OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE:
PROCEEDINGS 153
ing with the connections I must leave
behind me, but the society of our
friends but poorly compensates for the
want of a subsistence. We have a
large circle of little ones dependent on
us, and I know of no persuit that
would give me more pleasure than that of
providing an easy Liveing for
them."
Emigration has ever played its part in
the making of history and in
every land since Moses led his trusting
band to the land of "milk and
honey," there has been a lure that
beckons men to fields afar, for homes
must be established and little mouths
fed, and there must be weaving and
spinning. Yes, a nation is made up of
the hearts of mothers, the wisdom
of fathers, and the joyous laughter of
children. "Within the mirrors of
their children's radiant eyes I see
envisioned all the hopes and fears of men
and women, who 'neath alien skies
transmuted wilderness to paradise."
The last speaker at this session was
Professor Francis Phelps
Weisenburger of the Department of
History of the Ohio State
University.
THE PERSONAL ELEMENT IN HISTORY
By FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER
My subject today is very similar in its
wording to that taken a few
years ago by Professor Edward M. Hulme
of Stanford University, Cali-
fornia, in his presidential address
before the Pacific Coast Branch of the
American Historical Association. At that
time he spoke on the topic,
"The Personal Equation in
History."1 The matter which he discussed,
however, was a very different one from
that which I have in view in com-
menting upon "The Personal Element
in History." Professor Hulme had
in mind of course the extent to which
the writer of history, however objec-
tive his intentions, is necessarily
influenced in his selection of data and
in his interpretation of events by his
own personal background. Race,
color, ancestry, schooling, economic
circumstances, and many other factors
are indeed often very significant in
determining the viewpoint expressed by
even the most unbiased of historical
writers. Professor Hulme flatly de-
clared that "perfect
detachment" among historians is impossible, is in
fact "a myth." He went on to
express the view that history of all kinds
is "colored" by the personal
equation, sometimes indeed rather slightly
but at other times very deeply.
Circumstances of time and place, he said,
are important in determining the trend
of historical interpretation, and the
personal background of the author is apt
to be of great significance. His-
torians at best, he said, are not
machines on the one hand or angels on
Pacific Historical Review (Glendale, Calif.), II (1933/34), 129ff.
154
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the other, but very human individuals
trying in varying degree to rise
above their own personal prejudices and
predilections. Hence, wholly
objective history, he said, is probably
as impossible as objective art and
possibly no more desirable.
Many historians would agree that
objective history is difficult to pro-
duce and that an insistence upon a
thorough detachment is a perfection not
to be attained in a world of human
limitations. But many would hold
tenaciously to the view that such an
objectivity must be devoutly sought
in every possible way as the only worthy
goal of historical effort.
My principal purpose today, however, is
not to deal with "The Per-
sonal Equation in History," with
the extent to which the writer of his-
tory may succeed in transcending the
personal equation in presenting a
clear and complete picture of the past.
Rather my hope is to present
rather briefly my views as to the
importance of personality in the making,
not the recording or the explaining of
history. In other words the inten-
tion is to make some observations on the
importance of individuals as
participators in the molding of past events
rather than as chroniclers and
interpreters of the past.
In presenting historical material, every
historical writer or teacher
has been confronted with the problem of
the use of the chronological
method on the one hand, or the topical
on the other and has invariably
arrived at some degree of compromise.
But he has also been confronted
with the question of emphasis in the
presentation of his material. As
Professor Charles A. Beard has pointed
out, written history is, in a sense,
"an act of faith."2 Accordingly,
the faith which the historical writer
places in the various possible
approaches will obviously color his interpre-
tations of past events.
Historians have differed of course as to
the number of such ap-
proaches that they have deemed
significant. Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes, the
rather iconoclastic historical writer,
but one whose comments are often
very thought-provoking, published a year
and a half ago a volume entitled,
A History of Historical Writing.3 In it he mentioned seven usual avenues
of approach to history. These, with some
changes in the order of their
presentation, we may consider with brief
comments.
