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NEWS and NOTES ONE OF THE BETTER results of the effort to recognize the centennial of the Civil War has been the establishment of a project to collect and publish the cor- respondence and other papers of Ulysses S. Grant, supreme commander of the Union armies and eighteenth president of the United States. To accomplish this end the Ulysses S. Grant Association was created through the efforts of the Civil War centennial commissions of Ohio (where Grant was born and lived his early years), Illinois (which gave him his first command in the war), and New York (where he spent his last years). The association has been chartered as a non-profit corporation by the state of Illinois. Its offices are located in the Ohio State Museum, Columbus, the head- quarters of the Ohio Historical Society. Officers of the association are: Ralph G. Newman, Chicago, president; Bruce Catton of the American Heritage, David C. Mearns of the Library of Congress, and T. Harry Williams of Louisiana State University, vice presidents; Erwin C. Zepp of the Ohio Historical Society, secretary; Clyde C. Walton of the Illinois State Historical Society, treasurer; and Allan Nevins of the Huntington Library, chairman of the editorial board. Dr. John Y. Simon of the department of his- tory of Ohio State University is executive director and managing editor. |
The Grant Association expects to pub- lish the writings of U. S. Grant as com- pletely as possible. Exceptions will be formal and routine documents which called only for Grant's signature as an army officer or as president. These will be noted, however, and located and de- scribed briefly. Letters to Grant, espe- cially those which elicited some response, will be utilized as fully as space and finances will permit. According to Dr. Simon, the project is "currently in the collecting phase of its operations. The methods employed are an adaptation of those employed by the editors of similar projects, such as the Jefferson Papers, Adams Papers, Franklin Papers, and Woodrow Wilson Papers." The association is acquiring photoduplicates wherever available of all material written by Grant or addressed to him. The extensive collection of copies of Grant letters gathered by Dr. Orme W. Phelps of Claremont College, now of the Brookings Institution, has been turned over to the association, and Dr. Phelps has agreed to assist in the project as a member of the editorial board. The association believes it already has brought together the largest collection of Grant material to be found in a single depository. It urges that any person knowing of Grant papers, particularly isolated pieces in depositories and items in private collections, notify Dr. Simon of their existence. A preliminary analysis of known Grant letters and other manuscripts reveals a dearth for the first forty years of his life. By 1862, however, when Grant was beginning to make a name for himself in the Civil War, recipients of his letters began preserving them. Hence there is considerable material for the army years, the period of the presidency, and the immediate post-presidential years to 1880, when the Republican party denied |
62 OHIO HISTORY |
Grant the nomination for a third term. Though his correspondence decreased in the last five years of his life, much of it contains valuable reflections upon the previous crowded years. The association anticipates that the publication of the Grant papers will run to twelve volumes. It hopes also to issue in one volume Grant's interviews with John Russell Young during his triumphal world tour, which were published in the New York Times, and to publish a new edition from the manuscript of the two- volume Memoirs. ROBERT S. HARPER, public
information of- ficer for the Ohio Historical Society dur- ing the years 1954-60, died in Wash- ington Court House on December 5, 1962, after suffering a heart attack. Mr. Harper first became associated in- directly with the Society in 1951, when he was named director of public rela- tions for the Ohio Sesquicentennial Com- mission, whose headquarters were located in the Ohio State Museum. While on the Society's staff, he directed much of the work of the Ohio Lincoln Sesqui- centennial Committee. In 1960 he joined the staff of the Ohio Civil War Cen- tennial Commission, whose offices also are in the Museum, and was its staff executive officer at the time of his death. Born in 1899, Mr. Harper was edu- cated in country schools in Fayette County, Ohio, and graduated from Wash- ington Court House High School. After service in the army, he began his career in journalism in 1919 as a reporter on the Washington Court House Herald. From there he went to the Columbus Dispatch in
1924, the New York World in 1927, and the Columbus Ohio State Journal in
1928, serving on the latter paper from 1928 to 1946 successively as desk man, news editor, city editor, and managing editor. In 1944 he spent sev- |
eral months as a war correspondent in the South Pacific. An interest in historical writing had developed in Mr. Harper some years before he retired from the Ohio State Journal. Two
popular novels were the result: Trumpet in the Wilderness, a tale of the War of 1812 in Ohio (1940), and The Road to Baltimore, a story centering on Henry Clay (1942). In 1951 his most significant work, Lincoln and the Press, was
