Otto Herbster - Maggie Beckford

Otto Herbster recorded life on Put-in-Bay for more than 60 years. He was hired by the Perry Victory’s Commission to photograph the building of the memorial. He photographed all aspects of island life, but Herbster is mostly known for his souvenir “real photo” postcards that are highly collectible today. It’s notable, however, that Herbster made his living by painting homes, summer cottages, and island businesses.

Otto George Herbster was born in Put-in-Bay on March 31, 1881, to Herman Herbster and his wife, Maria Theresa (Lederer) Herbster. He was the youngest of four children. He and his oldest brother, Herman Alexander Herbster who went by Alex, were both in the souvenir business. Alex Herbster owned Herbster’s Bazaar, located next to the present-day Frosty Bar on Delaware Avenue.

Otto’s father immigrated to Put-in-Bay in the lates 1860s, when Jose DeRivera, who owned several islands, encouraged Germans from Baden, Germany, to come and grow grapes. The 1870 census listed familiar names such as Herbster, Schiele, Fox, Muller, Webster, Doller, Gascoyne, Burgraff, Oelschlarger, Traverso, Heineman, Conlen, Schnoor, Duff, Ardnt, Engel, Doge, Kindt and Wehrle.

In 1880, the island’s population was 1,222 residents. Herman Herbster was renting rooms at his boarding house for 50 cents a day. The next year, Otto was born. When he turned 13, his young life changed dramatically during a train trip with his father to St. Mary’s Institute (University of Dayton). On the trip home, Herman Herbster experienced problems breathing and stepped outside for fresh air and fell off the train to his death.

At 25, Otto married Edith Amelia Schiele on February 8, 1906, in Put-in-Bay. A year later their daughter, Verda Elizabeth Herbster was born. Verda was her father’s favorite subject to photograph as she grew up on the island.

Otto worked as a bellman at the Hotel Victory as a young man and later painted houses for a living. He started taking souvenir photographs as tourism on the islands continually increased each summer. Back then the resort season didn’t start until the Fourth of July and ended promptly on Labor Day.

At the beginning of Otto Herbster’s career, he used wooden box cameras that recorded images on glass plates. Two of the cameras still exist. One is on display at the Lake Erie Islands Historical. He worked in 5x7 and 8x10 acetate film, 2 ¼-inch film, 3x5 and 127 film. There is no record of him using 35mm film.

Otto Herbster is most well known for the souvenir postcards he created in his shop next to Herbster’s Bazaar where engraved souvenir spoons, pennants, and red glass pieces were sold. He built props in his studio for people to pose with, including a giant half barrel, and a silhouette of a small boat, the “Put-in-Bay”. The barrel’s banner proclaimed “Have a Barrel of Fun at Put-in-Bay.” The barrel’s long gone, but the boat still exists.

Otto Herbster, famed island photographer, lived a lifetime of historical events, and died in 1968 at the age of 87. He viewed island life through the lens of his camera.

Maggie Beckford has been president of the Lake Erie Islands Historical Society for nearly two decades, and since 1990 has collected thousands of Otto Herbster’s images, negatives, and artifacts.