Processed by
Pamela Tranfield
September 1994
Revised by Dorothy Nicholson
30 June 2004
Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
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VOLUME OF |
1 document case of photographs and 2 OVA folders |
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COLLECTION |
Ca. 1865–ca. 1960 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Forms part of the Cecil Beeson/Blackford County Historical Society Collection. |
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RESTRICTIONS: |
None |
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COPYRIGHT: |
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REPRODUCTION |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society. |
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ALTERNATE |
None |
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RELATED |
Blackford County Subject Files (P 0290) |
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ACCESSION |
1994.0734T |
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NOTES: |
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James Cronin, Jr. (1885‑1963), born 9 March 1885, was the son of James P. and Catherine Stack Cronin of Hartford City, Indiana. Educated in Hartford City, he worked briefly as a news reporter and in a glassworks before joining the staff of the Citizens State Bank. Cronin remained affiliated with the bank for the remainder of his career, serving as vice-president and later president. Cronin was also president of the Franklin Security Company of Hartford City, and the First State Bank of Dunkirk, Indiana. In addition, he was the Blackford County Auditor in 1909 and 1913 and a member of the Indiana Toll Commission from 1952 to 1960.
Cronin's siblings were Mary, Sylvester, and Eugene. His father, James Cronin, Sr., was a shoe salesman whose siblings included Jeremiah P. Cronin, president of the Citizens State Bank from 1918–1921, Dr. William N. Cronin, and Timothy J. Cronin, proprietor of the Opera House Drug Store in Hartford City. James Cronin, Sr., died 2 February 1940.
James Cronin, Jr., married Vada Patterson of Hartford City on 3 October 1906 and was the father of three children; James Cronin III, Robert P. Cronin, and Helen Virginia Cronin Larkin. James Cronin III died in April 1923 at the age of 15. Robert P. Cronin became president of Citizens State Bank in the 1960s.
Vada Patterson Cronin, born 30 April 1886 to Sidney and Effie Patterson of Hartford City, studied music at Oberlin Conservatory before her marriage. Her siblings were Odessa Patterson, Blanch Patterson Goetz, and Helen Patterson Schrack. She died at her home on 12 September 1951.
James Cronin, Jr., died 20 May 1963 at Columbus, Ohio, survived by his children and second wife Mary McGranahan Cronin.
Sources:
Benjamin G. Shinn. Biographical Memoirs of Blackford County. Chicago: Brown Publishing Co, 1900.
Hartford News, 7 April 1923.
Hartford City News-Times, 13 September 1951.
Hartford City News-Times, 21 May 1965.
International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery Records. 19 February 1960–19 July 1981. [Indiana State Library]
The collection is divided into eight series and consists of eighty-three black-and-white portraits and one hand-colored portrait. The individuals and families represented are believed to be members of the Cronin Family of Hartford City. Formats include prints on paper, cabinet cards, postcards, and one tintype. A few images are enclosed in cardboard cases.
The material appears to originate from James Cronin, Jr.’s, immediate family. The photographs were largely found in one box in the Cecil Beeson/Blackford County Historical Society Collection. Most of these items lacked primary identification. The annotations on a small number of photographs and a copy-print of a newspaper article describing James Cronin, Jr.’s, heroic actions during a robbery at the Citizens' State Bank in 1931 form the basis for the attribution to Cronin. This item is in the Blackford County Subject Files, as it appears to be a modern copy-print not likely to have been created by the Cronin family.
Series 1 to 4 contain those photographs that clearly represent James Cronin, Jr., and his immediate family.
Series 1: James Cronin, Jr., consists of eight black-and-white studio photographs, mainly studio portraits of himself and first wife Vada Patterson Cronin. Cronin is also pictured with his son Robert, and in what may be a group photograph of bank employees. The series also contains a portrait of Gloria Lee Newberry, daughter of an associate at the Citizens' State Bank.
Series 2: James Cronin III, contains eight black-and-white photographs of James Cronin, Jr.'s, eldest son as a young child and student. One photograph shows James and a group of children at James' birthday party.
Series 3: James Cronin, Sr., consists of ten family photographs. These include studio portraits of Dr. William N. Cronin, Timothy J. Cronin and Jeremiah P. Cronin as well as a tintype of James Cronin, Sr., and his brothers as young men. One studio photograph depicts James Cronin, Sr., posed with Catherine Stack Cronin and their children, ca. 1895. There is also a group portrait of the James Cronin, Jr., family and extended family, ca. 1916, and two images of Eugene and Sylvester Cronin.
