Pleasant Street SchoolSchool stories. Ashland history. Things worth keeping.

The collection

Discoveries

Postcards, objects and the small clues that make a larger story.

Look closely. Turn it over. Ask another question.

An object does not need a known year to belong here. A postcard’s reverse, an old notebook mentioned in a newspaper, or a material detail can lead to a story of its own. We distinguish objects actually shown from leads still being followed.

Start with an object.

Historical school postcard.

A school postcard, front and back

See the owner’s scan and read the advertisement on the reverse. Undated means undated.

Turn over the postcard

Stories built around clues.

Undated historical postcard showing Pleasant Street School in Ashland, Ohio.

School history

Reading a School Postcard

Turn a familiar view over, and a building becomes a lesson in reading evidence.

Color postcard captioned Sandusky Street, Ashland, Ohio, showing an ornate house at left and a red brick church at right.

Discoveries

A Christmas postcard to “Dear Teacher”

“Arrived here safe and am having a good time.” In December 1907, Lela Clarke sent a Christmas greeting and a view of Sandusky Street to her teacher in Michigan.

Historical photographic postcard of floodwater around buildings and trees on West Main Street, captioned March 25, 1913.

Discoveries

Three postcards after the Ashland flood

In March 1913, floodwater filled West Main Street. Three photographic postcards preserve the flooded street and the work of clearing wreckage at Arthur Street Bridge.