One is the geographical, a factor which
has, at least at times, been
of interest to the historical writer
since the days of the Greek physician
and author, Hippocrates, who pointed out
the effects of climate upon dis-
ease. In recent years few interpreters
of this school have been so in-
fluential as Ellsworth Huntington, who
has written such books as Civiliza-
tion and Climate 4 and with Sumner W. Cushing, Principles of Human
Geography.5 Perhaps we should also mention Ellen Churchill Semple,
who died in 1932, the author of American
History and Its Geographic Con-
2 The American Historical Review (New York), XXXIX (1933/34), 219-31.
3 (Norman, Oklahoma, 1937).
4 (New Haven, 1915).
5 (New York, 1920).
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE:
PROCEEDINGS 155
ditions.6 Also of interest to the well-informed student of
American his-
tory are the writings of Frederick
Jackson Turner, who showed the way
in which certain geographical regions
have, through their inter-develop-
ment, diversified and enriched the
American nation. But the importance
of the geographical element in history
need not be taken upon the word
of the historian. Its importance is so
evident that all who run may see
the evidences of its significance. Even today when modern inventions
have eliminated certain limitations of
space, the American people are con-
stantly aware of the importance of the
three thousand mile geographical
distance which separates them from the
immediate danger of threatened
borders and devastating air raids. Great
Britain, on the other hand, while
appreciative of the value of the English
Channel as sort of a moat sepa-
rating her from the direct threats of
continental neighbors realizes that
geographically her "splendid
isolation" is gone forever.
A second approach to history is the
sociological. This avenue en-
deavors to utilize an analysis of the
origin and activities of social groups
in arriving at an interpretation of the
past. Many students of southern
history in the United States have found
this method definitely helpful. In
the ante-bellum South some writers have
grouped the population of the
region below the Mason-Dixon line into a
number of categories, includ-
ing the planting aristocracy; the
professional classes who were dependent
upon their patronage; the more or less
prosperous yeoman farmers; the
poor Georgia "crackers,"
Alabama "hill-billies," etc.; and finally the
negro slaves.
Likewise utilizing the sociological
approach, many students have found
in the varying contributions of
immigrant groups, such as the Scotch-
Irish, the Pennsylvania
"Dutch," the Swedes, the Germans, the Greeks,
the Italians, the Poles, and many others
a key to a fuller understanding
of American life.
A third approach is the scientific and
technological. This lays great
stress upon an appraisal of the amount
of scientific knowledge possessed
at a given time and the extent to which
inventive genius has adapted it
to the needs of the common life. Those
who emphasize this factor are
persuaded that tremendous national
resources may be of little significance
to history when technical knowledge is
such that they are unexploited and
unused for practical purposes.
A fourth approach is the much discussed
economic interpretation of
history. Karl Marx of course gave the
classic expression to this view,
and his position has been followed,
often less dogmatically, by many Euro-
pean and American historians. Such persons believe that economic re-
sources and institutions are of primary
significance in determining the
trend of social development and cultural
change. Among such writers we
find Henri See, author of The
Economic Interpretation of History.7
6 (Boston and New York, 1903).
7 American edition (New
York, 1929).
156
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
A fifth approach has sometimes been
called the spiritual interpreta-
tion. Over twenty years ago Shailer
Mathews, long dean of University
of Chicago Divinity School, wrote a
volume called The Spiritual Interpre-
tation of History.8 Since that time there have been others who have sought
to discover certain spiritual dynamics
by which men have moved forward
toward a freer and fuller life.
A sixth approach, a relatively new one,
is the "collective psycholog-
ical." This is an attempt to bring
together into a synthesis the various
factors, not to be found in a single
category, which determine the trends
of the life of an era. Under this view,
science, technology, economic
institutions, all are important in
influencing social, political, and religious
standards, and thus a dominant pattern
for the civilization of the period
is created.
It should be mentioned in passing that
Dr. Barnes dismisses in rather
cavalier fashion one approach which long
has been followed by a large
portion of historians, the political.
