Lost Stories--Yesterday and Today at Put-In-Bay is a collection of previously printed accounts revealing past happenings, for the most part, on those properties now owned by the State of Ohio at the village of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island. These articles, printed in the book from their original source, appeared as early as 150 years ago in newspapers published in Sandusky, Ohio. The principal source is the Sandusky Register, a daily and weekly newspaper that has appeared under various other names since its establishment in 1822. The majority of the articles are from the 1890s when Miss Lydia Jane Ryall was Put-in-Bay's news correspondent to that paper.
Miss Ryall's articles were written under her pseudonym, Theresa Thorndale. Theresa Thorndale's articles described activities at the Hotel Victory, the Lighthouse, the Cincinnati Fishing Club, the United States Fish Hatchery, and the Forest City Ice Company. All of these venues have been acquired by the State of Ohio. Miss Thorndale also wrote on the activities of the first biological survey of plants and animals in Lake Erie waters, which was conducted from the United States Fish Hatchery, and gave a vivid description of Peach Point after taking a tour of that peninsula in 1894.