media came back to be a healthy thriving borough.
Alumni from Massillon, Ohio
Ida & Mary Saxton kept fond memories of Brooke Hall, and their Principal Miss M. I. Eastman. Ida would became Brooke Hall’s most famous graduate, graduating in 1863. Over thirty years later Mrs. McKinley was still on affectionate terms with one of her teachers Miss Harriet Gault. In 1898, First Lady Mrs. Ida (Saxton) McKinley would host a banquet for Brooke Hall Alumni in the White House. The party included Teacher Miss Harriet Gault. The guest list also included; Caroline McCullough Everhard, Flora Russell McClymonds, Annie Steese Baldwin, and Carrie Jacobs Brown all of Massillon, Ohio.
Caroline McCullough Everhard Courtesy of Massillon Museum
Flora Russell McClymonds Courtesy of Massillon Museum
Annie Steese Baldwin Courtesy of Massillon Museum
Carrie Jacobs Brown Courtesy of Massillon Museum
The Massillon Museum has a fan in their collection. It is signed by these ladies from Massillon. We have reason to believe this may be a fan from Brooke Hall.
Courtesy of Massillon Museum
Brooke Hall in Media, Pennsylvania was a very special place to many young women…
The photographs in this presentation were provided by the Historic Archives Commission in Media Pennsylvania, Massillon Museum in Massillon, Ohio, and the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton, Ohio.
Archivist's Attic... 