Ohio History Journal

Dedication of Ohio's World War Memorial      445

 

closer relationships, they can now be put aside. The spirit of the

times has changed. The suggestion is offered stripped of details,

but in its larger aspect it carries no thought of physical or finan-

cial consolidations, no thought of interference, no abandonment

of individual activities.

May we not hope that in the very spirit of this meeting here

today, there will be shown the seed of united, unselfish, well-

ordered and systematic effort in "Cultivating the Field of Ohio

History," to the end that Ohio may reap by our hand an ever in-

creasing cultural harvest.

 

ADDRESS OF DR. ALEXANDER C. FLICK

In introducing the next speaker, Professor Siebert

said:

We are fortunate in being able to secure the presence of Dr.

Alexander C. Flick, from Albany, New York, who is Director of

the Division of Archives and History of New York State, who

will make the chief address of the morning on the subject, "The

State's Function in Promoting the Cultivation of its History."

Dr. Flickthen delivered with fine effect the following.

address:

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: --

Chauncey M. Depew in his reminiscences covering a period

of eighty years takes credit to himself for the observation: "Some

men are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them, and

still others come from Ohio." I am proud of the fact that I may

claim membership in the third category. Ohio is my birthplace

as it is that of my father and mother. My grandparents, like

many of yours, came into this state on the great waves of immi-

gration from Virginia and Pennsylvania. Among my earliest

recollections are the heroic deeds and hardships of the pioneers

and their encounters with the red men, heard at the knee of my

great-grandmother, who came to Ohio when it was a wilderness

and before it was organized as a commonwealth. With these as-

sociations in my mind, it is a pleasure to address this Society on

such an auspicious occasion. I come from an older sister state

and such advice as I have to offer is both as a native of Ohio and

as an adopted son of New York.

The city of Boston, which played no small role in the early

colonization of Ohio, has the reputation of being a self-centered

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446       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications community. It was quite in keeping with this character that Bos- ton selected as its motto a Latin prayer which runs as follows: Sicut patribus sit deus nobis. A class of Boston school-boys was asked to give the English version of that motto. One of them gave this translation: "Oh, God, how sick we are of the old

fathers." There is occasion for amazement and alarm at the in- difference manifested by Americans at the lack of interest in their own family origins, and in their local, state and national history. Recently in addressing a club of about one hundred members of more than the average intelligence, I asked how many of them knew the names of their great-grandparents. Only ten per cent had the information and only a few of them could tell the birth- place of these ancestors.

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A few years ago Doctor Starr of the University of Chicago

visited those remarkable ruins in Central America -- rivals of

the pyramids of Egypt -- old palaces and temples built no one

knows when or by whom, of huge blocks of stone, and laid up

without mortar and yet with such precision that one cannot in-

sert a knife blade in the joints. After some difficulty travelling

by canoe, pony and on foot he reached the ruins and was intro-

duced by his guide to the old Indian chief who rules over that

part of the world. The chief asked him to sit down for a pow-

wow. Among the questions asked was this: "Where do you live?"

"I live in a great city called Chicago," replied Doctor Starr.

"Chicago? Chicago?" said the chief, "Where is Chicago?"

"Well," answered Dr. Starr, "if you take your swiftest pony, turn

his head towards the north star and ride in that direction for

three moons, and then turn his head towards the rising sun and

ride in that direction for three more moons, you will at last come

to Chicago, where I live." The wrinkled old red man looked up

with amazement and pity on his face and remarked: "Well!

Well! how far you do live from the center of the world!" One

feels the greatest admiration for the old chief's pride in his lo-

cality. His outlook on the world was greatly circumscribed but

he had a pardonable loyalty in the place of his birth and an at-

tachment to the source of his protection. We, too, need to cul-

tivate a deeper loyalty to our origins, to the ancient shelters, to

the institutions which minister to our needs, and to the organiza-

tion to which we belong.

Some years ago I heard Booker T. Washington, the great

Negro educator, give an address in which he told of an ambitious

colored boy named Sam who wished to make his life count for

something. After giving due consideration to the various trades

and professions, Sam informed Mr. Washington that he would

like to become a school-teacher. In that calling he felt that he

could do the most good and at the same time live a congenial life.

"Well, Sam," said Mr. Washington, "if you go down to the

county seat, pass the examination, and get a certificate to teach,

I'll get you a school." Sam took the examination in due time,

and upon his return Mr. Washington asked "Well, Sam, how did

you get along with the examination ?" "That was a very peculiar

examination, Mr. Washington," Sam replied. "I passed the tests

for reading, writing, arithmetic and geography without any

trouble. But the history examination was something awful, ter-

rible  Why, Mr. Washington, what do you think they asked me

in that history paper? They asked about things that happened

long before I was born! How was I supposed to know?"

Too many of us are like Sam -- we are interested only in

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448       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

the present. Naturally we should be concerned about the prob-

lems of today and should strive to solve them so as to improve

the communities in which we live, and the state, nation and world.