published by McGraw-Hill. It brought him national recognition and meritorious awards from Sigma Delta Chi, the Ohioana Library, and the Lin- coln Foundation, and was selected as a History-Book-of-the-Month. During his remaining years he also wrote a number of short stories and articles for maga- zines. In the midst of his administrative duties with the Society, the Lincoln Ses- quicentennial, and the Civil War Cen- tennial, Mr. Harper found time to write five booklets concerning Lincoln's as- sociations with Ohio, a television script on Lincoln in Columbus, a volume en- titled Ohio Handbook of the Civil War, and numerous pamphlets on the Civil War period. Early in the planning for the centennial of the Civil War, he suggested as a major project the collecting, editing, and pub- lishing of the papers of Ulysses S. Grant. In May 1962 he brought his proposal be- fore representatives attending the fifth national assembly of the national and state Civil War centennial commissions. Out of this came the formation of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, sponsored by the Civil War centennial commissions of Ohio, Illinois, and New York, of which Mr. Harper served as secretary and a member of the board of directors. Mr. Harper is survived by his wife Aileen, of Stanton Place, near Washing- ton Court House; his son Robert S., Jr., |
NEWS AND NOTES 63 |
of Los Alamos, New Mexico; and his mother Mrs. Lee Harper of Washington Court House. THE WAR OF 1812:
A Massachusetts His- torical Society Picture Book ($1.50) has been issued to mark the 150th aniver- sary of the beginning of that war with England. The sixteen-page booklet re- produces twenty-one contemporary prints and broadsides--drawn from its own col- lections--hich illustrate various aspects of the conflict. Among the illustrations are several of particular interest to Ohioans and stu- dents of the war in the West: a portrait of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who defeated the British fleet on Lake Erie in 1813; two views of the battle of Lake Erie; a broadside commemorating the Lake Erie victory, carrying a poem en- titled "Yankee Perry, Better than Old English Cider," to be sung to the tune "Three Yankee Pigeons"; a broadside containing a poem celebrating the peace of 1815; and a broadside containing "A New Song on the Causes--Beginning, Events -- End & Consequences of the Late War with Great Britain. Composed by Silas Ballou, Richmond, New-Hamp- shire. Tune.... 'The Girl I Left Behind Me.' " Following are passages from the latter song: Old England forty years ago, When we were young and slender, She aim'd at us a mortal blow, But God was our defender. Jehovah saw her horrid plan, Great Washington he gave us, His holiness inspir'd the man, With power and skill to save us. She sent her fleets and armies o'er, To ravage, kill and plunder, Our heroes met them on the shore, And beat them hack with thunder. Our independence they confess'd, |
And with their hands they sign'd it, But on their hearts 'twas ne'er impress'd For there I ne'er could find it. Ever since that time they have been still Our liberties invading, We bore it, and forbore until Forbearance was degrading. Regardless of the sailor's right, Impress'd our native seamen; Made them against their country fight, And thus enslav'd our freemen, Great Madison besought the foe, He mildly did implore them, To let the suff'ring captive go, But they would not restore them. Our commerce too they did invade, Our ships they search'd and seized, Declaring also we should trade, With none but who they pleased. Thus Madison in thunder spake, We've power and we must use it, Our freedom surely lies at stake, And we must fight or lose it. * * *
* * Perry with flag and sails unfurl'd Met Barclay on Lake Erie, At him his matchless thunders hurl'd, Till Barclay grew quite weary. He gain'd the vic'try and renown, He work'd him up so neatly, He broeght Old England's banners down And swept the Lake completely. * * *
* * * Let William Hull be counted null, And let him not be named, Upon the rolls of valiant souls, Of him we are ashamed. For his campaign was worse than vain, A coward and a traitor, For paltry gold his army sold, To Brock the speculator. When Proctor found brave Harrison, Had landed on his region, Away the tim'rous creature run With all his savage legions. But overtaken were, and most Of them were kill'd and taken, |
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But Proctor soon forsook his post, And fled to save his bacon. * * * *
* * * What has our infant country gain'd, By fighting that old nation. Our liberties we have maintain'd And rais'd our reputation, We've gain'd the freedom of the seas, Our seamen are released, Our mariners trade where they please, Impressments too have ceased. Now in ourselves we can confide, Abroad we are respected, We've check'd the rage of British pride, Their haughtiness corrected. First to the God of boundless pow'r, Be thanks and adoration, Next Madison the wond'rous flower, And jewel of our nation. Next Congress does our thanks demand, To them our thanks we tender, Our heroes next by sea and land, To them our thanks we render. Let us be just, in union live, Then who will dare invade us, If any shou'd our God will give His angels charge to aid us. ONE OF THE MOST significant
events in the recent history of the historical society movement is the publication of a volume entitled Independent Historical Societies, by Walter Muir Whitehill (Boston, The Boston Athenaeum, distributed by Har- vard University Press, 1962). The book is the result of an extensive study sponsored by the American Anti- quarian Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts His- torical Society, and the Virginia Histor- ical Society and was financed by a grant made by the Council on Library Re- sources, Inc., a subsidiary of the Ford Foundation. Dr. Whitehill visited historical socie- ties and agencies in three-quarters of the fifty states. Though his investigation em- |
