Dr. Thomas Lea, DDS (Bowling Green, Ohio) records

The Dr. Thomas M. Lea collection consists mostly of his Dental Registers from the years 1902-1904. These registers provide a wealth of knowledge on the activities of his business and the prices of his trade. The ledgers provide customer names, what they had done to their teeth, and how much it cost them. Also in the back of one of the ledgers, Dr. Thomas M. Lea wrote down the various expenses he had to pay to keep the business running.

The collection also consists of newspaper clippings one of which describes Dr. Thomas M. Lea’s accomplishment, as having written an article that was going to be published in a book. This clipping provides an insight into how proud the people of Bowling Green were of their dentist and his great accomplishments. The other newspaper clip is of Dr. Thomas M. Lea’s obituary. It provides great details of the day that Lea died, and his life in general. Some things that the obituary talks about are Lea’s childhood, education and military service.

The collection would interest researchers hoping to explore prices of goods during the early 1900s, or the practices of dentists. The handwriting can be difficult to read, but with time becomes more clear.