 |
Welcome to the Allen County Community Album. The Allen County Public Library is pleased to offer access to these collections. These collections are continually being expanded and enhanced. Additional collections will be added as time and resources permit. History Center Digital Collections The History Center Digital Collections offer unparallel access to many of the thousands of photos, documents, maps, manuscripts, and other valuable historical materials owned by the History Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The digital collections, selected to augment and reinforce educational programs at IPFW, are being developed through a partnership with the Helmke Library at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Historic Photos Collection: The Historic Photographs were originally part of the Allen County Public Library’s Indiana Collection Vertical File. The images consist primarily of photographs donated to the library from various sources, including private collections and the Fort Wayne newspapers. Some library staff members photographed buildings or places of interest and donated snapshots. Although there are photographs from all over Indiana, most have a Fort Wayne or Allen County emphasis. There are some photos from the 1880s and 1890s, but most date from the early 1900s to the 1970s. The library still maintains the original photographs in its special collections. While not comprehensive, this collection provides an interesting look at the Fort Wayne that was. Fort Wayne and Allen County History Collection: This collection, continually expanding through the cooperative efforts area citizens, contains images of people, places, and organizations in Fort Wayne, Allen County, and northeast Indiana. These images have been provided to the library for the Allen County Community Album, or the original photographs have been loaned to the library to scan and mount in the album. As it grows, this collection will become an increasingly important complement to the Historic Photos Collection in capturing the memories of this community. Franklin P. Randall Collection: Franklin P. Randall (1812-1892) was an attorney, state legislator, and Fort Wayne's "Civil War mayor." With his wife Mary Jane (Reed) (1829-1912), he was the father of seven children. The family was prominent in Fort Wayne society. One daughter, Mrs. Caroline Fairbank, was a leader in the local Women's Suffrage movement. A son, Alfred "Larry" Randall, opened the city's first automobile dealership, and his wife, Grace (Hayden), also came from a prominent local family. The photograph collection contains images dating from the 1850s to the 1920s and consists mainly of portraits of members of the Randall and Hayden families and their friends, as well as pictures of the Randall home at the corner of Lafayette and Berry streets. Fire Fighter Photographs Collection: The Fire Fighter Photograph images are from the collection of Donald A. Weber, a retired professional fire fighter and photographer, as well as from the personal collections of fire fighters Mr. Weber knew or with whom he worked. Not only do these images portray the important work of the Fort Wayne Fire Department over many decades, they also provide glimpses of Fort Wayne buildings, fire fighting equipment, and streetscapes no longer in existence. Monroeville / Ternet Collection: This collection consists of a large number of images collected by Lois Ternet, long-time editor of the Monroeville News. Dating from the 1870s to the twenty-first century, the photographs serve as a documentary record of the people, buildings, and farms of the town of Monroeville and Monroe Township, located in the southeastern corner of Allen County. Hundreds of people, most identified, appear in the images, often in poses that reflect the ordinary activity of life in this rural community. The collection includes some aerial photographs, as well as many images of local buildings, businesses, sports teams, and the interurban. Woodburn Historical Society: The Woodburn Historical Society Collection consists of photographs depicting life in the town of Woodburn and surrounding Maumee Township from the late nineteenth through twentieth centuries. The collection includes a number of postcard views of Woodburn, a portion of which was also known as Shirley City, as well as aerial views and a number of snapshots. Many of the snapshots were taken in the post war era of 1947. The collection also contains photographs of several of the town's founders and civic leaders, as well as pictures of schools and rare images of two of the early log cabins in the township. Day
in Allen County Fred J. Reynolds Historical Genealogy Department Allen County Public Library P.O. Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270 260-421-1225 genealogy@acpl.info |