Ohio History Journal

ANNUAL ADDRESS OF F. C. SESSIONS, PRESI-

DENT OF THE SOCIETY.

Read in the Senate Chamber, at the Fourth Annual Meeting, Thurs-

day Evening, January 31, 1889.

ALMOST one year ago, this Society went to Marietta, O.,

to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the settle-

ment, by Americans, of the Northwest Territory, of which

Ohio is an integral part, and of which she is the oldest

State, and one of the most powerful of American common-

wealths. The settlement was hence the first by Americans

in Ohio. The year has been one prolific in events. We

have enjoyed the somewhat anomalous distinction of hold-

ing four centennials commemorative of a great, distinct

epoch in our history. Still these celebrations, though unlike

in ideas and in detail, have been to commemorate a

distinctive feature growing out of that settlement, and the

principle under which it was planted that April morning

in 1778.

These celebrations have borne good fruit. They have

been beneficial in many ways. They have aroused an

interest in our early history, and hence a closer study into

the causes that led to the founding of this nation, to its

struggles for national existence, to its ultimate triumph,

and to the planting in what was then the remote regions

of the West, of a colony under a system of laws, such as

the world had never before seen, and which it never can

forget. Nor has this commemorative work been confined

to mature intellects. The children in the public schools

have begun to ask the same questions, and to search for

the same answers. Thus there has been instilled into

the minds of thousands of Ohio youths, a wholesome re-

gard, and a desire for the truths of history. It is by a study

of the past that we learn how to shape our course in the

future. Hence the lesson and its solution by the pulpit,

548

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Annual Address of F. C. Sessions, President.  549

 

and in our schools for the last year, will bear fruit after

we have gone from the scenes of active and responsible life.

The boy and girl of to-day have learned a truth, that in after

years will bring results when they stand in society, and in the

State where we to-day stand.

It is not boasting to say that this Society has performed

an important part in all this action. In truth, if we go

to the fountain whence this stream of work started, we

shall see that the first impulse given to it, came from us.

Those of us present at the first meeting, four years ago,

to discuss the organization of such a society as this, will

remember the remark made by some one, that three years

hence would see the first centennial of historical import

in our State, whose celebration it would be wise now to

consider. The fundamental idea of the manner of such

celebration, and the lessons to be learned and impressed

on the youth of the State were then carefully considered,

and the policy outlined that afterward was followed. We

can now look back to that evening, and in the light of

what the year has done, weigh our words. We think we

are not mistaken, when we say that the people of Ohio

know more of their history, their origin, and their

progress as a State and a people than they knew two

years ago; and that this Society has been the instrument

in starting movements that have brought this about.

It is well also to cast a retrospective glance over the

immediate work of the society for the year now about closed.

What results has it attained, and what specific work has it

done.

All the members can testify what has been done in the

way of preserving history in printed form. All have re-

ceived the QUARTERLY, and can judge from the articles

therein printed what its work is. The publication of the

first number of the year, June, 1888, comprised the entire

proceedings, together with the addresses at the celebration

of April 7, at Marietta. "There is not a paper in that is-

sue," said one fully competent to judge, "that is not

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550    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

 

worth a year's membership." There, in compact, con-

venient form is a complete record of the proceedings.

commemorative of not only the founding of our State, but

also of the whole northwest part of the Union, whose

history and relationship to the Nation is akin to that of

New England. Succeeding numbers of the society's periodi-

cal have been devoted to papers that were necessarily

set aside for the June issue; and though not so voluminous,

each contains within itself material invaluable to the

student of our history. Of volume I of this publication,

practically no numbers remain, and it is only a question

of time when volume II will become exhausted. Through

this publication many valuable works are attained without

cost to the society, a factor that should not be lost

when we consider the value the society can be to the

State. The last Governor's message contains excellent

suggestions concerning the preservation, by printing, of

our State records. Already we have commenced this work,

and the suggestion comes directly in line with what

we have been advocating since our beginning.      There

are scattered throughout our public archives valuable

documents which the remorseless tooth of time is slowly

eating away. Some day future generations will not hold

us guiltless for this neglect, and acting as far as our means

and income will permit, we should preserve such as we

can in the pages of our QUARTERLY. The State should

come to our aid in this matter by authorizing the proper

officers to do this work, and by giving the means whereby it

can be done.   We must use our influence to this end,

and we trust each will feel it to be a personal matter and aid

in the effort.

