Ohio History Journal

COMMENTS, NOTES AND REVIEWS.

OTHER STATE SOCIETIES. During the month of August last the Editor of the Quarterly enjoyed a tour of visitation to many of the State Historical Societies of the Eastern and Middle states. A stop of two or three days was made at Washington, D. C., where arrangements were perfected with the Pub- lication Department, securing for our Library all government docu- ments pertinent to the purposes and work of our Society. We were greatly delighted with repeated visits to the Archaeological Department of the Smithsonian Institution and the new Congressional Library. The Congressional Library building, upon first view, is little less than over- whelming in its magnitude and magnificence. The building was erected at a cost to the Government of nearly $7,000,000, and we do not hesi- tate to say, from personal observation, that there is no Library edifice in architectural splendor, grandeur, size or adaptibility, in any of the European countries at all comparable to it. Surely the effete dynas- ties of the old world, time honored and lore decorated as they are, can no longer charge the young American Republic with being behind in the display of material and intellectual forces that make for the literary and scholarly advancement of the Nation. This triumphal temple of litera- ture covers, within its walls, nearly four acres of ground, just twice the space occupied by the stately capitol building in Columbus. It has a present stack (shelf) provision for 2,000,000 books and an additional ca- pacity for 2,500,000 more; 4,500,0000 in all. Its capacity is therefore twice that of the great library of France in Paris, and also of the library of the British Museum in London. We were flattered to learn from one of the Assistant Librarians that several more sets of the pub- lications of our Society were required to meet the demands of the pat- rons of the Library; especially were they sought for and consulted by the Ohio members of Congress. At Baltimore we became acquainted with the Maryland Historical So- ciety, which occupies a large but inadequate building of its own. Its very extensive library is especially rich in the historical literature of the Southern and Colonial states. The Society issues each year a volume of historical data. The Society has no official relationship with the State government, though the latter each year makes an appropriation towards (243)

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the expense of the publications of the Society. Mr. Bernard C Steiner

is the Librarian and moving spirit of the Society; he is also Librarian

of the Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore.

Philadelphia, the city of "Brotherly Love," is a veritable center of

historical, literary and scientific societies. There are some twenty of

these which, to a greater or less extent, have the advantage of venerable

age, large wealth, wide influence and national reputation. Prominent among

these may be mentioned the American Philosophical Society, founded by

Benjamin Franklin; the American Catholic Society, devoted to the ac-

cumulation of all material relative to the history of the Catholic Church

in America; the Geographical Society; the American Academy of Po-

litical and Social Science; the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society;

Scotch-Irish Society of America, and others, as the poet says, "too nu-

merous to mention." Our interest, of course, was chiefly in the Penn-

sylvania Historical Society, possessing very valuable, but crowded quar-

ters at 1300 Locust street. It boasts probably the most extensive histori-

cal Library of any of the state societies. The Library is specially

rich in the literature of the early states, and in the department of American

Geneaology and Biography. It also has accumulated a most extensive

collection of autograph letters and unpublished manuscripts. It issues

annually a volume of historical material under the editorship of Mr. J.

W. Jordan, the Assistant Librarian. Though bearing the title of the

State Society, and being recognized as such, it has no connection with

the state government and receives no aid whatever therefrom. It is amply

provided for by the membership fees and large income from the in-

vested bequests which it has from time to time received.

Were it pertinent to our subject we should like to dwell for a time

upon the Libraries of Philadelphia. We were particularly interested in

the "Library Company of Philadelphia," founded by Benjamin Franklin

in 1731, and interesting not only because of its vast size and great age,

but for the fact that it was the first circulating library in the United

States. The Company is a private stock corporation, having two com-

modious buildings in different parts of the city, in which to the members

and subscribers several hundred thousand books are accessible.

We were indebted to Prof. Stewart Culin for a few profitable hours

in the Museum of Archaeology and Paleontology, of which he is the

Curator, and which, though occupying a costly and spacious separate

building of its own, is a department of the University of Pennsylvania,

upon the grounds of which it is located. Mr. Culin is a most enthusi-

astic and experienced archaeologist, and has won merited renown in his

department.

