A source located in the Research Center of the Fenton History Center is the Vertical File, sometimes called a clipping file. Newspaper clippings kept by subject are the main contents of these files. The time covered by these clippings varies greatly, even within each subject file.

Over time The Post-Journal and its predecessors ran features or columns that highlighted a variety of historical subjects. Some of these were Mystery Photos, As It Was Then and Inside the Fenton Mansion. Another type of column that reported tidbits about current happenings and people, as well as, reminiscences about past events and people was Round About Town. Many of these columns are in the clipping files but the entire collection of most columns are not there. Only what someone collected at the time and then at some later time gave them to the Fenton History Center are available in our files. Luckily they are available by looking at the microfilmed newspapers available at the Prendergast Library.

The Broadhead Story was a nine-installment feature that told about William Broadhead and his family and all the enterprises they were involved in in Jamestown. Another 10-installment feature was Ship Ahoy written by Anonymous but illustrated by Chautauqua County’s own Brad Anderson. He is better known as the creator of the Marmaduke comic strip.

Recently we discovered 23 different pen portraits by Jack Moranz, an internationally known portrait artist and cartoonist. We had a few in the clipping file but these different ones greatly expanded our collection of local examples of the work of Jack Moranz. In the 1930s and most of the 1940s he visited many large and small cities where he produced drawings or pen portraits of many of the business, industry and professional leaders of the city. These were then featured in the local newspaper. Most likely the newspaper paid him to do these and the notice that he was doing them thus created interest in buying the paper. Over the years his features in the many newspapers were done under different titles. The time period in which Jamestown’s were done the title was Jamestown’s Gallery of Achievement.

The ones in the Jamestown Evening Journal were done in November and December of 1935. Each one had a portrait of the person and three or four separate illustrations depicting times and interests in his life. There was usually an illustration of his childhood years and education often telling what his first job was and even how much he earned. Community activities were featured, as were any sports in which he participated, usually as a young man. His professional life was highlighted and his family was included in the other sections along with illustrations.

One of the featured men was Bert D. Amsdell who established Globe Photo in 1908 and was given credit in the feature as having taken the photographs of the men from which Moranz apparently worked. Another person featured was Hugo E. Sellvin, who organized the Journal Engraving Company. An associated person was Arthur O. Morse, who later purchased the Journal Engraving Company. He renamed it the Morse Engraving Company, which was the maker of the engravings used in the newspaper. Others included were doctors, judges and business owners in Jamestown and the nearby area.

Newspapers today continue to include features that educate the readers about local people, events and activities. Thank you to The Post-Journal for including in a recent issue some of the many photographs from the files of the Fenton History Center. Those photographs are only a few of the many in the collection. That feature, like the ones in the earlier papers, keep reminding us of the rich history of Jamestown and the area.