Series 4: Snapshots, consists of eleven photographs depicting a fair in Hartford City and the Cronin family home. Images of the fair were given originally to Cecil Beeson by James Cronin, Jr.'s, second wife, Mary McGranahan Cronin.
Series 5 to 8 include images of unidentified women and children. These are attributed to the collection by virtue of their physical proximity to those photographs that originated from the James Cronin, Jr., family. These photographs may represent the families of James Cronin, Jr.'s, and Vada Patterson Cronin's siblings.
Series 5: Cronin Family Children, Unidentified, consists of twenty-eight photographs of babies, children, and youths believed to be related to the Cronin family. Most images are studio portraits, though a group photograph may have been taken at a birthday party or family gathering.
Series 6: Cronin Relatives (?), Unidentified Women, consists of ten images of women believed to be related to the Cronin family of Blackford County. The women may be related to the Cronins through the Patterson and Stack families. These images are largely studio portraits, except for a group portrait of six women posed on a set of stairs that may include Catherine Stack Cronin.
Series 7: Couple, Unidentified, consists of two photographs, ca. 1920. These images of a young man and woman were originally mounted on opposite sides of a cardboard case. The image of the man was on the left, the woman on the right.
Series 8: Portraits from Various Studios, consists of ten photographs, most of which have been removed from their original cardboard cases. The photographic studios represented were from Portland and Hartford City, Indiana, and Pauling, Ohio. The individuals in these photographs are not identified, but are believed to be related to the James Cronin, Jr., family.
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[James Cronin, Jr., and Vada
Patterson Cronin] |
Photographs, |
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[James Cronin, Jr., Vada Patterson Cronin, Robert P. Cronin] [ca. 1925–ca. 1928] |
Photographs, |
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[James Cronin, Jr., and Bank Staff] [ca. 1920] |
Photographs, |
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[Vada Patterson Cronin] [ca. 1920] |
Photographs, |
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[Gloria Lee Newberry] [ca. 1910] |
Photographs, |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[James Cronin III] [ca. 1907–ca. 1908] |
Photographs, |
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[Birthday Party for James Cronin III] [ca. 1912] |
Photographs, |
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[James Cronin III and Virginia
Cronin Larkin (?)] |
Photographs, |
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[James Cronin III] [ca. 1910; 1921] |
Photographs, |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[James Cronin, Sr., and Catherine Stack Cronin Family] [ca. 1893] |
OVA Photographs, |
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[Cronin Family, Group Portrait] [ca. 1916] |
Photographs, |
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[James Cronin, Sr., W. N. Cronin, and T. J. Cronin] [ca. 1865–ca. 1890] |
Photographs, |
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[Sylvester and Eugene Cronin (?)] [ca. 1898–ca. 1903] |
Photographs, |
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[Dr. William N. Cronin (?)] [ca. 1900] |
Photographs, |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[Fall Fair] [ca. 1910] |
Photographs, |
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[Cronin Family Home] [ca. 1910] |
Photographs, |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[Children of Mary Cronin (?)] [ca. 1908–ca. 1920] |
Photographs, |
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[William, Charles, and Nellie
Cronin (?)] |
Photographs, |
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[Young Women and Girls] [ca. 1900–ca. 1920] |
Photographs, |
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[Portraits of Children] [ca. 1870–ca. 1910] |
Photographs, |
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[Young Woman] [ca. 1928] |
Photographs, |
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[Babies] [ca. 1902] |
Photographs, |
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[Children, Studio Portraits] [ca. 1912–ca. 1920] |
Photographs, |
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[Baby and Boy] [ca. 1900; ca. 1920] |
Photographs, |
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[Child, Photograph on
Hand-Painted Background] |
Photographs, |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[Elderly Woman] [ca. 1940] |
Photographs, |
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[Three Women, Patterson Sisters (?)] [ca. 1900] |
Photographs, |
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[Women, Stack Family (?)] [ca. 1900–ca. 1910] |
Photographs, |
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[Three Portraits of Women] [ca. 1900] |
Photographs, |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[Unidentified Couple] [ca. 1920] |
Photographs, |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[Portraits from Portland, Indiana] [ca. 1900–ca. 1930] |
Photographs, |
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[Portraits from the Agler Studios, Van Wert, Ohio] [ca. 1940] |
Photographs, |
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[Portraits from Pauling, Ohio and Van Wert, Ohio] [ca. 1910–ca. 1934] |
Photographs, |
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[Portrait from F. J. Rice
Studio, Oberlin, Ohio] |
OVA Photographs, |
For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:
1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://157.91.92.2/
2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.
3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.
4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, P 0286).
5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.