NOTES
57
THE SEMI-COLON
CLUB OF CINCINNATI
1. On December 2, 1963, the name of the
Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio
was changed to: The Cincinnati
Historical Society.
2. The manuscripts were donated to the
society by Davis L. James, Jr., in 1934. The
Semi-Colon magazine (Nos. I-III, 1845) contains brief essays,
which presumably were
presented at the meetings. In further
support of this contention, the society's copy
has the names of Edwin Cranch, Mrs.
Charles Stetson, Samuel Foote, and Tracy Howe
inscribed in it; all were prominent in
the club. About thirteen Semi-Colon essays and
poems are printed in Appendix IV of John
P. Foote, Memoirs of the Life of Samuel
E. Foote (Cincinnati, 1860), 244-287.
3. The precise dates of origin and death
of the club are difficult to determine. Con-
temporary sources are at variance. One
source states that the club functioned from
about 1829 to 1846. Another writes that
it terminated during the "Panic of 1837." The
fact that The Semi-Colon magazine
was published in 1845 suggests that the club was
still functioning in the mid-1840's.
4. See Bernard Mayo, "Lexington:
Frontier Metropolis," in Eric F. Goldman, ed.,
Historiography and Urbanization (Baltimore, 1941), 21-42; Niels H. Sonne, Liberal
Kentucky, 1780-1828 (New York, 1939), 160-242.
5. There are only two main works which
treat cultural and intellectual developments
in Cincinnati at any length: William H.
Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in
the Ohio Valley: Historical and
Biographical Sketches (Cincinnati,
1891), and Ralph
L. Rusk, The Literature of the Middle
Western Frontier (New York, 1926). In both
books the coverage is spotty, not
concentrated. For the early period, see James M.
Miller, The Genesis of Western
Culture: The Upper Ohio Valley, 1800-1825 (Columbus,
Ohio, 1938).
6. Frances Trollope, Domestic Manners
of the Americans, ed. by Donald Smalley
(New York, 1949); see pages 52-180 in
particular.
7. See, for example: Harriet Martineau, Retrospect
of Western Travel (London,
1838), II, 56; Frederick Marryat, Diary
in America, with Remarks on Its Institutions
(Paris, 1839), 167-171; John Quincy
Adams to William Greene, May 1844, Greene
Papers, Cincinnati Historical Society;
David Shaffer to Hiram Powers, April 16, 1860,
Hiram Powers Papers, Cincinnati
Historical Society.
8. Cleveland Herald and Gazette, August
25, 1837, quoted in Cincinnati Daily Gazette,
September 1, 1837.
9. The full range of Cincinnati's
cultural and intellectual life can be determined by
the many types of agencies cited in
Charles Cist, Cincinnati in 1841 (Cincinnati, 1841),
109-141. This work is also excellent for
tracing the economic growth of Cincinnati.
10. Foote, Memoirs of Samuel E.
Foote, 176-180.
11. Undated Cranch manuscript in the
Library of Congress. Cranch presents a
brief history of the club.
12. On Daniel Drake, see Emmet F.
Horine, Daniel Drake (1785-1852), Pioneer
Physician of the Midwest (Philadelphia, 1961), and Edward D. Mansfield, Memoirs
of the Life and Services of Daniel
Drake (Cincinnati, 1855).
13. Cranch manuscript.
14. This explanation is found in a
number of contemporary documents.
15. Cranch manuscript.
16. Semi-Colon Club Manuscripts, No. 23.
A striking pencil sketch on the document
points to Cranch as its author.
17. The 1830's, in particular, produced
some devastating cholera epidemics.
18. Foote, Memoirs of Samuel E.
Foote, 183-184. Foote later built up another fortune
in the insurance business. In the 1840's
he moved his family back to New Haven,
Connecticut.
19. Forrest Wilson writes that the club
dissolved with the loss of the Foote home
as a meeting place. He offers no source.
Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet
Reecher Stowe (Philadelphia, 1941), 197.
20. Foote, Memoirs of Samuel E.
Foote, 179-180.
21. Wilson, Crusader in Crinoline, 123.
22. Venable, Literary Culture in the
Ohio Valley, 420.
23. American Notes and Pictures from
Italy (London and New York, 1893), 143.
Timothy Walker, one of the members,
sponsored a party for Dickens and his wife.
Walker Diary, April 5, 1842. Cincinnati
Historical Society.
24. See No. 25, for example. The impact
of Dickens' visit to Cincinnati is reflected
by allusions to Dickensian characters in a number of
the papers.
25. Foote, Memoirs of Samuel E.
Foote, 180.
26. Greene's activities as a cultural
leader of Cincinnati can be traced in the large
collection of William Greene Papers
owned by the Cincinnati Historical Society.