ARB Digital Collections

This is a collection of over 528,000 records. The original official records are owned by the City of Cincinnati and housed in the Archives and Rare Books Library, University of Cincinnati Libraries, University of Cincinnati. The records, consisting of index cards, were created by the Cincinnati Health Department several decades ago and are considered the official and legal records of births and deaths for this time period.

The death records begin in 1865 and the birth records begin in 1872.  A small number of records show earlier dates. It is believed that these early records reflect the "restoration" of vital documents by citizens after the 1884 Hamilton County Courthouse fire, and were eventually sent to the City of Cincinnati Health Department for recording.

The House of Refuge Records collection on the Digital Resource Commons (DRC) consist of 5 volumes and includes the Record of Commitments (1869-1882, 1891-1902), an index, financial records and payroll records. The Record of Commitments includes the names of individuals committed to the House of Refuge, their nationality, a description of their offenses or the reason for admittance, information on their parents, and their age.

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These Hamilton County, Ohio Civil War Exemptions (Accession Number ON-85-21) were part of a county records collection acquired by the Archives and Rare Books Library in 1985 under the Local Government Records Program established by the Ohio Historical Society and the State Legislature of Ohio. Under this program, the University of Cincinnati is the designated repository for government records for the eight southwestern Ohio counties and their municipalities and other governmental agencies when the records cannot be maintained by those public offices.

The Civil War exemptions were surviving records, along with other diverse public documents, after the 1884 Hamilton County Courthouse fire, and they represent military service exemptions granted by the Provost Marshal General's Bureau upon posting of a monetary bond. This particular Bureau represented the 1st District of Ohio, i.e. Hamilton County. Records have been digitized, and prominent names and dates have been entered into the metadata -- Browse Subjects for the names of those seeking exemptions.

The Hamilton County, Ohio Morgue Records, 1887-1930 (Accession Number ON-73-38a) are part of a county records collection acquired by the Archives & Rare Books Library in 1973 under the Local Government Records Program established by the Ohio Historical Society and the State Legislature of Ohio.

Bodies were taken to the morgue for various reasons, such as suspicion of murder or suicide, accidental deaths, unidentified or unclaimed bodies, or death under unknown or otherwise suspicious circumstances. Details in the morgue records include the date, time, and location the body was found, personal information on the deceased, probable cause of death, and removal of the body, and sometimes effects found on the body. Some entries include letters from the next-of-kin or public officials that offer more information on the deceased. These records aid in revealing trends in economic depressions, workplace conditions, locations of accidents, transient patterns, crime patterns, and infant survival rates.

For researchers interested in Cincinnati urban life from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, the Hamilton County Morgue records provide an extraordinary amount of data. Since the volumes have been transcribed with most of the data available in a searchable PDF or spreadsheet format, researchers will be able to work with large amounts of historical data. Researchers could use this data to study relationships between race, gender, age, and causes of death.

Each spreadsheet lists:

• Name
• Race
• Gender
• Date of entry
• Age (often estimated)
• Cause of death. Causes of death were often quite specific, e.g., “Accidental Injuries caused by a Bank of Earth Caveing and falling on him”

This digital collection contains digitized vertical files for annual/semi-annual commencement ceremonies. Records for each commencement may include programs from commencement and related ceremonies, text of related speeches, and other related materials.

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