But we cannot understand our problems today and meet them

intelligently unless we know their origins, their development, and

the previous efforts to adjust them. The roots of the present lie

deep in the past and the present is intelligible only in the light of

what has gone before.

An ancient philosopher tried to beguile a certain bored king

by reading poetry to him, but the monarch did not respond to the

treatment. Then the philosopher played his trump card and sug-

gested the historians! To this his Majesty replied: "No, not

the historians! I want the truth for a change!" Thus it will

be seen that from early days down to modern times, when a great

industrial magnate characterizes all history as "bunk", the his-

torian has labored under peculiar disadvantages. There may be

some consolation, however, in the fact that the very man who

so cavalierly waves aside all history as "bunk" is spending a for-

tune in creating a unique museum of history and is exceedingly

particular about the genuineness and authenticity of his exhibits.

For this, at least, we historians may be thankful.

 

SURVEY OF THE BEGINNINGS OF OHIO HISTORY

Few states in the Union have a more varied, fascinat-

ing, picturesque, heroic, and instructive history than Ohio.

The history of Ohio may be said to be an epitome of the history

of Colonial North America. Its beginnings were cosmopolitan --

French and English -- Dutch, German, Scotch, Irish, Swede and

Negro; Quaker, Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican, Mo-

ravian, and Methodist; New Englander, New Yorker, Pennsyl-

vanian, Jerseyite, Marylander and Virginian -- all contributed to

the creation of this commonwealth. No doubt much of its virility

and resourcefulness is due to these united influences.

Broadly speaking, it is divided into two great epochs -- that

of the aborigines concerned with the Mound Builders and In-

dians, and that connected with the Europeans. Viewed in time

it stretches back from the present through nearly 300 years of the

white man's dominion, at least an equal number of years of the

red man's occupation, and no one as yet knows how long under

the Mound Builders. Do you realize that the human story of

this State has evolved under five distinct racial and national

groups?

I. The Mound Builders about whom, thanks to this Society,

we know so much, and yet, since they left no written records, so

aggravatingly little, begin the account.

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Dedication of Ohio's World War Memorial       449

2. The Indians, whose direct and indirect influence on white

civilization has been given too little attention, come next. Traces

of Indian blood are still found in the people of the State. They

scattered Indian names over nearly every county. They left an

indelible impress on the literature. Their trails were widened

into roads in later days. They taught the white pioneers the use

of new foods and medicinal plants, the canoe, cunning in the

chase and on the war path, courage, hardihood and endurance.

3. The French period ran from 1608 to 1763, or 150 years.

New France extended from Quebec to Louisiana and brought

Ohio under the white flag and golden lilies of the Bourbons.

Early in the 17th century French explorers, traders, missionaries

and soldiers penetrated this region and by exploration and occu-

pation gave France title to Ohio, as it did to northern and western

New York. La Salle in 1669 took formal possession of Ohio in

the name of his royal sovereign. The French allied themselves

with various tribes of natives to drive out the hostile Iroquois.

They built forts and stationed soldiers in them to hold the terri-

tory.

For about a hundred years the French were bitter rivals of

the English and their savage allies, the Iroquois, for possession

of Ohio. Both sides recognized that here was an inland empire

worth fighting for. In 1749 Celoron de Bienville took formal

possession of southern Ohio by planting leaden plates at the

mouths of the streams flowing into the Ohio River. In 1754 the

French drove the British out of the fort they had built at the

forks of the Ohio and constructed Fort Duquesne. It was the

race for this rich territorial prize which brought on the French

and Indian War and resulted in the conquest of all of New

France by the English in 1763.

One of the neglected factors in the history of Ohio is the

French influence extended over nearly a century and a half. Nor

did the French contribution end in 1763 with conquest by Britain.

I cannot refrain from reminding you of another infusion of

French blood and ideas -- not large but still significant -- in

which a New Yorker played an important role.

In 1786 the Second Ohio Land Company was organized at

Boston to settle Ohio. The next year Dr. Manasseh Cutler of

Connecticut bought from the national government for this com-

pany a large tract of land north of the Ohio River, eastward from

Marietta, and took an option on a second tract westward from

Marietta to the Scioto. Here enters Colonel William Duer of

New York to whom was transferred half of the Scioto tract.

Colonel Duer, like many other ambitious men of that day and

this, was a land speculator. He thought of France as a lucrative

Vol. XXXV -- 29.

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450       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

field for his operations. In 1788, one Joel Barlow was given

power of attorney to sell Ohio lands and hurried off to Paris

where he opened an attractive office, had a beautiful colored map

of the Scioto tract made with a village and farm lots plotted out

on it, and began to advertise this El Dorado in the New

World to the gullible Frenchmen. His prospectus praised the

climate as balmy and frostless; mentioned the fine streams

abounding in big fish; called attention to the miraculous trees that

produced sugar spontaneously and the bushes that grew candles

ready to light; described the abundance of edible fowls and tame

venison; told of the rich and fertile soil; and stressed the absence

of devouring wolves, lions, tigers, elephants, taxes and military

service. Evidently salesmanship is not a recent art for within a

short time Barlow had sold many farms, collected the first pay-

ments, and supplied the deeds.