The State Historical Society of Delaware has its headquarters at

Wilmington, and is probably the youngest of the Eastern state socie-

ties. It was founded in 1864. It has a library of some 30,000 books,

housed in one of the historical old church buildings of the city. It is

a private corporation and entirely independent of state authority, except

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Comments, Notes and Reviews.                  245

 

that each year the Legislature appropriates a few hundred dollars toward

the expense of its publications.

The New Jersey Historical Society, located at Newark, N. J., has

its abode in the second story of a business block, but expects in a short

time to have ample and appropriate quarters of its own. It has ac-

quired a library of some 70,000 volumes and is particularly well

provided with files of the colonial and early state newspapers. This

Society is also, though recognized as a state society, an independent or-

ganization, having no official connection with the state government, but

it also receives each year, through the general assembly, appropriations

in aid of its publications.

The New York Historical Society, 170 Second avenue, New York,

like everything else of the Empire State, is a most prosperous and

pretentious institution. It has the largest building of any state society,

which it owns. The society is rich in the way of endowments and be-

quests, which yield it large income. It is, however, a private concern,

having no connection with the state government and receiving no aid

therefrom. The Library numbers 150,000 volumes. Like the Pennsyl-

vania Historical Society, the New York Historical Society has a val-

uable museum of historical souvenirs, manuscripts, portraits, autograph

letters, etc.

The metropolis of New York, like Philadelphia, is well provided

with societies of historical and literary character; the Genealogical and

Biographical Society being one particularly worthy of note. We re-

luctantly omit notices of the great city and college libraries.

The Massachusetts Historical Society occupies, in Boston, the most

palatial home of any of the state societies, a recently erected, fire-proof,

costly-constructed building, beautiful in external architecture and ad-

mirably arranged with every modern convenience and appliance for the

care of the Society's property and the furtherance of its purposes. The

Society is an independent organization, its membership being limited by

its charter to the number of one hundred. It bears no relation to the

state authorities and receives no aid from them. It does not require

this, for the Society is wealthy in property and resources. It has a very

extensive and elegantly kept library, accessible only to members of the

Society, or others who are admitted by card to the reading rooms.

We can not leave the literary attractions of the Hub, numerous as

they are, without making mention of the Boston Public Library, now

established in its new spacious and splendid building, second only in

architecture and area to the Congressional Library at Washington. This

Library contains 600,000 books, and in its branches and stations in various

parts of the city has some 200,000 more. The value of their buildings,

equipments and books is more than $5,000,000. The annual income of the

Library, derived from private donations and municipal appropriations,

amounts to some $300,000.

At the Harvard University we were heartily welcomed by the good

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246         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

friend of our Society, Prof. F. W. Putnam, the distinguished Profes-

sor of Ethnology and Archaeology, and Curator of the Peabody Museum.

It will be recalled that it was Prof. Putnam who was, so to speak, the

modern discoverer of the Serpent Mound, he being the first one to take

an interest in its restoration and preservation, and to whose friendly in-

fluence we are indebted for the prospective possession of the same.

Prof. Putnam complimented the work of our Society in the line of

archaeology under the direction of Mr. W. C. Mills.

While in Boston we permitted ourselves to indulge in the customary

and pardonable (there) New England pride of ancestry, paying our

reverential respects to Old South Meeting-House, in the pulpit of which,

in the eventful days of our forefathers, our direct ancestor, as the

geneaologists say, "on our paternal side," the Rev. Ebenezer Pember-

ton expounded the good old theology and stirring patriotism of the times.

The picturesque, hilly city of Providence harbors the Rhode Island

Historical Society. It occupies a building well suited to its purpose

immediately facing the campus of Brown University, and located in

close proximity to the College Library building. Like nearly all the

others heretofore mentioned, the Society is a distinct organization with

no affiliation with the state authorities, except at times it receives a small

appropriation towards the expense of its historical publications. It has

a large Library and an interesting Museum of Antiquities. It is a pop-

ular adjunct to the university, and in its valuable and sympathetic co-

operation with that institution of learning strongly argues the propriety

of such relationship.

Providence also presents a new and elegant Library, completed but

a few months ago. The Providence Public Library, perhaps ranking next

to the one in Boston in the completeness of its appointments, present-

ing all the latest modern features of a Public Library, such as juvenile,

music, map, reference, standard literature, and special study rooms.

The Connecticut Historical Society, at Hartford, has quarters in

spacious rooms connecting with the City Public Library building. Indeed,

in its work this Society is really an annex of the Hartford City Library.

