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Thurber House Photographs

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Title	Thurber House Photographs
Subject	Architecture Literary Ohio Authors Thurber, James, 1894-1961 Houses
Place	Columbus (Ohio) Franklin County (Ohio)
Description	Three photographs show the house at 77 Jefferson Avenue in Columbus, Ohio, where humorist James Thurber and his family lived while James was a student at The Ohio State University from 1913-1917. The first photograph shows the house after restoration in 1990. A second image shows the house before restoration began in 1979, while the final photograph depicts the home in 1945. The photographs measure approximately 3" x 4.25" (7.62 x 10.8 cm). The Thurber House underwent restoration from 1980 to 1984. It had been cut into several small apartments; all of those divisions were removed. All window sashes, doors, woodwork, and floors were rehabilitated and/or repaired. The staircases both required extensive restoration. All surviving interior hardware was refurbished and period-accurate lighting fixtures were installed. Almost all the window glass was replaced. New porches were built for front, side, and back, and a wheelchair ramp was added on the side of the house. The attic was converted into a finished apartment for writers-in-residence, and a fire escape installed to bring the apartment up to current fire codes. Central heating and air conditioning were installed. The Thurber House, home to the Thurber House literary center, historic house museum and Thurber memorabilia collection, opened to the public on December 6, 1984. James Thurber (1894-1961) was born in Columbus, Ohio. His father, who had dreams of being an actor or lawyer, was said to have been the basis of the typical small, slight man of Thurber's stories. Young James was partially blinded by a childhood accident--his brother William shot an arrow at him. When he was unable to participate in games and sports with other children, he developed a rich fantasy life, which would serve to inspire his later fiction. Between 1913 and 1918 he studied at The Ohio State University. He worked as a code clerk in Washington, D.C., and at the American embassy in Paris and as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune in Paris. In 1926 Thurber went to New York City, where he was a reporter for the Evening Post before joining The New Yorker, where he found his clear, concise prose style and where fifteen of his books first appeared. Thurber's wry humor showed great sensitivity to human fears and follies. Thurber's first book, Is Sex Necessary, appeared in 1929. The book presented Thurber's drawings as well and instantly established him as a true comedic talent. Thurber left The New Yorker in 1933, but remained a contributor. In the 1950s Thurber published modern fairy tales for children. His eyesight became worse in the 1940s, and by the 1950s his blindness was nearly total. Thurber continued to compose stories in his head, and he played himself in 88 performances of the play A Thurber Carnival.
Date of Original	1990; 1979; 1945
Source	Audiovisual material
Submitting Institution	Thurber House
Type	StillImage
Format	picture

Title	Om2150_2077847_001
Rights	For rights and reproduction requests, go to the Ohio Historical Society's Audiovisual and Graphic Reproduction Services page at http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/audiovis/photodup.html; Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests or more information, go to http://www.ohiohistory.org/images/information
File Name	Om2150_2077847_001.tif
Image Height	1272
Image Width	956
File Size	355.619 KB

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Thurber House Photographs

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