Edward Augustus Freeman, the noted
nineteenth century historian of England,
who described history as "past
politics," has been the most
celebrated exponent of this tendency. Indeed
the education of each one of us present
today has been definitely affected
by this view. Under this conception the
reigns of kings and dynasties
and the vicissitudes of parties and
political organizations are of preeminent
importance in analyzing the collective
life of a nation. Accordingly, how
many of us have learned to name in order
the kings of England and the
Presidents of the United States!
Intimately associated with this political
approach is that which emphasizes the
significance of the military and
naval factors in national life. The late
Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan,
who wrote such volumes as Influence
of Sea Power upon History, 1660-
17839 and Sea Power in Its Relation to the War of 1812,10 was undoubtedly
the most important writer in this
particular field of interpretation.
Those who minimize the value of the
political approach to history
will perhaps assert that their own lives
have been more influenced by the
stock quotations for U. S. Steel or
General Electric at the time they entered
college than by the fact that the
Democrats or Republicans happened to
be in control of Congress at that
period. Others will retort of course
that the value of U. S. Steel or almost
any other stock at a given time
is definitely affected by the friendly
or unfriendly attitude toward business
manifested by the political party that
is in power.
However that may be, Dr. Barnes does not
omit from his list of
present-day approaches to historical
interpretation the personal element,
the one to which we are to direct our
principal attention today.
Among historical writers of by-gone
generations, those who have
been best known for their stressing of
the personal element in history are
8 (Cambridge, Mass., 1916).
9 (Boston, 1890).
10 (Boston, 1905), 2v.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE:
PROCEEDINGS 157
Thomas Carlyle and James Anthony Froude.
To these British historians,
history was in essence a kind of
collective biography. In other words,
the story of human life was to them
little more than "the lengthened
shadow" of the great men of all
times. The viewpoint of such historians
was essentially aristocratic. Carlyle
interpreted history in terms of the
dramatic careers of its great
personalities. Hence his great literary achieve-
ments, Life and Letters of Oliver
Cromwe,ll The History of Friedrich
the Second Called Frederick the
Great,12 and the French
Revolution13 are
distinguished especially for their vivid
portrayal of the glittering per-
sonalities who were associated with
these eras. Though abler as an in-
terpreter and less prejudiced than his
well-known predecessor, Froude em-
ployed much the same method as Carlyle,
the aggrandizement of the
masterful character. Hence, in his History
of England from the Fall of
Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth14 we find striking portrayals of such
individuals as Henry VIII and John Knox.
In theory, Carlyle early believed in
stressing the part played by all
personalities--great and small--in the
influencing of human affairs. Actually
his enthusiasm for the powerful figures
whose careers he portrayed be-
came so great as to relegate the masses
of mankind to absorption in the
herd of lesser folk or to membership in
an undisciplined mob, as was
his conception of the part played by the
rank and file of Frenchmen in
the French Revolution.15
For some decades there has been a
definite tendency, in analyzing
the affairs of mankind, to minimize the
importance of the single individual.
The universe has seemed so large that
the influence of one individual has
often appeared to be so infinitesimal as
to be wholly inconsequential. There-
fore, a kind of "astronomical
intimidation" has brought a feeling of de-
featism to more than one modern man. The
resulting philosophy of many
has been characterized by a spirit of
cynicism which has been very little
different from the preacher of old who
cried out, "Vanity of vanities,
all is vanity."
It has not been the idea alone of the
immensity of the universe, how-
ever, that has sometimes caused the
personal element in the affairs of the
world to seem trivial indeed. There has
also been the feeling that economic
forces, social tendencies, and political
trends, have controlled the affairs
of men and that individuals have
functioned much like little bubbles rising
to the top of a mighty stream.
Our purpose at this time is not to argue
anew the age-long question
as to whether man is the master of his
fate and the captain of his soul
or even to discuss in non-theological
terms the old controversy between
11 (New York, 1845), 2v.
12 (London, 1858-1865), 6v.
13 (London, 1837), 3v.
14 (London, 1856-1870), 12v.
15 B. H. Lehman, Carlyle's Theory of
the Hero (Durham, 1928), 56-61.
