Cleveland Public Library

The People's University

Clipping Cleveland's History and More

While there have been numerous efforts over the years to digitize much of the world's information, the Cleveland Public Library still maintains various hard copy resources of interest to local history.  Most of the library's subject departments have maintained, to some degree or another, a clipping file. Clipping files contain articles, photos, and other bits of information that have been "clipped" from newspapers, magazines and other sources.  Many of the clipping files housed at the Cleveland Public Library contain items of local interest, such as the Biography Clipping File located in the Microform Center, which consists of newspaper clippings of prominent and noteworthy Clevelanders.  This particular clipping file was originally put together by the History & Geography Department, but was later transferred to microfiche.  For a complete list of the library's extensive clipping files please contact the General Reference Department. 

Clipping files of note at the Cleveland Public Library include the Cleveland Corporations File located in the Business, Economics and Labor department, which contains historical Cleveland Chamber of Commerce records and some newspaper articles.  The Art & Music clipping files in the Fine Arts department contain clippings from both national and local newspapers on various art and music topics, as well as local artists, musicians, and architects.

The Literature Department also has a clipping file which includes various newspaper articles with an emphasis on local coverage, including Ohio authors, local TV personalities, Cleveland theaters and other topics of local interest.

Social Sciences houses a general clipping file with a focus on social problems, sports, religion, and organizations.  This file also includes biographical clippings of sports figures and religious figures.  Most of the contents are from the 1960’s and 1970’s.

The Arts and Crafts clipping file in the Science and Technology department contains historical sewing, knitting, macrame patterns in addition to hundreds of craft ideas.  These clipping files are a wonderful resource for historical research and learning about popular culture and news.  These clipping files and others are available to view in each of the library’s subject departments, and we invite you down to have a look at them.