Kemmer Family Photograph collection

The Kemmer Family Photograph collection consists primarily of photographs, both in albums and loose, as well as some negatives and a few printed items.

Photographs taken during the 1920s and early 1930s by Raymond Kemmer are represented by the smaller loose 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch prints and those in the three albums. The majority of images, both in the albums and loose items are clearly identified, representing many locations around Northwest Ohio, but primarily centered on Toledo, Ohio. Notable among the images in the loose images and three albums are photos taken of the Maumee River in winter with ice floes, a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1927, street scenes around Toledo, Put-in-Bay, and at and around the Pinkerton Tobacco Company, where Raymond worked, including photos taken of baseball at Swayne Field, which was next to Pinkerton. He took other photos around Ontario at historic sites, and a few taken at the Indianapolis Raceway and Chicago during the 1934 World’s Fair.

Warren R. Kemmer’s photos from the 1950s and 1960s are primarily the 3 1/2 x 5 inch prints in the collection. Also meticulously identified on the verso, the subjects range from vacation trips around Ohio, the Great Lakes region, Ontario, and Kentucky. Historic sites and markers are a particularly frequent subject, as are views of the area around Mackinac and the fort there, Kentucky, particularly sites associated with Lincoln, and Ohio prehistoric sites including Serpent Mound . There is also a series of photos showing the progress of construction in 1949-1950 on the school of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, in Grand Rapids where Kemmer lived.

Of note in the older photos in the collection are one of a shoe repair shop exterior in Toledo around 1925 and also an Ayersville, Ohio stave or lumber mill. Neither of these photos can be positively attributed to one of the Kemmer family