A "Found" Piece of Business History

Shortly after the June 23, 1924 tornado in Sandusky, Mary Louise Krupp, wife of Charles J. Krupp, found a small book labeled "Autographs." That same year, she donated it to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library. 

This book, although made for autographs, was used to record the sales of chromolithograph prints. In 1873, Apollos Huntington, father-in-law of Sandusky businessman John McKelvey, was an agent for “Middleton’s Oil Chromos.” Customers who purchased the prints for $7.50 each (about $170 in today's value) also received a frame, with hardware for hanging included. 

Chromolithography was a technique developed by Louis Prang for making colorful prints, with its roots in lithography. Various colors are added in layers, with the end product resulting in a print which was much less expensive product than an original oil painting.

It appears he only sold two selections, “The Mount of Olives” and “Garden of Gethsemane.” Between May and September of 1873, the following individuals purchased one or both of the chromolithographs from Mr. Huntington:

Rev. H. N. Burton, minister of First Congregational Church

Rev. Martin K. Holbrook, minister of the Congregational Church at Kelleys Island

Rev. Ernst Von Schulenburg, minister of Emmanuel Church

I.F. Mack, publisher of the Sandusky Register

Sandusky Then and Now

Ernst Von Schulenburg was both a minister and a physician in Sandusky, Ohio. He was born in Berlin in 1849, and settled in Sandusky in the 1870s. In 1872 he was the pastor of Emmanuel German Evangelical Protestant Church, and later he served as pastor of the St. Stephen’s German Evangelical Protestant Church. He is perhaps best remembered today as the author of the book, Sandusky Then and Now.

The author wrote the book in his native German language; the original title is Sandusky "Einst und Jetzt" : Mit Besonderer Berücksichtigung der Deutschen Localen Verhältnisse, which in English translates to Sandusky Then and Now: With Special Regard to Local, German Situations. In his book, Dr. Von Schulenburg discusses the political life of Germans in Sandusky, as well as German culture, customs, and business ventures. It includes biographies of several Sandusky German settlers, including their dates of migration. The book also provides a history of early Erie County and Sandusky, and includes an entire chapter on the cholera epidemics of 1849, 1852, and 1854.

In the preface to this book, originally published in 1889 , Dr. Von Schulenburg noted that “although the German population of Sandusky seems almost the same as that of the native-born and has become a powerful factor in the religious, political and social life of the city, yet it is surely striking that in all the local histories which I have seen, the German element was either completely ignored or at best treated as a step child.”

In 1959 Dr. Norbert A. and Marion Cleaveland Lange, chemistry professors who resided in Sandusky, translated Dr. Von Schulenburg’s book. It was published as Publication 114 of the Western Reserve Historical Society.

To read Sandusky Then and Now (in the English translation or in the original German) visit the Sandusky Library’s Reference Services area on the lower level of the Sandusky Library.