Holcomb/Bair family papers

Collection – Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-0809

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

The Holcomb/Bair family papers is a collection of various documents from members of the Holcomb and Bair families. Personal correspondence and teaching/education files make up the bulk of this collection. The documents are from Addie, Lester, and Corrine Holcomb, and Winfield, Eva (née Armistead), Maurice, Ruth (née Holcomb), Eugene, Helen, and Carrol Bair.

Dates

Creation: 1896-1986

Extent

2.75 Cubic Feet (4 legal size manuscript boxes; 1 flat oversize box)

Creator

Holcomb family (Family)
Bair family (Family)

Scope and Contents

The collection includes various items such as correspondence and postcards, educational/teaching files, elementary school workbooks, graduation certificates, personal scrapbook items, various school programs, and newspaper articles. It is mainly a collection of educational materials. Each family group is presented separately.

While presenting a small look into the personal life of the Holcombs and Bairs via correspondence, programs and certificates, it also provides an insight into education during the early to mid-twentieth century. Carol Bair’s elementary school workbooks, Addie Holcomb’s teaching papers, and Eva Bair’s teaching files make up the bulk of the collection. Also of interest are Eva Bair’s notes and copy of Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind. These documents will be helpful for researchers looking for personal teacher files, and some information in regards to elementary education. Carrol Bair’s pamphlets and programs from her first year at Bowling Green State University also provide a look into a freshman orientation and various expectations of the University in regards to new students during the 1963-1964 school year.

Other features of this collection are correspondence, scrapbook, and printed materials. Scrapbook materials include a herbarium book of dried flowers, and a scrapbook of science news articles that provide insight into scientific connections and discoveries of the 1930s. The advertisement and postcards complement the collection by adding historical and personal insight. Postcard subjects include holiday greetings, personal letters, and even feature birthday greetings for Addie Holcomb from presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Finally, the collection contains a few documents outside of personal and educational materials: the Ohio Division of the Farmer’s Union, including its Bylaws and Constitution from the 1940s, catalogs and photographs from Chore Boy Milking Machine Company (Bair and Son) from Eugene Bair, also a ledger from Eugene Bair regarding appliance sales in 1925, and Lester Holcomb’s correspondence in regards to being a business agent for newspapers by selling subscriptions to the Toledo Commercial.

Biographical / Historical

The Holcomb/Bair family came together via the marriage of Ruth Holcomb and Maurice Bair. Various searches have been done to find information about the family members in each collection, but not a lot of information is available. The dates of all family members are available, and can be found below. Otherwise very little is known about when the families came to Ohio, or their specific job titles, etc.

The Holcomb family members: Lester (1882-1950), Ruth (1890-1969), Corinne (1986-1936), and Addie (1899-1986) were all siblings. Not much is known about this family other than what comes from the collection. Their parents were Hannah and Noble Holcomb, and they seem to have lived in Ohio their entire lives. They were natives of Sandusky County, specifically the Gibsonburg area, but they branched out to Madison, OH at some point. Ruth Holcomb married Maurice Bair, the exact date or even year of their marriage is unknown.

Addie Holcomb’s files make up the bulk of her family’s collection. She was a teacher at Gibsonburg High School. She had attended Bowling Green Normal School and then went on to Ohio State University from 1931-1934 for a graduate degree before returning to Gibsonburg. Her personal connections were national, as her birthday was recognized via postcard to her by two US Presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

The Bair family members in this collection are not so simply related. Maurice Bair (1875-1953), husband of Ruth Holcomb, was the son of Winfield Bair (1851-1930) and Mariam Bair (1849-1894). However, in the collection Winfield shares files with his second wife, a highlight of the collection, Eva Bair (nee Armistead, 1862-1961). Winfield and Mariam were married in 1873, twenty one years prior to her death in 1894. Winfield and Eva were married in 1905 and were together until his death in 1930.

Maurice and Ruth Bair had two children featured in this collection, Eugene (1908-2000) and Helen Bair (1918-1992). Eugene Bair was at one point a salesman for Chore Boy, a machinery company and some of those files are in the collection. Helen Bair was also a teacher, but only personal postcards from her are featured in the collection.

Finally, Carrol Bair (1945-present) is the daughter of Eugene Bair and Faye Bair (nee Butler, 1915-1985).

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.