At this point, to add interest to the scenario, Barlow disap-

peared with the cash. In 1790 about 600 French purchasers of

unseen farms in the Ohio wilderness left for the New World.

They landed in Virginia only to discover that Barlow's deeds

were to lands which he was not authorized to sell. To the credit

of Colonel Duer be it said, that at his own expense he transported

the defrauded Frenchmen to Ohio, did his best to straighten out

their titles, and helped them build their blockhouse and log huts.

Their new village was named Gallipolis. The national govern-

ment tried to make amends by voting them the "French Grant".

But they were unsuited to a pioneer community. Among them

were excellent goldsmiths, watch-makers, painters, sculptors,

glass-blowers, stone-cutters and gardeners, but the wilderness had

no use for such accomplishments. The settlement soon broke up

and the members scattered over the State or left it altogether.

Many an Ohio family is proud to claim one of these French

pioneers as an ancestor. The institution and civilization of the

Buckeye state cannot be interpreted correctly without taking into

account the French influences.

4. The English period in Ohio history began with the dis-

coveries of the Cabots and the settlements on the Atlantic sea-

board. The charters of Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts,

in defining boundaries rather vaguely from the Atlantic westward

to the Pacific, included this State and formed the basis for later

claims.

Great Britain sought to strengthen these early assumptions

to ownership, as against France, by treaties with the Iroquois

Indians. This powerful confederacy claimed jurisdiction over

Ohio as well as northern and western New York, even after being

driven out of part of it by the Wyandottes, Miamis and Shaw-

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nees with the aid of the French. Since the Iroquois needed Eng-

lish military aid against their French and Indian foes, they readily

entered into a treaty in 1701 by which the King of England was

given title to Ohio. This early cession was reconfirmed by later

treaties in 1726 and 1744. When that capable empire-builder,

Sir William Johnson, appeared in New York as the Superintend-

ent of Indians for the northern district, his jurisdiction extended

over Ohio and he labored unceasingly and successfully in

strengthening his monarch's title to Ohio. Read the Papers of

Sir William  Johnson now being printed by the Division of

Archives and History of the State of New York, and you will

realize the magnitude of Sir William's operations, which have

not been given sufficient notice by historians.

The English were not slow to add to the claims of discovery

and Indian treaty that of occupation and settlement. Certainly

as early as 1730, perhaps much earlier, English traders and ex-

plorers from Pennsylvania and Virginia began to visit eastern

and southern Ohio. The Moravian missionaries labored among

the Indians at an early date and used Gnadenhutten as headquar-

ters. An English settlement seems to have been established in

Shelby county as early as 1719. The First Ohio Company, or-

ganized by prominent Virginians and Englishmen in 1748 to

colonize the Ohio Valley, obtained a large tract of land from

King George II and in 1750 sent Christopher Gist to explore the

lands adjacent to the Ohio River as far down as the Scioto. In

1754 the English built a fort at Pittsburgh which was seized by

the French, as mentioned before.

The long clash between France and England for Ohio, and

other valuable regions, culminated in the French and Indian War.

With the dying words of Wolfe at Quebec in 1763, Great Britain

added to what Professor Egerton calls The First British Empire,

a gigantic region including Canada, the Great Lakes, Ohio, and

regions westward. Thus it came to pass that Ohio became an

English colony without a rival in 1763. Even the claims of the

colonies, based on their charters and earlier stressed by the British

government, were now ignored. For twenty years Ohio was an

undisputed British colony.

5. The American period began in 1776 and has endured

150 years. Ohio's part in the Revolution has been rather sadly

neglected. It is not commonly known that three important causes

of disruption of the British Empire by civil war were associated

with this British colony. In the first place, a royal edict in 1763

forbade the acquisition of any lands from the Indians beyond the

Appalachian mountains. In the second place, all trade with the

natives was restricted to those who had secured royal licenses.

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These two measures aroused the indignation of the frontiers.

men, who joined the disgruntled merchants of the sea-coast and

the angered planters of the south in resisting the interference of

the British Parliament in colonial affairs. The third measure

was the Quebec Act in 1774 which annexed Ohio to Quebec, le-

galized the Catholic religion and French law, and extended

them to Ohio. This act aroused the fears of the Protestant

colonists and went far to provoke rebellion.

During the Revolution the white settlers on the frontier,

augmented by thousands who joined them from the east, and aided

at times by Continental troops, kept up a continual warfare with

the Indian allies of the British. Lord Dunmore and General

George Rogers Clark won the Northwest Territory for the Amer-

icans, and in 1783 the Mississippi was recognized as the western

boundary of the United States. Fort Laurens, the first military

stockade in Ohio under American authority, was abandoned in

1779. This region was the theater of active Indian warfare from

1780 to 1785 in which Colonel Williamson operated in the Tus-

caroras country, and Colonel William Crawford was burned at

the stake at Upper Sandusky.