The collection of library works has gone steadily for-

ward. Though no effort has been made to accumulate a

library for the reason that we have no safe place to keep

one, yet many valuable works come gratuitously. Such

are cared for by the Secretary as best he can. He should

not be charged with the duty of preserving them and

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Annual Address of F. C. Sessions, President.  551

 

caring for them in his own house; a place should be pro-

vided for them and for all that are offered. This leads

me to speak of the proposed merging of our library into

that of the State, and also of the museum collection.

That such a step should be taken, no one who has consid-

ered the matter will for a moment deny. That it will

result in adding many valuable works to the library, and

thus be a saving financially, is also apparent. Two libraries

should not be built up in the Capitol.  Both the State

and the society pursue often the same line of research,

and hence accumulate the same material. The accumulation

of one in the same line of thought is sufficient, and

hence the energies should be so directed that though both

pursue the same policy, each should be so divided and

managed that each will bring a different result, equally

of interest and benefit to the library. It is not only desirable,

but preferable, that the united collection be kept in one

depository in the State-house and be under one manage-

ment. Two museums and two libraries should not be

created.

The State Library was established early in the history

of the State by the General Assembly. Originally, many

law books were kept in the library, but as room became

scarce by the collections of years, and the courts of the

State grew in importance and labor, the law books be-

came a library to themselves, and now, as they should,

form an independent library, under the control of the

Supreme Conrt, whose members elect the officers. Hence

a uniform and wise policy has followed the selection of

books for this library, a policy it is now hoped to establish in

the library of miscellaneous books.

The gathering and make-up of a library and museum

is essentially the work of a State Historical Society. Such

a society, composed of members in all parts of the com-

monwealth, continually secures works that bear on the

political, historical, material, social and economical ques-

tions of the day, and hence receives the friendly aid of

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552    0hio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

 

hundreds of citizens, who could not, in any other way, be

interested.  The collection of the society  becomes the

property of the state, and hence it is always giving more than

it receives.

The best example of any State is that of Wisconsin.

About ten years ago, the influence of the State Historical

Society, of Wisconsin, was secured, and by the help of

generous aid on the part of the State, judiciously man-

aged under a system not subject to political or other

changes, there is now in Madison, a library and museum,

the equal of which cannot be found anywhere. Kansas

has shown great advancement under a somewhat similar

system. Just what should be done in Ohio, is a point to

consider. The influence of this Society, with its extended

membership, can be made an important factor, and one

of great usefulness. A well-defined policy should be adopted

subject to no hasty changes, and those only after mature and

careful consideration.

In Wisconsin there is a remarkable collection of pamphlets

relating to the late civil war, hardly equalled in the

country, and is comprised in many bound volumes, each

carefully indexed. We also hear there has been placed

in this library a complete collection of pamphlets, books,

and newspaper clippings relating to the "tariff ques-

tion" - a complete tariff library, so to speak.   Such

collections show  wise fore - thought, and preserve the

very essence of current literature, embodying the eco-

nomical, historical, and political questions of the day.

The report of the Kansas Society's work in the

library for the year 1887, shows: "periodicals, 1,007;

single newspapers and newspaper cuttings, containing

special historical material, 269; maps, atlases, etc., 60;

manuscripts, 228; pictures, 170; miscellaneous contribu-

tions, 51; script, currency, etc., 5. Thus it will be seen

that the library additions of books, pamphlets, and news-

paper files during the year number 3413 volumes. But

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Annual Address of F. C. Sessions, President.     553

 

note, of these 3188 have been procured by gift, and but 225

by purchase."l

An examination of the report shows less than ten per

cent. purchased, and over ninety per cent. donation and

exchange. All this in addition to valuable museum do-

nations. In our own State the donation is hardly twenty

per cent. Somehow people will give to a society. It

should also be said here that the Ohio Society is prepared

to do what no other Society can do, or has done. It now

maintains an excellent periodical, issued quarterly, which

it can exchange free of expense for every periodical

worthy a place on the library shelves. Thus it not only

offers free to the State, an exchange list worth hundreds

of dollars annually, all of which is now an outlay of

money. Further, through this publication, many valuable

and expensive books can be obtained free. It can thus,

and will, save annually, through this medium alone, hundreds

of dollars' worth of books annually more than is now

obtained.

