The Portage County Historical Society has a growing collection of audio and video material in a variety of media. The process of converting our collection to digital format is ongoing.
Tim Siebert, long time President of the Society, wrote an article in 1981 titled "Hints on Oral History". Although methods of recording "oral history" have changed dramatically since then, the basic information is still very pertinent!
Because of the large size of the audio and video files, please be patient.
Currently, display at Heritage Park is "End of World War II". See videos here
With a long history of circuses calling Portage County home, we have accumulated a very large collection of circus material. Among these collections are a growing collection of videos. See our Circus History section for more details.
Ruthie and Frank Clark are our primary source for circus videos. Twenty plus videos of Engford Family and Frank Clark have been included on this site. In addition, videos of Extraordinary Circus Artists are also presented.
Ruthie and Frank have several large reels of 8mm film that will be digitized in the future.
Frank performed his solo act beginning in 1963. The following videos are featured.
The Engfords, Harry and Lois with Ruthie, performed their last two years (1964-'65) at Circus World Museum. Their long time friend Eldon "Buster" Bailey (obit) took the only known videos of "The Engfords" act and that of Ruthie's "Estreleta" trapeze act.
Frank Clark and Ruthie Engford began performing their helicopter act in the summer of 1966. The tragic death of their pilot in 1968 ended their helicopter act.
Beginning in late 1968, Frank and Ruthie began performing indoor and outdoor engagements. The following videos attempts to show the variety of acts and conditions they performed in. Frank, being a trained engineer, designed and built the equipment necessary to perform in these varied conditions.
Watch Frank & Ruthie Clark Videos.
The Society's special Annual Meeting, April 6, 2017, the "Over There" presentation was held at the Sentry Insurance Theater.
Vice Admiral Albert Grant served in World War I. On April 7, 2017, Admiral Grant Park was dedicated to his service. Watch the dedication video.
About the time of the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II (1995) several Society members, Robert Precourt being the leader, began interviewing World War II veterans.
Watch the World War II interviews!