Ohio History Journal

Historical News

 

 

 

A GENERAL REORGANIZATION of the headquarters staff of the National

Trust for Historic Preservation has been announced by Robert Garvey,

Jr., executive director. William J. Murtagh, formerly assistant to

the director, now heads a newly created department of education, and

Mrs. Helen Duprey Bullock, formerly historian and editor, directs the

department of information, which issues Preservation News, a new

monthly publication. Newly appointed to the staff is Robert G. Stewart,

former planning consultant of the St. Louis Historic Building Commis-

sion, who was named director of the department of properties.

 

The post office department has announced plans for the first com-

memorative stamps of the new administration. Five stamps will be

issued, one each year, during the observance of the Civil War centennial

as the department's contribution to the centennial. The five stamps with

dates of issue are as follows: Fort Sumter, April 12, 1961; Shiloh,

April 6, 1962; Gettysburg, July 1, 1963; the Wilderness, May 5, 1964;

and Appomattox, April 9, 1965.

 

The Ohio Civil War Centennial Commission began publication in

January of a mimeographed bulletin of information on the activities of

the commission and of news items on local events in connection with

the observance of the centennial in the state.

 

J. Richard Lawwill, director of the Anthony Wayne Parkway Board,

is editor of the 1812 Newsletter, published by the Governor's Committee

for Commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the War of 1812. Three

numbers of the mimeographed bulletin have been issued since May 1960.

 

The biennial report of H. T. Swinney, director of the Idaho State

Historical Society, indicates a remarkable accomplishment for a very

small full-time staff. Some of the progress made was credited to a group

of part-time volunteer workers from the Junior League of Boise, who

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assisted in organizing and indexing the extensive photograph collections

and in cataloging the historical collections. An unusual feature of the

society's program is a marionette theater, which is used to present the

story of the discovery of gold in Idaho for fourth grade classes. This

project is carried on also with the cooperation of the Junior League.

The society received an American Association for State and Local

History award of merit in 1959 for its general program.

 

Another publication of interest is the annual report of Louis C. Jones,

director of the New York State Historical Association. The adult

program of the association is highlighted by the annual Seminars on

American Culture, attended by over 350 persons in the summer of 1960,

and the annual local history workshops. The association's junior pro-

gram is outstanding for its 232 "Yorker" chapters with 8,324 members

and for its annual junior livestock show at the Farmers' Museum at

Cooperstown.

 

The Minnesota Historical Society has begun publication of a four-

page illustrated bimonthly newsletter, Minnesota History News. It is

edited by the assistant director, Robert C. Wheeler, who was formerly

newspaper librarian and field representative for the Ohio Historical

Society.

 

The Winterthur Museum of Winterthur, Delaware, and the University

of Delaware are offering for the ninth year the Winterthur Program

in Early American Culture. Five grants of two thousand dollars a year

for a two-year period are awarded to outstanding college seniors or

graduates preparing for careers in museums, historical societies, and

other historical agencies. The two-year program of studies at the

university and museum leads to a master of arts degree. There have

been thirty-four Winterthur graduates since the beginning of the

program.

 

Walter M. Whitehill of the Boston Athenaeum gave the address at

the annual meeting of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio

on December 5. On that date the associate director, Louis A. Tucker,

became director of the society, replacing Herbert F. Koch, who resigned.

On December 21 the society sponsored an open lecture on "Glass-

making in the Midwest." The speaker was Edward Noyes of Wisconsin

State College.

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HISTORICAL NEWS         159

 

Louis Filler of the history department of Antioch College addressed

the Michigan American Studies Association, meeting in Marshall on

November 5, on "Liberalism in America."

 

Kenneth E. Davison of the Heidelberg College history staff has

been granted a sabbatical leave for the fall semester to pursue research

on the American presidency.

James McKelvey has a leave of absence for the spring semester for

study in England.

 

Robert H. Jones of Kent State University's history department has

been awarded a research grant by the university for the summer of 1961.

Lawrence S. Kaplan is the recipient of a grant from the University

of Michigan for research at the Michigan library this summer.

William F. Zornow has been on leave during the winter to continue

research at the Truman Library, Independence, Missouri, for his

biography of Harry S. Truman.

Phillip R. Shriver's history of Kent State University, The Years of

Youth, has had a second printing.

Next year the course in Ohio history at Kent State will be composed

of six sections. Attendance in certain sections has run as high as 152

students.

 

Sister Mary Sean, S.N.D., has been added to the history staff at

Notre Dame College. Sister Mary Sean, who holds an M.A. degree

from the University of Notre Dame, is teaching contemporary American

history this semester.

The Notre Dame history department sponsored a workshop at the

Western Reserve Historical Society Museum and Library on February

22 for high school seniors interested in history.

 

During the last few months Eugene H. Roseboom, Francis P. Weisen-

burger, Henry H. Simms, and William P. Vaughn of Ohio State Uni-

versity have given talks and conducted discussions before the Columbus

Civil War Round Table, of which Dr. Simms was president during its

initial year.

Everett Walters is the chairman, Dr. Simms a member, and Kenneth

W. Wheeler a consultant of the advisory committee of the Ohio Civil

War Centennial Commission, which, in collaboration with the Ohio

State University Press and the Ohio Historical Society, is planning to

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publish a series of monographs on Ohio's part in the Civil War. Harry

L. Coles and Dr. Simms have already been commissioned to write

monographs in the series.

 

Robert L. Gilmore, from the University of California, Berkeley, has

been appointed an associate professor at Ohio University to teach Latin

American history, and Thomas McCormick, from the University of

Wisconsin, has been named an instructor in American diplomatic and

late nineteenth-century history. Dr. Gilmore will spend the summer of

1961 in Seville, working in the archives on the colonial period of Latin

American history.

John F. Cady will spend the second semester and the summer of 1961

at the University of London as part of a distinguished professor award

granted by Ohio University. He will also enjoy a Guggenheim Founda-

tion award during this time. He expects to complete his history of

Southeast Asia.

 

Andrew J. Townsend, professor of history and dean of the college

of arts and sciences at the University of Toledo, has been awarded a

Fulbright grant for lecturing in American history at Allahabad Uni-

versity, Allahabad, India, for the year 1961-62.

 

At Xavier University, the Rev. Frank D. Johnson, S.J., has been

added to the staff as instructor in political science and history. effective

February 1, 1961.

 

Alfred D. Low has been promoted to the rank of professor of history

at Youngstown University.

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