Meanwhile six states revived their claims to western lands,

which they wished to use to pay their soldiers and to meet Revo-

lutionary war expenses. Virginia and New York both claimed

all of the Northwest. Massachusetts and Connecticut insisted

upon having the middle third of the Northwest. Maryland in

1776 demanded "that the back lands claimed by the British crown"

should be surrendered to Congress for the common good and

formed into separate states. By 1781 all claims by separate states

were waived, although Connecticut reserved a strip of 120 miles

along the southern shore of Lake Erie known as Western Re-

serve, and Virginia reserved a military tract on the Little Miami

for her Revolutionary soldiers.

After the Revolution Ohio was open to settlement. In 1786

the Second Ohio Company was organized by New England

Revolutionary soldiers to colonize the Ohio region. The North-

west Territory was organized in 1787 and Arthur Saint Clair was

appointed Governor. The next year, 1788, he and other terri-

torial officials arrived at Fort Harmar and then located at Ma-

rietta, which became the capital. The first courts were opened.

Hamilton county was organized in 1790. Governor Saint Clair

made a treaty with the Six Nations and with six other tribes in

1789 but there was no real peace until General Anthony Wayne

in 1795 broke the Indian alliance against the whites and forced

them to sign the peace treaty at Greenville, Ohio. In I798 a

territorial legislature was elected and met in 1799 in Cincinnati

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The first church was built at Columbia in 1790 and the earliest

newspaper printed in Cincinnati in 1793. Then followed settle-

ments in rapid succession -- Marietta in 1788; Columbia 1788;

Cincinnati 1789; North Bend 1789; Gallipolis 1790; Manchester

1791; Cleveland 1796; Chillicothe 1796 and so on.  By 1799

there were 15 settlements with 15,000 white people, and by 1810

the population had jumped to 231,000. Meanwhile, in 1803, Ohio

had become a state and had started on her marvellous growth.

I have outlined the fascinating beginnings of this common-

wealth. For the later development, I refer you to Professor Sie-

bert's excellent book on the government and history of Ohio, and

to other works.

SOURCES OF OHIO HISTORY

Every group of people leaves behind it certain remains from

which its civilization may be reconstructed more or less satisfac-

torily. These sources are of two kinds -- unwritten and written.

The unwritten sources consist of oral traditions, customs,

and material things. A vast amount of information has been

handed down in this commonwealth by word of mouth from

generation to generation from the days of the Indians and the

pioneers. All of you will recall the traditions, tales and stories

received from your ancestors. The quantity of this material is

tremendous. Only a fraction of it has been recorded. Much of

it has perished with the passing of the older people. What re-

mains should be gathered up and preserved in some systematic

manner. I realize of course that much of it may be of question-

able value, but nevertheless most of it is unique and priceless.

Once lost, it can never be recovered.

In like manner the customs, habits and ways of doing things

have gradually changed during the past century. Political, social,

religious, educational, and industrial institutions of today are

unlike those of our grandfathers and still more different from

those of our great grandfathers. Who has noted in detail the

changes? A few diaries, letters and histories have recorded some

of them, but no systematic and concerted effort has been made

to record accurately this evolution in the civilization of this com-

monwealth. It is still possible to reclaim much, but the longer the

delay the more difficult will be the task.

The next group of unwritten sources is so numerous that it

will be best to summarize them under the following four heads:

I. Buildings of historical significance either as types of

different periods of civilization or because connected with some

important incident or with some famous person. Under this

heading would come the log cabin, the early homes of boards,

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brick and stone -- school-houses, churches, taverns and public

buildings -- sawmills, grist-mills, cider-mills, and  bridges --

blockhouses and forts, etc.

2. The furniture and furnishings of these buildings such

as kitchen utensils, dishes, chairs, tables, beds, rugs, curtains,

stoves, lamps, candlesticks, spinning-wheels, musical instruments,

mirrors, pictures, statuary, etc., etc.

3. Clothing and articles of personal use and adornment for

children, young folks, and grown ups.

4. Machinery and tools used, on the farm and in various

trades and industries, weapons, traps, harness, vehicles for work

and pleasure, etc., etc.

These articles illustrate the life, labor, occupations, habits,

comforts, hardships, amusements, beliefs, and culture of by-gone

generations in a manner not to be obtained in any other way.

Thousands of these valuable sources may still be obtained from

deserted buildings, cellars, attics, sheds, barns and junk shops,

They are disappearing with the passage of each year, however,

through the furnace, the rubbish heap, the ash man and the Sal-

vation Army wagon. Through public and private initiative, the

State should be scoured to collect and preserve them. A hundred

years from now, they will all have disappeared except those de-

liberately reclaimed. Five centuries later, they will be priceless

sources of the period just behind us.

The written and printed sources of the State's history include

the following four classes:

1. Private diaries, letters, business records, family Bibles,

sermons, lectures, and minutes of all sorts of clubs and societies.

