Written by Liz Foreman, Marketing Manager, Downtown Main Library
Exciting news: you can now view 10,000+ photos from the Cincinnati Enquirer Photo Archive, anytime in high resolution!
Since 2023, Library staff have been digitizing and cataloging images donated by The Cincinnati Enquirer for public access on CHPL's Digital Library. From Cincinnati notables to the smallest neighborhood event, you can find it in the archive.
Even neater—the Library is prioritizing the archive's digitization based on requests from customers like Barbara, who frequents the Groesbeck Branch.
Barbara's Family Photo Discovery
Barbara reached out to the Library with a research question.
"She was looking for an article related to a time her father was in The Enquirer," said Reference Librarian Kent Mulcahy. "I realized the request was in the timeframe that the photo archive encompasses, so I wondered if I could find the original photo of her father and I did."
"The real work was done by the Library's Digital Services and Cataloging teams who scanned the photo, edited it, and got it on CHPL's Digital Library. We sent it to Barbara and she was floored that we were able to find the original photo," Kent added.
"It was wonderful because the photo, he sent it to me on my birthday!" Barbara said. "When this article was done, I was 5 years old. Usually you don’t see pictures of your parents at work. To be able to see this picture—it was great!"
The photo was closely cropped in the article. "When you look at the newspaper article, part of the photo was cut off, so I didn’t quite understand what was going on. You couldn’t see he had his abacus in his hand!" she added.
"He was checking out the adding machine. The picture itself shows how big the machine is. [The Enquirer photographer] must have come the day this machine was coming in to the office, after it was set up," Barbara said. "I have it in a photo book. I’m trying to pull these stories together about my family. Kudos to the librarian who helped me so much!"
About the Archive
The Enquirer Photo Archive contains more than 1 million photos by the newspaper's staff photographers, dating from 1945-2005. The photos arrived at CHPL in 1,200 bankers boxes!
In just one year, CHPL staff have digitized photos from the following decades - with more to come:
The intensive work led by CHPL's Genealogy and Local History department and Cataloging teams has informed how other libraries digitize similar collections. The Library was awarded the Society of Ohio Archivists 2024 Merit Award for work in "preserving the archives of their hometown newspapers" and “outstanding work preserving the archives."
Request photos from The Cincinnati Enquirer Photo Archive for digitization.
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