They co-operate in expense and in their service to the public. This

society is also independent and practically self-supporting through mem-

bership fees and an income from bequests. It also at times receives slight

assistance from the state in issuing its publications. Mr. Albert C. Bates

is the courteous and experienced librarian.

We were not surprised to find that the Chicago Historical Society,

which is really, and as such is acknowledged, the Illinois State Historical

Society, to be second to none of the eastern societies which we had in-

spected. The Chicago Historical Society has a very extensive, fire-proof,

stone building, costing in the neighborhood of $200,000. Mr. Charles

Evans, the Secretary and Librarian, is an accomplished scholar, espe-

cially in the history of the Northwest Territory, and through his in-

defatigable efforts the Society has reached an enviable degree of pros-

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Comments, Notes and Reviews.                  247

 

perity. The Society is entirely independent and receives no State aid,

but is wealthy and through private beneficence is enabled to continue

its valuable work, its function being, not as its name might imply, to

merely collect and preserve the historical data of Chicago, but to com-

prise in its collections all that pertains to the history and growth of

Illinois and the states of the Northwest Territory. It has a Library of

150,000 books and a gallery of rare paintings and historical relics.

The Historical Society of Wisconsin, located at Madison, is the ideal

and model institution of its kind. The state of Wisconsin is abreast

of all other states, certainly in the west, in its generous and wise pat-

ronage of the educational and intellectual interests of its people. Rec-

ognizing the broad and efficient work of the Wisconsin Historical So-

ciety, the state government placed its state library under the control

of the state society, making Mr. Reuben Gold Thwaites State Librarian

and Chief of the united library interests. It then appropriated some

$600,000 for the erection of a library building, situated very appropriately

on the College Campus of the University of Wisconsin. At the time

of our visit the books were being transferred from the State House, in

the center of the city, to the new building. This building, it is unnec-

essary to say, is a most imposing structure, comprising library, read-

ing, lecture, museum, reference, photograph rooms, and rooms for spe-

cial students and library societies. Mr. Thwaites, in the work which he

has accomplished for the society and for the state of Wisconsin, and

indeed in the interest of American history and literature and library

advancement, has attained an international reputation. The work which

he has persuaded his state government to perform presents an admir-

able object lesson for our good friends in the Ohio legislature.

If we were called upon for any summary conclusion resulting from

our most profitable and pleasurable trip, we would say that all of the state

societies which we visited surpass ours in the extent and value of their

libraries, and most of them far exceed ours in the quarters and facilities

afforded for their work, though these facilities, as we have separately

designated, are more often the result of private benefactions than of

state aid. Our society is certainly superior to these we have seen, and

probably to all others in the country, in the line of its archaeological

pursuits, this being due mainly, we must admit, to the very great re-

sources which Ohio presents in this subject. Our archaeological museum

is a unique feature in state society work. Again, with the exception

of Wisconsin, our state government has been perhaps the most generous

in its assistance given annually to our society, and through this means our

publications have reached a larger field and exerted a wider influence

among special students and the general reading public, than the publica-

tions of any of the State Historical Societies.

We believe we have reached the proper stage of our growth when

our state government must see the propriety, indeed the necessity, of

our having a building devoted exclusively to our use. This we trust is

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248        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.   not far off. Indeed, is not the time ripe at the present moment for the erection of such a building on the part of the legislature, as a memorial edifice to mark the centennial anniversary of the establishment of our state. This would come now with all the more opportune appropriateness, as the centennial celebration, which was to have been held at Toledo, has been abandoned.     PERRY'S WILLOW. It is our duty to record that the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society has been deprived of the glory of an achievement which it had in contemplation. We refer to the anticipated erection of a monument over the grave of the heroes of Perry's Victory on the Island of Put- in-Bay. It will be recalled that a few days after the surrender of Com- modore Barkley's fleet (September 10, 1813) a vessel hailing from the

settlement upon which is now located the town of Vermillion, arrived laden with supplies for the American squadron. While anchored off shore the master of the vessel visited the island where were interred the slain officers of both fleets.* In his hand, it is said, he carried a walking stick cut from a green Willow. The earth which formed the mound over the lowly grave was still fresh, and into the yielding sur- *See Sketches and Story of the Lake Erie Islands, by Theresa Thorn- dale.

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