The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections The University of Toledo

Finding Aid

Flora Ward Hineline Papers, ca. 1900-1992

MSS-007

Size: 3.5 linear feet

Provenance: Leone Hineline, daughter-in-law of Flora Ward Hineline, donated the bulk of this collection to the University of Toledo Libraries in 1975 and 1977. Additions were made to the collection in 1997 and 1998. These materials were received from The University of Toledo Theatre, Film and Dance Department.

Access: Open

Collection Summary: Scrapbooks and autographed celebrity portraits documenting the Town Hall series of lectures; music and theater (primarily at the Paramount Theatre); and the Town Hall Theatre itself. Some noteworthy speakers and performers engaged by Mrs. Hineline include: Winston Churchill, H.G. Wells, Fritz Kreisler, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Subjects: Music, Art, Drama, and Theatre, Women

Related Collections:  Arnold Krastin Papers, MSS-039.

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns. Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code. The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Paul Gifford, 1986 and Laura Micham, 1998; last updated: April 2014

Biographical Sketch

1879	born in Pittsfield, Lorain County, Ohio.
c.1898-1908	teacher in public schools of Oberlin and Elyria, Ohio.
1902	married Herbert Bey Hineline.
1908	moved to Toledo, joined staff of Blade, writing society news and acting as music critic.
1930	began Town Hall Series of lectures; served thereafter as Executive Secretary of Town Hall Series, Inc.
1932	began Town Hall Concert Series; after two seasons, concerts and drama were presented at the Paramount Theatre by Flora Ward Hineline herself.
1945-46	director of Town Hall Theatre.
1956	discontinued Town Hall Series and engagement of performers.
1962	died in Toledo.

 

Scope and Content Note

The material in the Flora Ward Hineline Collection covers the period from the turn of the century to 1992 and documents Mrs. Hineline’s activity as a Toledo impresario.  Most of it consists of scrapbooks.  The photographs are mainly autographed portraits of individuals whom Mrs. Hineline engaged as performers and speakers, but a number of others reflect her personal life and work.

The scrapbooks include the Town Hall Series of lectures; music and theater, mainly at the Paramount Theatre; and the Town Hall Theatre.  Each scrapbook contains season programs and clippings thoroughly gleaned from all Toledo newspapers, with other items such as telegrams appearing occasionally.  The form of the newspaper items changed little over the years.  For the musical and dramatic performances, advertisements and announcements preceding the event were followed by reviews and gossip stories.  The material in the Town Hall Series of lectures contains announcements and reports of the speakers' comments, but these latter events also provided news for the society page.  Debutantes acted as ushers.  The luncheons following the lecturers formed important occasions for society matrons to hobnob with celebrities.

The number of speakers and performers engaged by Mrs. Hineline is too large to mention here.  Among others were Winston Churchill, H. G. Wells, Fritz Kreisler, and Eleanor Roosevelt.  The autographed photographs in the collection comprise only a small minority of the total number of speakers and performers.

One group of photographs appears to represent a high school athletic event during the 1920s, possibly in Toledo.  This is the only material in the collection outside its principal focus.

Folder List

S1         Photographs

ca. 1900-1960's

Arranged by type.

The bulk of this series is a collection of mostly autographed portraits of famous people in theater and film in the 1920's-1950's with a smaller group of photographs of FWH, her family, friends, and places she frequented. One of the photographs, apparently of a family member of FWH appears to have been taken at the turn of the century.

S2        Printed Material

ca. 1920-1992

Arranged by type.

Posters, programs, prints, and newspaper clippings relating to FWH's role in and contributions to theaters in Toledo, Ohio.

S3        Scrapbooks

1930-1956

Arranged by type and chronologically.

A collection of materials related to the local theater scene assembled by FWH. Each scrapbook contains season programs and clippings thoroughly gleaned from all Toledo newspapers, with other items such as telegrams appearing occasionally. There are nineteen scrapbooks in all.