Sign Up For News And Updates

Your Name and E-mail
First Name:
Last Name:
E-mail Address:
Sign up for the following:
















Your Address and Mobile
Address:
City:
State:
ZIP:
Mobile Phone:

Summer in the Stacks: Intern Spotlight

Posted: August 10, 2026, 11:18AM


This summer, the Ohio County Public Library welcomed Mara Cartwright as an intern in the Archives Department. Ms. Cartwright is a 2023 graduate of  The Linsly School and will be a senior at Connecticut College, where she is majoring in Art and Museum Studies and minoring in History. After several semesters working in the Connecticut College Archives, she wanted to gain additional experience with archives and local history collections. 

Throughout the summer, Cartwright worked on a wide range of collections, including the Ogden Half Marathon Race Collection, the Hugh Stobbs Wheeling Downs Photographs, the Thursday Music Club records, the Dr. R. Alan Fawcett Occupied Germany Scrapbooks, and the Browne Brothers Tailors Records. For each collection, she organized materials, wrote descriptions, and prepared finding aids to help researchers understand what each collection contains.

Wheeling Downs Winner 'The McKeesport,' 'Baby Billy,

 

 

 

One collection that especially interested Cartwright was the  Hugh Stobbs Wheeling Downs Photographs. Hugh Stobbs Jr. worked at Wheeling Downs Racetrack during the 1950s and 1960s and collected photographs and memorabilia during his tenure. The photographs document racehorses, owners, jockeys, racetrack buildings, and the surrounding grounds. The collection also reflects a notable chapter in Wheeling history: between 1945 and 1952, the track was owned and operated by Bill Lias, a Wheeling gangster who lost ownership after the United States Government found him guilty of tax evasion and seized his assets. Lias made several improvements to the track, including hydraulically operated viewing lifts for race officials and VIPs, and helped make Wheeling a gambling hub in the mid-20th century. 

 

 

Mara had this to say about working with archival material: "When people ask me to explain my job, I simply tell them I stick my nose into dead people's business (for the sake of historical preservation). And this job rewards me with the satisfaction of a completed collection ready for use by historians from all walks of life, and the gratification of seeing the archive cited in a book or research paper. "

 

 

 

 

In addition to processing collections, Cartwright scanned and uploaded hundreds of photographs from the various collections to Flickr, making these materials easier for the public to discover online. Her work this summer has significantly increased access to the library’s archival collections and helps more people connect with the stories, images, and records that preserve our community’s history.

Links to Flickr albums:

Visit the OCPL's Archives and Special Collections site to learn more about our collections.

The library is grateful to Ms. Cartwright for choosing to spend her summer in the stacks!





Comments

No comments on this post.

Add a Comment

Your Name:

Your E-mail: (Your E-mail Address will be kept private.)
Your Comments: (Required)
Services and Locations