2. Cemetery records, tombstones and church records.

3. Public records and official maps of townships, villages,

counties, cities and the State.

4. Newspapers, pamphlets, magazines and books.

This is the material on which historians must rely largely to

write local and state history and personal biography. "No doc-

uments, no history," said the famous French historian Langlois.

Yet with the exception of the newspapers, journals and books

most of these primary sources are in manuscript form. What is

still worse, these precious materials are largely in private hands,

and many of your official documents are owned by institutions

and individuals outside of the State. I venture to guess that you

would find them scattered across the Republic from New York

to Seattle. Your local records have been shamefully and inex-

cusably neglected. Many have already perished forever from

fire, flood, mildew, and theft. Those remaining are largely in

the hands of local officials who have no idea of their value and

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Dedication of Ohio's World War Memorial       455

little concern for their safety. They are housed, in many in-

stances, in buildings that are not fireproof, and are seldom cata-

logued for use. Few of them have been printed. Such is the

status today of the records that tell the story of the settlement,

political organization and growth of this great Buckeye State of

whose history you and I are so proud.

The public records of the State, I am led to believe, are in

better condition than the local records. They are by no means

intact, however, and many of them remain unprinted. There is

room likewise for improvement in their safety and in their ar-

rangement and cataloging for use.

After painting this dismal picture, perhaps I may console

you with the statement that Ohio is not alone in the neglect of its

historical records. It is a common American disease, and even

New York has ample room for improvement.

 

PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL SOURCES

After explaining the character of this state's historical

sources, the next question is, by what means can they be pre-

served for use? I should like to discuss three agencies which

ought to be brought into cooperation for this service. They in-

clude private initiative and state aid.

1. It goes without saying that all native and adopted sons

and daughters of Ohio should have sufficient pride in its history

to support every effort to improve the present deplorable situation.

This task is a larger one, however, than might appear at first

thought. The people generally are apathetic and indifferent. To

overcome this inertia will require much missionary work on the

part of the devotees of Clio. The press will be glad to open its

columns to publicity for the purpose of arousing a deeper and

wider interest in state history.

2. The historical and patriotic bodies of the state must bear

the brunt of this task. Ohio is fortunate in having some strong

regional organizations like the Western Reserve Historical Society

of Cleveland, the Historical and Philosophical Society at Cincin-

nati and the President Hayes Memorial Library at Fremont.

These societies should be supplemented by others so that the

whole state would be completely covered. New York has more

than a hundred such bodies, the tendency being to organize them

by counties and cities. These local societies should assume re-

sponsibility for stimulating interest in local history, for the pres-

ervation and publication of local records as well as other histori-

cal materials, and for the formation of local historical museums.

They will have to take the initiative also in the preservation of

historical buildings; in the erection of markers on historic sites;

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and in the completion of a survey of historical materials, his-

toric spots, and historic structures. Finally they should cooperate

with the local patriotic societies, schools, newspapers, churches,

lodges and clubs, and be willing to join with other historical so-

cieties in a state-wide federation of all such bodies under the

leadership of this State Society.

The patriotic organizations of the State should be the staunch-

est allies of the historical societies. In New York we find them

willing to cooperate with every movement to further interest in

historic things and consequently we greatly prize their friendship.

Looking at your situation in Ohio somewhat as an outsider,

it seems to me that, logically, effective leadership in the renascence

of interest in state history must devolve upon the State Archae-

ological and Historical Society. It has a venerable career and

enjoys a nation-wide reputation. Located in the capital, connected

with the State University, and receiving support from the State

treasury, it holds a singularly advantageous position. Its work

in the field of archaeology and ethnology, and the Museum which

has resulted from its researches, are notable. The time has come,

however, when it must seek to do for the history of the state in

general what it has done for the archaeology. It should correlate

and federate all the local and regional historical agencies in order

to define and direct some uniform state policy.

Perhaps some adjustments may be made so that the principal

regional societies may have representation on your board of trus-

tees. It certainly would induce friendly and effective cooperation

between the State Society and local bodies if a federation or

league could be established by which all members of county and

regional associations became, automatically, members of the State

Society as in Iowa and Wisconsin; Massachusetts has a Bay State

Historical League of more than twenty societies; and Pennsyl-

vania operates under a Federation of Historical Societies.

The State Society should insist upon the protection of the

remains and records of state history, whether in private or public

hands, from loss through neglect and wanton carelessness. It

should maintain a bureau of information on state and local his-

tory, including biography and genealogy. It should outline some

sensible plan by which local and state records may be printed. It

should induce the state to replevin or to repurchase its lost public

records, or at least to obtain photostat copies of all materials

necessary to complete the State's collection. In conjunction with

your excellent State Library, it should suggest some systematic

and thorough survey of the whole state in order to ascertain (I)

the location, care and condition of the public records; (2) the

private papers and records; and (3) the marked and unmarked

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Dedication of Ohio's World War Memorial      457

historic sites and buildings. In New York the State Historical

Association is collaborating with the State Library Association

to do this important work.

