Life's Changes

From The Closet

I’ve been very involved with my archive the last couple of weeks.

Knowing that the Accidental History collection of my photos at the Westerville History Museum exhibit space will be coming down next week had me looking through the archive for a personal gallery of Accidental History.

"Some history-making is intentional; much of it is accidental...History is a conversation and sometimes a shouting match between present and past, though often the voices we most want to hear are barely audible. People make history by passing on gossip, saving old records, and by naming rivers, mountains, and children." - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, 2008

One of the photos I found, a stitched panorama on East Main Street, is one of the many Accidental History photos hidden in my archive. One of the many there that can tell a story just by being. Like this one.

The list of businesses that have occupied these buildings includes a garage, warehouses, pharmacy, Culver Art and Frame, Westerville Bike Shop, and Rhodes Meats. Pizza parlors, at the center of this photo, have been at 10 East Main since 1970.

All four of the businesses in this photo are now gone.

Grandfather Clock Company moved to South State Street. Doughboys is now Cardinal Pizza continuing the pizza parlor tradition. Captivating Canines closed after the death of its owner. The plan was for Cardinal Pizza to expand into the space, but the recent death of its owner has put the plans on hold. Michael David Salon, the one window at the right, is now Blend Candle Co.

I have an unofficial list of businesses that once were on this block. And, I have this photo, among many others, that were made to represent the present and are now part of the Accidental History collection.

I suspect there are many such photos on the personal collections of people in Westerville.

When I’m gone my archive will become part of the Westerville History Museum collection. It will be available for a variety of uses some of which are probably not yet thought of.

You should think about donating your photo collection to the History Museum. It can be a part of the legacy of Accidental History.

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