158
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
free will and predestination. It is
true, nevertheless, that as we look over
the world today it may seem indeed that
in country after country the
average single individual is of little
consequence. The philosophy of Nazi
Germany and of other totalitarian states
in truth embodies the view that
the state is all important and that the
individual as such is of little or no
consequence except as he contributes to
the glorification of the nation.
Yet, the dictator states themselves have
emphasized--perhaps after the
manner of a Carlyle--the personal
element in history. One certainly can-
not disparage the influence of
personality in history at a time when from
month to month a nervous world awaits
with bated breath the latest radio
utterances of an Adolph Hitler, or to a
much lesser extent, the pronounce-
ments of a Mussolini or a Franco or a
Chamberlain.
One certainly cannot disparage the
influence of personality in history,
moreover, as one reviews the happenings
in America during the last six
years and calmly appraises the great
importance--for good or evil--of
the activities of Franklin D. Roosevelt
in both domestic and foreign affairs.
On the other hand, it must be pointed
out that, even in the case of
the most powerful individual, favorable
circumstances have contributed to,
indeed made possible, the outstanding
influence of such a personality. The
times apparently were ripe in 1829, for
the rise to great power of such
a man as Andrew Jackson, and the
post-World War period for the emer-
gence of a Mussolini. The extent to
which really creative effort can be
attributed to the masterful individual
and the extent to which the accom-
plishments of such a person are the
results of irresistible movements
separable from his leadership are
problems of great difficulty for the
biographer and historian.16
It is not the purpose of this paper to
do any special pleading for the
idea of the importance of the personal
element in history. Most historians
probably agree that so many factors
enter into any well-rounded interpre-
tation of the past that no single
approach is wholly adequate. Clearly,
however, the element of personality is
one factor which cannot safely be
ignored in any satisfactory
interpretation of history. Hence, it is the duty
of students of the past to obtain as
clear a view as possible of the part
played by individuals in the making of
the world what it is today.
The importance of the personal element
in history has been recog-
nized in recent years in the United
States in many ways. Not incon-
spicuous among these has been the
preparation and publication in twenty
large volumes (with an additional index
volume) of the monumental
Dictionary of American Biography. These volumes, edited by Allen John-
son and Dumas Malone, and published over
the period from 1928 to 1936,
contain detailed biographical sketches
of 13,633 prominent Americans of
every generation (although no living
persons are included). As many as
2,243 different authors, generally
specialists in the period and field in which
16 Edward P. Cheyney, Law in History and Other Essays (New
York, 1927), 163-4.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE:
PROCEEDINGS 159
the subject lived and worked contributed
to this colossal undertaking.
Some of the biographical sketches are in
themselves fairly extensive, no
less than seventy-six of them extending
to the length of five thousand words
or more. In some cases, moreover, these
biographical contributions con-
stitute probably the best
characterizations to be found anywhere in print,
as in the instances of Thomas Jefferson
and Woodrow Wilson.17 In addi-
tion, thousands of characters who
contributed significantly to American
life in all of its phases--social,
political, economic, cultural, and religious--
have been rescued from some degree of
oblivion.
In many instances in preparing these
biographical sketches, the authors
communicated with, by letter or
personally interviewed relatives and friends
of the individual whose life story was
to be told. Thus, often information
which would soon have vanished, to some
extent at least, was preserved
for future reference.
In the composing of a number of sketches
for these volumes I myself
found that I had some measure of
experience of this kind. For example,
in the case of one prominent individual,
once a United States Senator,
whose middle initial was B., I found no
indication of the name for which
this stood. I searched older
biographical dictionaries and county and local
histories; I wrote fruitlessly to an
historical society of which the Senator
had been a patron, to the surviving
widow of one of his grandchildren,
and to the custodian of the records of
Hamilton College at Clinton, New
York, from which he had been graduated.
Finally through the mediation of
the chairman of the board of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer who has since
died, information was obtained from a
surviving granddaughter, who
reported that her prominent ancestor had
been christened without a middle
name. Arriving at the age of maturity he
had become definitely conscious
of the lack of a middle initial and had
adopted the letter B. because he
thought that it blended harmoniously
with the rest of his name. Thus,
the middle initial signified just that and
nothing more.