The character and magnitude of the work undertaken,

and being carried forward by the Ohio Society is peculiar

and almost anomalous. Hence duties imposed upon the

Society, and the privileges conferred upon it have not

been so well understood by the public, and by members

Since this address was delivered the "Sixth Biennial Report" of the

Kansas Historical Society, whose library is the "State Library," has

been issued. This report shows the following remarkable statement:

"During the period covered by this report-1887 and 1888-there have

been added to the Library, bound volumes, 1,619; unbound volumes

and pamphlets, 9,250; volumes of newspapers and periodicals, 1,995;

single newspapers, 1,734. Maps, atlases and charts, 116; manuscripts,

662; pictures and works of art, 275; scrip currency, coins and medals,

32; war relics, 12; miscellaneous, 229. The Library additions, not in-

cluding duplicates, number 12,864; of these, 12,001 have been procured

by gift, and 863 by purchase. The Kansas State Library is under control

of a Board of Trustees, modeled somewhat on the Wisconsin plan,

managed in part by the Historical Society. It was founded in 1876.

and now contains 48,305 volumes. Its growth is sufficient evidence

of the value of the system.

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554    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

of the Legislature, as they should be. The Wisconsin

Historical Society affords the model upon which our

work, in its incipiency, is planned, and in the main is

what we wish to accomplish. Both Societies are volun-

tary associations.  Their members are private citizens.

Their officers are private citizens, elected by the members

of the Societies. Their mode of work has been devised,

and is being carried forward by plans, rules, and regula-

tions, made by their members and officers. Yet their

relation to the State, is such as is essential to the existence

of the Societies, and so far as there has been any experience

in such work in any State, it is a relation best calculated

to secure the accomplishent of such work, a work which it is

everywhere conceded every State should have done, and

the neglect of which has been greatly deplored where it has

been left undone.

Considering the relation of a State to an association of

its private citizens, it is not surprising that the duties

thus imposed by the State, and the compensation given

for performing them, should not for a time be properly

adjusted. The Society has not been in the habit of com-

plaining of lack of appreciation; for the appreciation has

everywhere been made manifest, and the Society has

always been confident that the lack of adequate means

for carrying on its work would prove to be but temporary.

The membership of the Society now extends to every

county in the State, and to many parts of the United

States.

It is in the preservation of the materials of the history

of the present growth and development of Ohio, in

which our friends in the East so much rejoice, that the

work of the society is most complete and comprehensive.

Before our society had begun its work, the printed mate-

rials of history of the earlier days had in large part been

dissipated and destroyed. The materials of the present day,

as they are daily and weekly being evolved from more

than a thousand busy printing presses, can all be saved in

the library. In this growth and development, Ohio has

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Annual Address of F. C. Sessions, President.  555

 

gone forward until it has reached, with all the appliances

of the best civilization the world has ever known, the re-

motest boundaries of our State; and now are to be found

printing presses in every county. Within the bounds of

the eighty-eight counties forming the State are being pub-

lished over 800 newspapers. These papers make a record,

week by week, of all the events occurring in the growth

of these counties, and   complete files of the princi-

pal ones can be secured and preserved in the library,

many the gift of their generous and thoughtful pub-

lishers.

It might be asked, and coming from persons who may

have given the subject no special attention, they might

seem proper questions, What is the necessity of a State

Historical Society and a State Historical Library? Why

has the Historical Society grown up at all? To these

questions it might be answered in brief that the State of

Ohio has done very little toward gathering the materials

and memorials of a peculiarly interesting and eventful

pioneer history; a work which the intelligence of the

present age pronounces as worthy of being done by any

State, no matter how eventful and commonplace may have

been its founding-a work, indeed, which all intelligent

citizens deplore the omission as a calamitous loss. And it

is a work which all experience shows is never likely to be

well performed except through a voluntary organization

especially made for the subject, and composed of that class

of appreciative citizens, who, whether prompted by pride

of their own doings, or by a desire to do something for

the benefit of future generations, are willing to supple-

ment whatever the State may do in this behalf with no

little gratuitous labor and sacrifice on their part. And, as

we have shown, the making of a library is an appropriate

and essential work of a historical society.

The lessons of our history, both as a State and part of

the old Northwest Territory, can be traced in many opera-

tions conspicuous in the life of our Nation. They should

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556   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

 

not be lost to posterity, which will not hold us blameless

for the neglect. Beginning with the passage of the "Or-

dinance of 1787" down through the century until now

can be traced an eventful national life. Ohio has borne

her full share in this work, and we hope to see the record

preserved, and that without delay.