With this survey completed, this Society should promote some

organized effort in conjunction with local historical and patriotic

societies, churches, schools, clubs, and civic bodies to mark sys-

tematically all the places and buildings of historic interest within

the state. In New York a bill has been introduced in the legis-

lature to appropriate $50,000 for historic markers to be spent on

a fifty-fifty basis up to $500; that is, any locality willing to appro-

priate money to mark its shrines will receive state aid. One

county in New York, after making a survey, has arranged to

cooperate with the schools in putting up cheap markers - boards

painted white and lettered in black. Historical sites and battle-

fields suitable for use as public parks, should be set aside for that

purpose. And last but not least, Ohio should have a comprehen-

sive and authoritative history of the State written -- one based

possibly upon the model of the Wisconsin Domesday Book con-

sisting of General Studies and Town Studies prepared and printed

under the auspices of the State Historical Society. An essential

part of this work would be complete bibliographies for the state

and all localities. Ohio has some excellent county and city his-

tories and some satisfactory works on the colonial and statehood

periods, but no comprehensive account of the commonwealth in all

its activities.

3. Now what can and ought the state do to encourage and to

supplement the efforts of individuals and private organizations in

the preservation of state history?

In the first place, let me remind you of the newer conception

of the functions of the state. The old idea of the state as a big

policeman to protect life and property and as a tax gatherer, has

just about disappeared. Today we think of the state as the servant

of the people. It does for us collectively what we could not do

so well individually or by groups. In addition to protecting life

and property, it educates the people; safeguards their health;

builds roads and canals; brings pure water into the cities; aids

the farmer, day laborer and business man; cares for the poor

and unfortunate-in short, looks after the general welfare of

the people. I am happy to say that few states in the Union have

taken a more advanced position in making the state serve the

needs of the people than Ohio. You Ohioans may not be aware

of the extent to which your new constitution has been an inspir-

ing model to more backward commonwealths.

In the second place, let me remind you of the change in the

state's participation in education. Its support of the little red

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458       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

school house has been widened to include the high school, normal

schools, colleges, a state university, a state museum, laboratories,

state libraries, professional schools and other educational agen-

cies.

With the broadened functions of the state, what can and

should it do to preserve and print the history of the state? In

answering this question, let me indicate some practical activities

which are legitimate political duties:

1. Care of public records. These records not only give the

history of the state and its political subdivisions, but are the foun-

dations for all land titles; for highways, railroads, canals, public

parks and reservations; for vital statistics and marriages; and

for laws and court decisions. The safeguarding of public records

and maps is indeed one of the fundamental obligations of the

state. Yet our public records are notoriously neglected, and Ohio

is one of the worst sinners. The local records have disappeared

in some instances. Those that are left are too often given inade-

quate fire-protection; many are shamefully neglected by local of-

ficials who have no idea of their value; and they are seldom cata-

logued and arranged for convenient use. The state records are

given better attention but they are incomplete; are scattered

among the various departments of the State government; and

are neglected, badly arranged, and inadequately catalogued for

use. Under these deplorable conditions, what should be done?

This Society should cooperate with sympathetic members of the

state government to enact laws to compel local as well as state

officials to keep all public records and maps in fireproof safes and

vaults, or in fireproof buildings. State and regional halls of rec-

ords might be erected advantageously. A State Archivist should

be appointed with an adequate staff to enforce the law, and to

work out some policy for repairing and cataloguing manuscripts.

The State of New York, in common with many others, has

a state supported Division of Archives and History. The State

Historian is its Director and it is a part of the State Department

of Education. The law specifies the duties of the Director as fol-

lows: "to collect, collate, compile, edit and prepare for publica-

tion all official records, memoranda, statistics, and data relative to

the history of the colony and state of New York."

To give adequate protection to local public records New

York in 191₉ created the office of local historian in every political

subdivision in the State. They are appointed for indefinite terms

by the Mayors of cities, by the village presidents, and by the

supervisors for the towns. Salaries and expenses may be paid

by the local authorities but are not mandatory. As a result of this

experiment, the State Historian has a family of about 1200 local

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Dedication of Ohio's World War Memorial         459

historians scattered all over the State to whom he may appeal

for cooperation and assistance and at small expense. I commend

this system to your consideration.

2. Printing of public records. One of the manifest duties

of the State is to make the public records as serviceable as pos-

sible to the people of this state and other states. The only way

to do this is to print the records so that they may be widely dis-

tributed to libraries, historical societies and individuals who are

interested. There should be two series -- one of state records;

the other of local records. Such records as have been printed

could be made to fit into the series. The publications should be

carefully edited.

3. Publication of other sources on State history. Almost

as important as the official records are the private papers, diaries

and letters, of prominent individuals; accounts of business con-

cerns; and records of societies, churches and educational institu-

tions. After a survey has been made to locate these materials

and to assess their value, the State might print some of them and

cooperate with historical societies and persons of means in print-

ing others. No doubt many of these important sources will be

found scattered over the nation, up in Canada and in European

countries. But recently I have located local records of New

York in the Congressional Library at Washington. About a year

ago some of New York's public records were sold at auction in

Philadelphia. Accidentally I discovered 200 letters of Sir Wil-

liam Johnson in a private collection of manuscripts in California.