In another case I found that a
distinguished Congressman of bygone
days had, according to various newspaper
accounts in his home city, left
one son and one daughter. But other
papers stated that he was survived
by a son and two daughters. Finally,
after writing numerous letters and
securing no satisfactory answer to my
query, I got in touch with the
clergyman who had officiated at the
Congressman's funeral. This reverend
gentleman ascertained for me that there
had been one son and one daughter
and a granddaughter who had been raised
as a child of the family. Thus,
a very easily explained discrepancy in
the newspaper accounts was cleared up.
For the student of American biography
and genealogy these twenty
volumes of the Dictionary of American
Biography constitute a rich mine
of source material. Here, for example,
are somewhat extensive accounts
17 Review by Arthur M. Schlesinger in American
Historical Review, XLII
(1936/37), 769 ff.
160
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of no less than forty-two persons by the
surname of Adams; twenty-one
by that of Abbot or Abbott; nineteen by
that of Baker; sixteen by that of
Anderson; sixteen by that of Bradford;
fifteen by that of Alexander;
fifteen by that of Ames; and fifteen by
that of Bell. For further pur-
poses of illustration, if we turn to the
end of the alphabet, we find that
there, too, numerous surnames are
represented a considerable number of
times: Williams, fifty-seven times;
Whyte, thirty-eight times; Wilson and
Willson, thirty-six times; Wood and
Woods, thirty-five times; Ward,
thirty-two times; Walker, thirty times;
and Wright, thirty times.18
Among recent writers in the field of
American history perhaps none
has emphasized the personal element
more ably than Professor Allan
Nevins, of Columbia University, who has
written numerous biographies
of leading figures in the American life
of bygone generations. Utilizing
something of the Carlyle method but with
the restraint of scientific schol-
arship, Nevins in his extensive
biography of Grover Cleveland, of which
the sub-title is A Study in
Courage,19 has included practically a history of
the national administration during the
period of Cleveland's Presidencies.
In his volume dealing with the careers
of Peter Cooper and Abram S.
Hewitt20 we find much material on the
very basis of business invention,
and philanthropy in New York during the
latter part of the nineteenth
century; and in his life of Hamilton
Fish,21 secretary of state under Ulysses
S. Grant, we find as clear a
pen-portrait of Grant and other notables and
as definite an analysis of the political
trends of that period as are available
in print.
It is interesting to note that the
importance of the personal element
in history has made such an appeal to
some educational leaders that at a
number of American colleges, notably
Dartmouth, courses are given in
American biography. At the above-mentioned
institution in New Hamp-
shire, one course is given on American
Political Biography, 1776-1865 and
another on the same subject, 1865-1935.22
Since this session is a joint session of
an historical society and a
genealogical society, perhaps it is
appropriate for us to point out the inti-
mate relationship between biography and
history on the one hand and
genealogy on the other. Scholars in
various fields of course have never
agreed as to the extent to which
heredity or environment has been the
determining factor in the molding of
personality. Doubtless both are im-
portant; hence any student of the
personal element in history is much
interested in the type of forebears from
whom an individual is descended
and the kind of interests which these
forebears cherished and which helped
to determine the personality of the
younger members of the family.
18 From reviews by Arthur M. Schlesinger, ibid., XXXV (1929/30),
119ff;
XLII, 769ff.
19 (New
York, 1932).
24 Abram
S. Hewitt: with Some Account of Peter
Cooper (New York, 1935).
21 (New York,
1936).
22 Dartmouth
College Bulletin (Hanover, N. H.),
Third Ser., (1935/36), 125.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE: PROCEEDINGS 161
Apparently the able editors of the Dictionary
of American Biography
held this in mind when they insisted
that, wherever possible, contributors
should give exact and not too limited
data concerning the immediate ances-
tors of the individual whose life-story
was being told. Time and time
again, they were not content with the
amount of material of this kind
originally submitted by the
contributors, hence they often insisted upon a
more extended analysis of the family
background.
