UC Co-Authors/Librarians Expand Into the Calendar Business

In a new 2010 calendar now available in popular stores, the month of May features a brief history reflecting when summer was the most feared of the seasons because of the spread of polio. The featured photo for the month of May shows Dr. Albert Sabin providing his pioneering oral polio vaccine to a mother and two children – a discovery that made it safe to celebrate summer again.

That piece of Cincinnati history is just one of the UC ties to the new 2010 calendar, “Cincinnati Revealed,” from Arcadia Publishing, the leading local history publisher in the United States. Now venturing into producing calendars, the publisher contacted co-authors Kevin Grace, head of the Archives and Rare Books Library and university archivist, along with Tom White, head of the monographs department for UC Libraries, to collect photos from their bestselling book, “Cincinnati Revealed” (Arcadia Publishing, 2002) to highlight in the calendar.

“Arcadia tested these local history calendars in six markets and this year decided to expand the project to include more markets in the United States,” White says. “So when they began working on plans for 2010, they got in touch with us.”

“The book ‘Cincinnati Revealed’ is still one of Arcadia’s bestsellers in Cincinnati and it’s also the best-selling book that Tom and I have ever written for Arcadia,” adds Grace. “The challenge for the calendar was finding the right mix of photos to highlight people and places, and match them to reflect a month in the calendar year.”

Photos for the calendar came from the personal collections of both Grace and White. Other connections to UC include the 1922 Ohio Mechanics Institute (OMI) women’s basketball team for the month of March, a 1916 photograph of the Cincinnati Commercial Hospital featured in June, and a September photo feature of the 1918 UC football team – a season that was delayed because of the influenza quarantine.

The month of December features a 1922 photograph of the Gorno brothers Romeo and Giacinto, who with their brother Albino were three celebrated faculty members in the College of Music, now part of the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).

The cover photo features Union Terminal, a history highlighted for the month of January. Other months include the 1940 Cincinnati ticker-tape parade celebrating the Cincinnati Reds World Series Championship over the Tigers. The month of July shows famed musician Louis Armstrong performing at Coney Island’s Moonlight Gardens.

Joseph Walker, a business development representative for Arcadia Publishing, says Arcadia is producing 23 calendars this year highlighting histories in the following markets: Cincinnati; Minneapolis; Detroit; Denver; Orange County, Calif.; New York; Knoxville, Tenn.; Louisville; Portland, Ore.; Boston; Milwaukee; San Diego; Charleston, S.C.; Seattle; Chicago; Hershey, Pa.; Salt Lake City; Houston; and the states of Florida, South Carolina and Arizona.

“Cincinnati has always been a great market for our books – we’ve published 30 titles in the Greater Cincinnati area,” Walker says. “A few of the titles, such as ‘Cincinnati Revealed,’ have been produced by Kevin and Tom, so the calendar idea was a natural fit in terms of the right authors and in a city that is home to residents who clearly have a love for hometown history.”

The 2010 calendar, “Cincinnati Revealed,” retails for $13.99 and is available in all major bookstores such as Borders, Barnes & Noble, Joseph-Beth Booksellers and Waldenbooks. It is also for sale at the UC Bookstore and bookstores at the Cincinnati Museum Center and the Cincinnati Art Museum.

The calendar can also be ordered online though the publisher, as well as at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.