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- Transparency of portrait painting of a young girl about 5 or 6 years old. Rosy purple skirt, white blouse with floral designs on a yellow neckerchief draped over shoulders. Curly hair. 3/4 length portrait, seated on a bench. From the Frick Art Reference Library - April 16, 1961 in a letter to Mrs. Todd: Freeman Willis Simmons was born in Fredonia, Pa. in 1859 and died in 1926. He studied with William Merrit Chase, and in Paris with Lefebvre and Constant. He was a member of The American Art Association of Paris and the Cleveland Society of Artists. One of his works, a portrait, is owned by the Cleveland Museum of Art. Color: reds, yellows, brown, flesh, MUS64.72.9
- John Holly founded the Future Outlook League in Cleveland in 1935 to help obtain jobs for black residents. The League was ahead of its time in using picket lines and economic boycotts to secure its objectives. This 1952 mural commemorates the League's struggle for equality. Gesturing with his left hand, forefinger raised to a group of African American travelers group to the left. With the left hand he points towards a group of buildings representing downtown Cleveland. An arch bridge and river occupy the middle ground. The male figure stands on a carved stone on which are the words "Militancy, Courage"and partially "Equal Economic Opportunity". Two African American figures in the lower right are depicted carving the stone. Across the top is a title ribbon "The Future Outlook League." The painting is on a thin panel mounted to a second panel and is cased in a plexiglas and wood display case., Featured in the "Cleveland Starts Here" Exhibit
- This collectible tin plate, made in 1908, sets William Howard Taft and his running mate, James S. Sherman, amongst Republican Party luminaries, including Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, James Garfield, and Theodore Roosevelt. Taft won the election of 1908 and became our 27th president., Featured in the "Cleveland Starts Here" Exhibit. MUS 2003.0.25
- Framed oil painting of Hamilton Utley, his wife, and two of their thirteen children, Horatio and Ellen. The portrait is primitive, as the limbs look unnatural, the eyes are too large and staring, and the family seems to be crowded together in too small a space. Colonel Utley painted his parents, sister and brother when he was twenty-four years of age. Hamilton Utley was a pioneer of the Western Reserve, making his home in Newbury, Geauga County, in 1817. This painting was originally thought to be Merrill Squires and Family. The group portrait has a dark background and one child holds a cat. Leon Hodges was the grandson of Lavinia Merrick Utley, oldest child of Hamilton and Polly (Squires) Utley. She was born in Monson, Massachusetts in 1812 and died in Newbury in 1877. She married Erastus Hodges in Newbury on April 23, 1830. Lavinia was a child of five years at the time her mother, Polly with a baby only a few months old and another child of four years, William Laurence, emigrated from Massachusetts to the Western Reserve in 1817. The father, Hamilton, had stayed over at Alexander, New York that winter to teach school before he joined them in the Spring of 1818 in Newbury Township. Above information is from a genealogy, "Ancestors of Colonel William Laurence Utley, Son of Hamilton and Polly (Squires) Utley., MUS 848. Featured in the "Cleveland Starts Here" Exhibit
- Picture of an Indian whose name, Joc-o-sot, means "The Walking Bear." Picture is 17-1/2" by 11" with white mat and 1" wide black frame. Framed measurement-25" by 18-1/2". Joc-o-sot was a Sauk Chief and came to Cleveland from the Lake Superior region with Dr. H. A. Ackley. He was contacted by Dan Marble, an actor and theatrical manager who engaged him to appear in native costume and to perform Indian dances and songs. He was a great success and became a sensation in England where he presented his program before Queen Victoria. He returned to Cleveland, ill. Reached Cleveland early in 1844 and was befriended by John B. Stockly and Dr. H.A. Ackley. Died and buried in Erie St. Cemetery. Further informational in files and scrapbook, Vol. 2 Pages 20 & 28; Vol. 3, page 103.