The editors of this well-known
biographical dictionary have not been
alone in such an emphasis. We note the
same interest in ancestry among
the numerous biographers of George
Washington, who have taken great
pains to trace the family, generation by
generation, to the Washingtons of
Sulgrave, Northampton, England.
In the case of Abraham Lincoln--to use
another of the standard
examples in American history--although
the martyred President himself
could trace his ancestry back no farther
than to certain forebears who
had lived in Berks County, Pennsylvania,
scholars have interested them-
selves in the subject and have followed
the line, step by step, as far back
as Samuel Lincoln, who in 1637 settled
in Hingham, Massachusetts, having
come from an English community of the
same name. On the side of
Lincoln's mother there has been much
misinformation, much supposition,
and much heated controversy.23 Apparently
the mother, Nancy Hanks Lin-
coln, was the illegitimate child of Lucy
Hanks, hence there has been con-
siderable conjecture as to Lincoln's
maternal grandfather and to the extent
to which a possibly superior personality
in that instance may have trans-
mitted to Lincoln certain elements of
strength. In connection with the
Hanks line, moreover, one writer, Rev.
William E. Barton (father of the
present New York Congressman, Bruce
Barton) has conjectured that
Lincoln's ancestry is linked with the
family of Robert E. Lee.24 Barton's
tireless interest in such phases of
Lincoln's background was so great that
he contributed to the discussion a
number of volumes including (in addition
to The Lineage of Lincoln) The Paternity
of Abraham Lincoln--Was He
the Son of Thomas Lincoln: An Essay
on the Chastity of Nancy Hanks.25
In the case of Woodrow Wilson, his
biographers have placed much
stress upon the importance of his
Scotch-Irish ancestry in shaping his
career. Thus, William Allen White, the
well-known Kansas journalist,
in his biography of Wilson has a whole
chapter devoted to the significance
of Wilson's ancestry. Entitled the
"Miracle of Heredity," this chapter
suggests that the War President acquired
from his Wilson ancestry much
of his ability as an active leader in
public affairs and from his Woodrow
forebears his definite interest in
theoretical ideals.26 Similarly, Ray Stan-
23 See bibliographical note by James G.
Randall in Dictionary of American
Biography (New York, 1928-1937), XI, 258-9.
24 See chapter, "Lincoln Was a Lee," in The Lineage of
Lincoln (Indianapolis,
1929), 196-211.
25 (New York, 1920).
26 (Boston and New York, 1924), 8-27.
162
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
nard Baker, in his many-volume Life
and Letters of Woodrow Wilson has
devoted twenty-seven pages to a
discussion of the Wilson and Woodrow
families as important factors in
determining the destiny of their distin-
guished descendant.27 Incidentally,
I have used some private letters and
other materials relating to Wilson's
ancestry that had not been previously
utilized by the biographers of the World
War President. These previously
unexploited sources have been the basis
for an article, "The Middle Western
Antecedents of Woodrow Wilson,"
which I presented in the Mississippi
Valley Historical Review for December, 1936.28 In this connection it is
interesting to know how Woodrow Wilson's
grandfather, James Wilson, a
Steubenville editor and politician,
could insist, in writing to a friend that
they owed a definite responsibility to
him. In one letter he frankly stated:
"I have so many boys I do not know
what to do with them. I cannot
afford to set them up in any business
and my friends must take care of
them." In another communication he expressed his adherence to "the
notion (not altogether, perhaps,
a Yankee notion) than when a man has
friends he ought to use them." On
one occasion when insisting upon cer-
tain patronage for his newspaper he
flatly declared, "This, I think, so far
as I am concerned I have a right to insist
upon and have a right to get mad
if not done. I say nothing about merits,
services to the people and all
that." 29 Although Woodrow Wilson
was born in Virginia and spent his
youth in the deeper South, his immediate
forebears were Ohioans, and it
will always be a matter of conjecture as
to how much middle-western
influences had a bearing upon the
molding of his personality.
