Akron, Ohio, Orphans Loved View-Master!
Reprinting an oddball news item from January 1951
I’ve been combing through the archives of the View-Master’s Dealerscope newsletter, which was a resource back in the 1940s and ‘50s for View-Master dealers, filled with news to help them maximize sales. It has a lot of oddball stories about what various dealers are up to.
Here’s a reprint from a January 1951 story that jumped out at me…
Akron Orphans Thrilled With View-Master Gifts
A set of 40 View Master Reels, 6 View-Master Stereoscopes, and a Library Box was given to an Akron, Ohio, children’s home recently by M. H. Swartz, Akron View-Master dealer.
Orphans at the institution — the Summit County Children's Home — were overjoyed with the gift and spend many enjoyable hours with their View-Masters, Margaret Scholtz, home superintendent, reports.
The set of Reels presented by Swartz included a wide range of educational and entertainment subjects. The Akron View-Master dealer plans to make similar gifts to his local children’s hospital and to other institutions for children. Youngers, he emphasizes, love View-Master gifts.
I tried to find out more about Mr. Swartz, the View-Master dealer in question, but they didn’t give a business he was associated with. Perhaps he was a distributor but did not own a photography shop as so many of the dealers did.
I did find out more about the Summit County Children’s Home and discovered that it began as a “home for wayward children” in 1881.
It was replaced in 1910 and expanded upon in the 1920s.
From their website :
The child population exploded during the Depression years and continued to grow in the 1940s reaching nearly 500 children. …
During the 1950s and 1960s, the child populations increased to more than 1,000 children. To accommodate the rising number, older children were relocated to cottage-style residence halls.
Due to new federal and state laws regarding the placement and care of children, [the institution] was closed in 1985 and children returned to their own families or were placed in alternative kinds of care.
I found some incredible old photos as well.
Here’s a link to the full archive I found.
And, for me, this is the most fascinating photo as it relates to the View-Master article:
This photo was taken at the end of 1950 — around the same time the kids would have been gifted the View-Master. These are the very kids that got the dealer’s donation that Christmas!
I can’t decide if this is sweet or bleak because 2025 has already been kind of weird. I’m leaning into both in 2025 as it feels like that might be the vibe?
In honor of the subject matter of this post — kids in need in Ohio — I also looked up the top-rated charity in Ohio to help children in need and made a $50 donation to Shoes and Clothes for Kids. It’s a 4-star charity on Charity Navigator, meaning the vast majority of donations goes directly to the cause.
If you’d like to support them, you can donate here!
Thanks for reading and be sure to smash that ❤️ button, so I know you’re out there following along. As always, thanks for reading and subscribing.
Wonder if this is the same M.H. Swartz from the article. Had a coffee shop in nearby Rittman, Ohio:
https://www.facebook.com/rittmanhistoricalsociety/photos/with-the-bi-annual-dance-of-the-clocks-two-weeks-in-the-books-wed-like-to-say-th/1031713968751887
"The building, then owned by L.L. Lance, was excited to welcome the new store managers Mr. And Mrs. M.H. Swartz. The Swartz’s and their three young children would make their new home in the apartment overtop this little 'bean'ery.
"In March of 1946, the Swartz family was off to learn a new trade and sold the popular cafe to William Arthurs of Akron. William was a former driver for Coca-Cola and excited to try his hand at being his own boss. The Swartz’s would remain in their cozy home above the shop, as the coffee place took on new spirit under its new management."