Eleven orderly books of New York in the Revolution were lo-

cated in the State of Washington. You will have the same ex-

perience. Some of your scattered sources may be obtained as

gifts with a little diplomacy. It was in 1921 that the Massa-

chusetts Historical Society presented the valuable Trumbull Pa-

pers to the State Library at Connecticut. Funds should be pro-

vided to purchase others, and photostat copies may be obtained

of the remainder at small cost. The important thing is to have

some competent authority make a search, prepare a list, and

formulate a sensible policy of procedure.

4. A State Museum of history and affiliated branches. I

shall take it for granted that the support of a museum of history

is a legitimate function of a progressive state, because it is a

valuable educational agency. As proof of this, I need only hint

at its usefulness as an ally of the schools and colleges, of clubs

and societies of various kinds, of business houses, factories and

industrial concerns of all sorts, of newspapers and literary men,

and of many specialists in the study of various aspects of human

society. If the state is justified in financing a great annual fair

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460       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

to encourage agriculture, stock breeding, poultry raising, horti-

culture, bee keeping, and the mechanical and industrial arts of

contemporary civilization, surely it is justified in encouraging the

preservation and exhibition of remains showing the beginnings

and development of our present civilization. Our boys and girls

are quite as important as stallions, rams and roosters. Culture

is more fundamental than agriculture. An intelligent apprecia-

tion of our institutions is as necessary as laboratories and experi-

ment stations. A museum of human nature has as much to teach

as a museum of nature. Patriotism has its real roots in history.

Advanced educators are getting away somewhat from les-

sons in books, and cut and dried questions and answers. Go to

nature for science, they say, and to institutions and people for

sociology, politics, economics and history. Teach by real things

through the senses. That portion of the child's brain which is

developed by observation and comparison is atrophied by some

of the public school methods. Boys and girls who study nature

in the school-room cannot find her out of doors. They study his-

tory but cannot see it in the life about them. Many a boy looks

for the colored line between Ohio and Indiana when he crosses the

boundary because it was shown in his geography.

The museum of history, rightly organized and displayed,

leaves no such delusions. The primitive life of the redman be-

comes a reality. A peep into a pioneer's log cabin gives a lasting

impression of frontier life. The clothing, clumsy boots, simple

tools, and weapons of the boyhood days of our grandfathers are

parts of actual life  The genuine objects of history correct the

fanciful notions pictured in schoolbooks and class recitations.

The museum of history creates a love of collecting, which should

be encouraged because it develops the capacity for observation

and comparison and induces habits of neatness, orderliness and

precision. Its usefulness is not restricted to children, because it

makes an equally strong appeal to adults. It interests visitors

as well as natives. It amuses while it instructs. It is by far the

most fundamental point of contact between the historical society

and the public whose eager appreciation is the best vindication

of its existence.

I have a final question to ask and an answer to give and then

I shall have finished. What should the ideal State Historical

Museum be? It should not be a side-show of monstrosities, or of

freaks, or of glittering junk. It should not be cluttered up with

Eygptian mummies, or stuffed squirrels, faithful Fido and a

double-headed calf, or relics of South Sea head-hunters, or Turk-

ish veils and pipes, or "funny" and "luck" stones, or Chinese

birds' eggs, or a prisoner's chain from the Bastile, or a cane from

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Dedication of Ohio's World War Memorial        461

St. Helena, or European mediaeval armor, or a bottle of water

from the River Jordan and pressed flowers from Mount Sinai,

or clay tablets from the Euphrates, or Venetian glass beads, or

German beer steins, or curios from Central Africa, or butterflies

from Brazil, or totem poles from Alaska, or Italian manuscripts.

It should not be an accumulation of relics, curiosities, travel sou-

venirs, bric-a-brac, discarded antiques and a melange of artifacts,

minerals, and natural hisory.  These things may be tremen-

dously interesting and of much value in a museum on world civ-

ilization, or in specialized collections, but they have no place in a

Museum on Ohio History.

Indeed a state historical museum should not consist of a mis-

cellaneous, unorganized, haphazard collection of historical ob-

jects relating to Ohio, however typical and significant each object

may be. The very purpose of a museum on Ohio history is to

organize these historical remains so they will show in time and

geographical sequence the growth of the civilization and the in-

stitutions of the people of this state from the Mound Builders to

the year 1926. Each article must be made to tell its story in

man's life in Ohio and if it does not do that it is incorrectly used

or poorly exhibited. The true museum has its information to

give, its relations to show, its story of progress to tell, and its

lessons to teach, and hence it must be organized and arranged to

fulfil its mission. A museum may be a veritable hodge-podge of

the most valuable materials and yet without point or system. Of

what use is a book with the leaves jumbled together without order

or sequence? Of what use is a fine machine with the parts stuck

in wherever there happens to be a vacant place without thought of

their coordination?