Many writers in American history and
biography have indeed stressed
the significance of ancestry in its
effect upon the careers of important
Americans. Thus, William Allen White,
the Emporia (Kansas) editor
whom we have previously mentioned, in
his interesting recent biography
of Calvin Coolidge, significantly
entitled A Puritan in Babylon, has care-
fully indicated the influence of
Coolidge's Vermont ancestry on the forming
of the rather enigmatical character of
the twenty-ninth President of the
United States.30
Furthermore the significance of family
associations in relation to
American biography has recently been
stressed by such writers as James
Truslow Adams in his articulated study
of numerous prominent Adamses
in The Adams Family 31 and by
Burton J. Hendrick in his similar account
of The Lees of Virginia.32
In conclusion, may it be suggested that
the student of genealogy can
find in the biographical sketches of
many of these famous men considerable
insight into some of the possibilities
of genealogical research. Over twenty-
27 Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters (Garden City, 1927), I, Youth.
28 Vol. XXIII, 375-90.
29 Ibid., 382-3.
30 (New York, 1938).
31 (Boston, 1930).
32 (Boston, 1935).
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE:
PROCEEDINGS 163
five years ago, Charles K. Bolton,
librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, in
an address on "Genealogy and
History" before the American Historical
Association assembled in Boston (1912)
showed how, as he said, "the
vicissitudes of families conceal the
very sources of political and economic
history." He urged, accordingly,
that genealogists, in their researches
concern themselves not merely with the names,
births, marriages and deaths
of various members of the families
involved, but with the environment,
activities, and existing states of
culture. By doing this, the genealogist
may combine with his interest in vital
statistics an appreciation of the part,
however small, played by the individuals
whose records are being traced,
in the life of the day in which they
lived.33 By doing this, moreover, the
genealogist may understand, as never
before, the importance of the "Per-
sonal Element in History."
33 American Historical Review, XVIII (1912/13), 467.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE:
PROCEEDINGS 153
ing with the connections I must leave
behind me, but the society of our
friends but poorly compensates for the
want of a subsistence. We have a
large circle of little ones dependent on
us, and I know of no persuit that
would give me more pleasure than that of
providing an easy Liveing for
them."
Emigration has ever played its part in
the making of history and in
every land since Moses led his trusting
band to the land of "milk and
honey," there has been a lure that
beckons men to fields afar, for homes
must be established and little mouths
fed, and there must be weaving and
spinning. Yes, a nation is made up of
the hearts of mothers, the wisdom
of fathers, and the joyous laughter of
children. "Within the mirrors of
their children's radiant eyes I see
envisioned all the hopes and fears of men
and women, who 'neath alien skies
transmuted wilderness to paradise."
The last speaker at this session was
Professor Francis Phelps
Weisenburger of the Department of
History of the Ohio State
University.
THE PERSONAL ELEMENT IN HISTORY
By FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER
My subject today is very similar in its
wording to that taken a few
years ago by Professor Edward M. Hulme
of Stanford University, Cali-
fornia, in his presidential address
before the Pacific Coast Branch of the
American Historical Association. At that
time he spoke on the topic,
"The Personal Equation in
History."1 The matter which he discussed,
however, was a very different one from
that which I have in view in com-
menting upon "The Personal Element
in History." Professor Hulme had
in mind of course the extent to which
the writer of history, however objec-
tive his intentions, is necessarily
influenced in his selection of data and
in his interpretation of events by his
own personal background. Race,
color, ancestry, schooling, economic
circumstances, and many other factors
are indeed often very significant in
determining the viewpoint expressed by
even the most unbiased of historical
writers. Professor Hulme flatly de-
clared that "perfect
detachment" among historians is impossible, is in
fact "a myth." He went on to
express the view that history of all kinds
is "colored" by the personal
equation, sometimes indeed rather slightly
but at other times very deeply.
Circumstances of time and place, he said,
are important in determining the trend
of historical interpretation, and the
personal background of the author is apt
to be of great significance. His-
torians at best, he said, are not
machines on the one hand or angels on
Pacific Historical Review (Glendale, Calif.), II (1933/34), 129ff.