Ohio History Journal

OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

 

NOTES, REVIEWS AND COMMENTS

BY THE EDITOR

 

DEDICATION OF MEMORIAL WING

The dedication of the Memorial Wing of the

Museum and Library Building of the Ohio State Archae-

ological and Historical Society, on April 6, 1926, the

anniversary of the entrance of the United States into the

World War, was an occasion long to be remembered by

those whose privilege it was to be in attendance.

In spite of the inclement weather, which made it

necessary to abandon the largest military parade wit-

nessed in Columbus since the close of the World War,

a representative assembly of interested citizens from

many sections of the state came to witness the cere-

monies and hear the addresses.

The building of the Society was filled to its capacity

and the speeches of the forenoon and the afternoon were

heard with tense interest. All the features of the dedi-

cation were rendered with a dignity and impressiveness

appropriate to the occasion.

The dedication occurred while this issue of the

QUARTERLY was passing through the press. The July

issue, which will be distributed before the first of that

month, will be devoted entirely to the dedicatory exer-

cises.

(432)

• 1
 

Reviews, Notes and Comments       433

The timely and appreciative words of welcome by

Governor Vic Donahey, friend of the Society, the brief

but eloquent speeches delivered in the afternoon by

Judge Benson W. Hough and Lieutenant Colonel Ralph

D. Cole, former Congressman, and the dedicatory ad-

dress by Congressman Theodore E. Burton, former

United States Senator from Ohio, were in the opinion

of the large audience among the most impressive ever

delivered on the grounds of the Ohio State University.

They will be printed in full in the next issue of the

QUARTERLY together with the excellent address in the

forenoon of Alexander C. Flick, Historian of the State

of New York, and the papers by Wallace H. Cathcart,

Director of the Western Reserve Historical Society,

Charles T. Greve, Secretary of the Historical and Philo-

sophical Society of Ohio, and Miss Lucy E. Keeler of

Fremont, representing the Hayes Memorial Library.

 

 

TWO NOTABLE ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY OF

THE SOCIETY

The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield.

By Theodore Clarke Smith, Professor of American His-

tory at Williams College (New Haven: Yale Uni-

versity Press, 1925, 2 volumes, 1283 pages).

James A. Garfield, twentieth president of the United

States, had carefully kept his correspondence covering

the period of his service in the Civil War and the Con-

gress of the United States.

The author of this work had access to the letters and

papers of President Garfield, which have been preserved

by the Garfield family, and in the two volumes are found

the final and definitive record of the man, the soldier and

Vol. XXXV -- 28.

• 2
 

434     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

the statesman. Garfield has long been regarded as one

of the most eloquent and scholarly of the Nation's pres-

idents. His career was cut short by the hand of the

assassin. He was one of our martyr presidents. The

record in the two volumes that have been highly praised

by literary critics and historians constitute a most ap-

propriate addition to the library of the Society.

Abraham   Lincoln, The Prairie Years. By Carl

Sandburg (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1926, 2

volumes, pages 480, 482).

Carl Sandburg first came into public notice as a

writer of free verse, the champion of "the new poetry".

He was hailed as a literary revolutionist who was to

lead the clans of "the new poetry" in an onslaught

against the singers of the Victorian Age. In the opinion

of many, the free verse movement has reached and passed

its zenith and is fading into its twilight phase. It has

not failed, however, if it has given Carl Sandburg an

audience for his monumental work on the great Emanci-

pator. These volumes have been highly praised by the

reviewer. They will be the author's passport to endur-

ing fame. They are extensively illustrated and the

genius of the author shines from every page. Open

these volumes where you will, read a few lines and it

will be difficult to lay them aside. They are a most in-

teresting prelude to the final and altogether adequate

life of Abraham Lincoln now in preparation by Hon-

orable Albert J. Beveridge, who will doubtless do for

the great Commoner what he did for the great Jurist

in his life of Chief Justice John Marshall.

• 3