Coming Events for 2010:

SECOND ANNIVERSARY GATHERING,
JULY 24TH FROM 2-5 P.M.

Help us celebrate two years since the grand-opening of the Center. Music will be provided by the "Community of Song" singers and there will be plenty of time to view the Sinks photography exhibit and pick up your copies of the Society's latest booklet and CD combo entitled, "The Life and Photographs of Edwin C. Sinks." A potluck supper will mark the end the day. Everyone wanting to attend the potluck should make an advance reservation with the historical society, and let the refreshments crew know what type of family style food item you will bring.

PROGRAM FOR MAY 22 FROM 2-4 P.M.
“TAKES EVERYTHING IN SIGHT”
Preview and Dedication of the Edwin C. Sinks Photography Exhibit

Much of what we know about Englewood and the surrounding communities in the early 1900s revolves around the images created by local photographer and Randolph High School music teacher, Edwin C. Sinks. This exhibit, a restrospective of Sinks life and work, will focus on his short but productive forty years in Englewood, Ohio. Copies of Sinks’ most famous photos such as the “Old Wooden Bridge over the Stillwater River," along with many previously unseen images, will be on display. Come enjoy the breadth of Sinks’ photographic achievements, learn about 1900s imaging techniques, and see vintage cameras and picture processing equipment.

This special 2010 exhibit will continue at the RTHS History Center throughout the summer. See SINKS on the Family Tree page for a more complete genealogy of this family.



DID YOU KNOW? The newly painted mural at the corner of Routes 40/48 in Englewood is based on this Edwin C. Sinks photo.

REPORT: While waiting for Sinks relatives to arrive, speaker Sue Cummings gave a brief overview of the history of photography. At about 2:20 p.m. she began her presentation, entitled "Takes Everything in Sight" (based on the printed message on Edwin C. Sinks’ business card). Cummings covered all aspects of Sinks life during his brief forty years in Randolph Township. More than fifty slides (with maps, genealogical information, family photos, professional advertisements, and Sinks own early 1900s professional photographs of local people, sites, roads, streetscapes, school events, floods and fires) kept members, Sinks relatives, and guests entertained for about seventy-five minutes. Visitors took time to view the Sinks exhibits and enjoy refreshments afterwards. Everyone was amazed at the breadth of subject matter, and quality of Sinks photographs. At the close of the program, attendees < enjoyed refreshments on the lower level.

NOTE: Kay Dawson has transcribed Cummings’ tape-recorded talk on local photographer Edwin Sinks, and the resulting hard-copy booklet, along with a CD containing slides used in the talk, will be available for purchase in late July. We hope those who attended the talk will want to hear and see the slides again, and, for those who could not come to the original program, here is your chance to learn what you missed!

PROGRAM FOR APRIL 17 FROM 2-4 P.M.
“DAYTON’S RICH GYPSY HERITAGE”
Speaker – Leon Bey

Come join us for this interesting Saturday afternoon program presented by well-known Dayton historian, Leon Bey. Learn about the gypsy way of life in this part of Ohio, through colorful slides and music. Gypsies were known to have lived and camped in this part of Randolph Township. Members of the Stanley and Mumma families were part of the local tribe. A gypsy wedding was reported in an article in the Dayton Journal Herald, dated April 1896:

“The village of Harrisburg and all of that territory in Stillwater Woods [today's Englewood MetroPark] are now watching the weird matrimonial ceremonies of tribes of Turkish and French gypsies that have assembled in the Woods on the hill near Patty’s Falls, east of the river. One of the princes of the Stanley tribe is to be married . . . . Three pigs were butchered, a hundred fat hens dressed, 200 loaves of bread cut and spread, a keg of old rye and five kegs of lager tapped. All the farmers and their families were invited to join in the feast and the festivities.”

Delicious refreshments will be served following the RTHS program, but no kegs will be tapped!

REPORT: This illustrated talk, by popular Dayton historian Leon Bey, was well-attended. About thirty RTHS members plus other followers of Bey’s local lecture circuit. learned about the Stanley gypsies: where they originated, where they lived in Dayton, and where they are buried (Woodland Cemetery). Bey took questions during and after the talk and many people commented afterwards that it was very enjoyable. Refreshments followed the program.