Sun 11/15 @ 2-4PM
One of northeast Ohio’s most iconic sights is the Goodyear blimp, floating over ballgames, festivals and other mass gatherings when the weather’s nice. It’s a promotional device for the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, founded in Akron in 1898, preceded by Goodrich and followed shortly after by Firestone, together giving the city the nickname “The Rubber City.”
University of Akron archivist and professor Victor Fleisher has just released a book called The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company: A Photographic History, 1898-1951. (Despite the book’s ending date, Goodyear, unlike Goodrich and Firestone, is still headquartered in Akron). The book includes more than 200 photographs, some previously unpublished, depicting the manufacturing and use the company’s products, including its winning Indy 500 race cars, its involvement in making products for World Wars I and II, and, of course, its blimp, out and about in various areas. The photos were drawn from the Goodyear archives collection at the University of Akron, where the author researched the stories behind the images to provide informative captions.
The Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson is hosting Fleisher for a book-signing event. It’s scheduled to be live at the store, so the event could be cancelled or rescheduled due to COVID-19. If the weather permits it will be held outside in front of the store to give visitors more opportunity to interact with the author. If it’s inside, only 12 people will be admitted at one time.
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