Ohio has a noble record, beginning with a veritable

magna charter, which the Constitution of the United States

did not catch up to for three-quarters of a century. For

about fifty years I have been in the State, and Ohio

has ranked, during that time, third among the States.

Ohio has been so prolific of great men and women that

the list is almost embarrassing to one who would avoid

everything in the way of bragging. It has sent three of

her most distinguished men to the White House-Grant,

Hayes and Garfield; has had two Chief Justices-Chase

and Waite; three of her generals were selected by Con-

gress for high honors conferred on no other military men

since Washington-Grant, Sherman and Sheridan. What

citizen of Ohio can think of these men and speak their

names without a throb of State pride thrilling through

him?   The recent National Convention emphasized the

Ohio idea more than ever in nominating for President

a distinguished citizen, a native of Ohio, who has since

been elected; I refer to General Benjamin Harrison.

And the other convention nominated one of our most

distinguished citizens for Vice President, an honest man

of great ability and of national reputation, Judge Thur-

man.

Ohio has more school teachers than any other State

excepting one. She is first in the value of farming lands

and in the number of farms of less than one hundred acres

each. She is first in the number of sheep and wool pro-

duction; in the manufacture of farm implements; in the

number of brick and tile establishments, and in the value

of quarry products. She is second in dairy interests; in

iron and steel in the mining of bituminous coal, and in

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Annual Address of F. C. Sessions, President.  557

 

slaughtering and meat packing. In petroleum and natural

gas she is in the front. From her clays are made one-

third of the stone and earthen-ware produced in the

United States. Mr. Black says: "If we find the causes

which have contributed to the increase and prosperity of

Ohio cities, we must first turn to the splendid natural

resources of the State. The rocky floor of the valley,

which the geologists tell us belongs to the paleozoic age,

is unbroken by a single evidence of volcanic irritation.

Over the beautiful stone level is spread a soil so fertile as

to have tempted the farmer upon its earlier discovery, and

to have given Ohio, in logical sequence, a foremost position

among agricultural States. Of the two great slopes, one

shedding to the lake, the other to the Ohio, the north-

ern is better for grazing and the dairy, while grain

thrives easier on the southern slope. But upon the sur-

face is only the beginning of Ohio's riches." I remember

of asking of the late President I. W. Andrews, of Marietta

College, why Ohio was so distinguished a mother of

great men. He replied: "The pioneers of Ohio, a hundred

years ago, were men and women of brains and pluck, well

developed physically, morally and intellectually; and their

sons and daughters could not help taking prominent positions

in the nation."

The collections made in the Society's museum, embrac-

ing both archaeology and history, have been very gratifying.

All accessions have been by donations. The commissioners

in charge of the Ohio Exhibit, at Cincinnati, during the

Centennial Exposition held in that city, gave the Society

twenty-nine framed charts, made by competent artists,

and under the eyes of those skilled in the subject, repre-

senting the archaeological earth-works conspicuous in our

State. They also gave two plaster-casts, one of the famous

Serpent Mound in Adams county, and one of Fort Hill, in

Highland county. These charts and casts are of great value,

and the Society is under obligations to the gentlemen who so

kindly gave them.

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558    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

 

The Exposition at Columbus afforded another excellent

opportunity to increase our collection. The department

devoted to history and archeology, was under the care of

the Secretary of the Society, who improved the chance

thus given to secure many articles. All these, with those

already owned by the Society, have, by the courtesy of

the State officials, been removed to a room in the Capitol,

where properly arranged in their several classes, in glass

cases, they may be seen by all who care to study them.

In time this collection will be one of the most compre-

hensive in Ohio. It is not the aim of the Society to

simply acquire a large collection.  It is rather to secure

a representative one, where all articles illustrating our history,

from its earliest period may be seen. The collection will thus

become an object lesson, whose value increases the more it is

seen and studied.

All this work involves continuous, well applied labor.

So far it has been done practically free, but this cannot

long continue. One man must devote his entire, undivided

time to the work, and such an one deserves continued support

and encouragement. It is sincerely to be hoped that this

meeting will not disperse until that question is settled

satisfactorily.

I have called your attention thus in outline to our work, to

our prospects, and to our aims, and with the hope that the

coaling year will see our work still advancing, I leave the

matter in your hands.

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