Accession No. RARE.2019.0088: Purchased, 2019 July
[identification of item], “The Beautiful Road” by John Redhead Froome, Jr., SPEC.RARE.MMS.0352, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Sabrina Gorse, 2024 July; Finding aid written by: Nicole Miller, 2019 July; Sabrina Gorse, 2024 August
John Redhead Froome, Jr. (1878-1950) was a dramatist, poet, and author of short stories born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He lived in Winton Place, a neighborhood which was annexed by Cincinnati in November 1903. Froome worked as an instructor in the drama department at the College of Music at University of Cincinnati.
“The Beautiful Road” by John Redhead Froome, Jr. contains a handmade booklet consisting of seven individual pages of the typed text of the poem pasted onto the pages of the booklet, along with seven black and white photographs pasted to the pages and bound together with brown ribbon. The poem itself is about the reader traveling along the "beautiful road" to town, but never arrives at the town, instead learning that they had come along the "Highway of Life." The photographs depict various scenes of a road to illustrate the poem. Froome's booklet is not dated, but approximate dates have been determined based on the location Froome listed in the booklet (which came into existence in November of 1903) and the inclusion of gelatin silver prints consistent with those produced most commonly in the 1900s and 1910s.