The absolutely fundamental necessity in a museum of history

is an intelligent, flexible, scientific plan of organization and dis-

play. There must be a scheme covering the development of hu-

man society in Ohio. This outline should be blocked out with

the greatest care only after painstaking study by the ablest his-

torians and museumists within the State aided by expert advice

from outside. Unfortunately there are no comprehensive printed

guides or handbooks on the subject. There is needed for the

museum of history some classification of objects akin to Dewey's

system for a library, adapted of course to the peculiar environ-

ment. I might suggest the following chronological periods: (1)

The Mound Builders; (2) The Indians; (3) The French epoch;

(4) The English era; (5) The Revolutionary times; (6) the Ter-

ritorial years; and (7) the period of Statehood. Each period

in turn will have to be subdivided perhaps on the basis of insti-

tutional growth with some attention to time sequence and geo-

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462       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

graphical location. This would give you a museum of civiliza-

tion -- one that would show man's life and progress politically,

industrially, socially, culturally and religiously.

Such a policy, adopted at the outset, would obviate many

pitfalls, and embarrassments. It would permit every worthy his-

torical object to fit into its place as a causal, resultal or illus-

trative factor. If it did not find a place, then it should be dis-

carded as irrelevant. It might be valuable for Texas, or Maine,

or Ireland, but it is of no educational use in Ohio. Well-mean-

ing donors will readily see what are needed as gifts, will not be so

insistent upon contributing extraneous articles, and may more

easily be persuaded to allow their collections to be separated in

order to strengthen the museum. Persons of means may be per-

suaded to fill up important gaps by purchase. It takes a good

deal of courage to refuse gifts of no constructive educational

value and to insist upon the right to distribute special collections.

Perhaps a museum should have a cemeterial storehouse to which

discards may be relegated until they can be sold or exchanged to

advantage. Far too many well-meaning persons think of a history

museum as a rummage exhibit, or a Salvation Army wagon, or a

junk shop, or a reservoir of all sorts of discarded objects. Such

contributions should not be refused, because jewels may be found

in a load of chaff. The problem is to locate the jewel and to get

rid of the rubbish.

Quite as essential as a plan and a policy, is a trained expert

with an efficient staff to supply tactful, enlightened and sym-

pathetic direction; to arrange the exhibits in an orderly manner

so as best to illustrate their cultural lessons; and to label articles

plainly and pedagogically. For lack of such guidance, many a

museum of history teaches falsehood, fosters unhistorical tradi-

tions, tells no story of man's life, gives no interpretation of prog-

ress, and merely incites amusement and curiosity.

It goes without saying that such an educational institution as I

have been discussing must have adequate physical equipment not

merely to house the museum but also to show the exhibits advan-

tageously. This is a larger problem than may appear at first sight.

Not alone shelves and cases, but suitable lights, vaults for the

most precious articles, filing cabinets for duplicates, a library for

reading and research, quarters for storage, work rooms and a

repair shop are needed.

Adequate funds must be supplied to pay a competent staff,

to organize the museum properly, and to purchase the necessary

apparatus, of course, but some sort of endowment or fluid funds

are imperative to fill in the many gaps by purchase whenever op-

portunities arise.

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Dedication of Ohio's World War Memorial      463

Finally, a State Museum of History here in Ohio must take

advantage of its exceptional opportunity to cooperate with the

regional historical museums in the commonwealth. After all,

your purposes are a common one, namely, to preserve and to teach

the history of Ohio--your task is general; theirs is particular.

The ideal State Museum which I have tried to picture should be

applied to all the local museums. A system of exchange might

be worked out so that articles of general significance would come

here, while those of a local nature and value should be housed

with them. A check list of materials in the possession of all the

museums would facilitate such an interchange. The State Mu-

seum might send loan exhibits about the counties for educational

purposes. An interchange of lectures might be arranged, and

historical pilgrimages planned to the shrines in different parts of

the State. You might lend your expert staff to aid regional bodies

in the reorganization and reclassification of their museums, and

in turn, perhaps profit by their suggestions. In short, if all the

scholarship and all the interest in history in this great common-

wealth could be mobilized into active cooperation, Ohio would

soon win a primacy in the protection and utilization of its past

civilization as it has in so many other worthy fields.

The address of Doctor Flick was heard with the

closest attention. The speaker had his audience with

him from the first word uttered. His address is a con-

tribution of great value to the Society and all interested

in state and local history. Doctor Flick's position at the

head of the division of archives and history of the en-

tire state of New York and the eminence that he has

won in this special field enabled him to speak as one

having authority. His address sets forth the ideals to-

ward which the newer historical societies of the Middle

West may well direct their efforts. It was just what

those to whom it was delivered need at this time.

ADDRESS OF WALLACE H. CATHCART

At the conclusion of Doctor Flick's address, Pro-

fessor Siebert inquired, "Is Mr. Wallace H. Cathcart in

the room?" Mr. Cathcart, the well-known and success-

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