Shinew & Lance Family papers

This collection consists of three different record groups: postcards, letter correspondence, and photographs. The date of the collection spans roughly from the 1880's to the 1960's. The vast majority of the material consists of postcard correspondence received by the Shinew and Lance families of the town of Portage, in Wood County, Ohio. Unfortunately, very little of the history of these families can be found in this collection.

The postcard series is the largest of the three groups. It is mainly from the first two decades of the Twentieth Century, around 1905 - 1916, and includes postcards sent to Verna, Helen and Catharine Shinew and Leroy Lance. This group is perhaps the most interesting in the collection. The postcards clearly show their use as an inexpensive and quick form of communication in an age before widespread phone service and convenient, rapid transportation. Much of the correspondence on the postcards involves everyday activities or invitations to visit. It is not uncommon to find postcards sent and received within the same town on the same day. The images on the postcards could be very valuable to researchers in a wide variety of fields. One studying art, graphics, advertising, fashion, popular culture, and other related topics will find the holiday and topical postcards very useful. Those working on local histories may find images of buildings and landscapes that no longer exist. The collection includes a particularly large number of images from towns around Ohio and New York, but also includes pictures from a multiplicity of locations around the country.

The letters are rather limited in scope and content. They consist primarily of love letters and everyday correspondence sent from Verna Shinew to Leroy Lance from 1911 - 1913 while Leroy worked in Lima. There are also letters of condolence on the death of Sarah Shinew (1909) and general correspondence from various friends and relatives. Also included in this collection is a folder containing various family documents and memorabilia.

The photographs are similar in scope and content to that of the postcards and date from the late Nineteenth Century (perhaps the 1880s) through 1970. There are many images of urban scenes and rural landscapes, some of which include oil wells and other early Twentieth Century industrial and farm implements. There are also several photographs of early Twentieth Century home interiors and a large number of portraits. Most of the photographs are non-professional, but there are quite a few professional portraits from the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these photographs are unidentified and undated, although dates can be estimated by examining the clothing of photograph subjects as well as the size, shape and quality of the photographs themselves.