phasized the independent societies, he examined the operations of many publicly financed organizations and made an effort "to get as clear a picture as I could of related activities in many parts of the country." He discusses the purposes, or- ganization, collections, and activities of more than fifty of the nation's major private and public societies, and deals with basic programs of collecting, re- search, and publishing as well as with problems of finance, program prolifera- tion, "coddling" the public and legisla- tors, tourism, and scholarship versus popularization. Three Ohio organizations--the Histori- cal and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Cincinnati, the Western Reserve Histor- ical Society, Cleveland, and the Ohio His- torical Society, Columbus--are discussed at some length. This provocative 600-page book will be reviewed more extensively in a subse- quent issue of Ohio History. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION for State and Local History announces two recent pub- lications: A Look at Ourselves, by Clem- ent M. Silvestro and Richmond D. Wil- liams, and The Cost of Freedom, by Frederick L. Rath, Jr. A Look at Ourselves is a "report on the survey of the state and local historical agencies in the United States" conducted in 1960-61 by the director of the associa- tion and his assistant for the association's council. Dr. Silvestro was responsible for making the survey of the state societies and agencies, and Dr. Williams for that of the local societies. Growth and increased self-confidence have been the chief developments on the state level, according to Dr. Silvestro. "Budgets, staffs, buildings, libraries, col- lecting activities, museums, historic mark- ers, publications, and informal education programs all reflect an expansion, both |
NEWS AND NOTES 65 |
quantitative and qualitative, of historical agency functions." While this enlarging process has been proceeding, "we have gained sufficient confidence in our work and our objectives to accept the funda- mental premise that the mid-20th century historical agency can and should be a broadly-based, educational institution that serves both scholarship and the gen- eral public, and that it can and should be a dynamic cultural force in its state and locality." The report includes analyses of the several programs of state historical so- cieties throughout the country, outlining their strengths and pointing up their problems and weaknesses. Among the lat- ter are the need for greater financial sup- port, the lack of adequate staff, both in numbers and quality, and the absence of fringe benefits and working conditions sufficient to attract and to hold a good staff. Membership in the state societies aver- ages 2,500. These organizations have a total of more than 5,250,000 volumes in their libraries, which served 180,000 per- sons in 1959. During the decade ending in 1959, sixteen major libraries, eleven archives, and twenty-one museums, re- spectively, expanded their manuscript col- lections by 156 percent, their archival holdings by 764 percent, and their mu- seum objects by 216 percent. The local societies have a membership of nearly 400,000, a total annual mone- tary income of $5,850,000, property valued at $18,000,000, approximately 1,200,000 volumes in their libraries, and 1,000 museums which attracted over 5,000,000 visitors in 1959. In presenting his report on the local societies, Dr. Williams offers what he de- fines as "the ideal picture of what a local historical society ought to be," and then weighs his findings against it. This ideal society he sees as devoting itself to the |
"complete spectrum of human experience" of a community and its sub-communities, if any, by collecting and preserving the written and printed records and artifacts and buildings of the past, by advancing the study of these materials, and by dis- seminating and interpreting a knowledge of the community's history to present and future generations. Dr. Williams discov- ered that "there has not been a wide ac- ceptance and achievement of the local historical society ideal; for each partic- ular institution is limited in scope and functions by history and circumstances." The local societies, with their lack of pur- pose and vitality, "seem to have an aver- age life cycle of about twenty years.... The cycle runs from activity to stability to senility unless the aims or concerns of the founders become institutionalized." In Ohio, for example, one-third of the local societies passed from the scene be- tween 1944 and 1959; in the nation, 502 of the 1,343 societies in existence in 1944 were defunct by 1961. No attempt is made in the booklet to evaluate the various historical society functions and activities, nor to appraise the role and significance of the historical society as a cultural institution within the community, nor are such important fac- tors as organization, structure, govern- ment, membership-trustee-staff relation- ships, society obligations and responsi- bilities, and standards of operation dis- cussed. It is hoped the final report on the survey will go further into these matters. The Cost of Freedom is the printed edition of the presidential address to the association, delivered at the annual meeting in Buffalo, New York, August 23, 1962. In it Mr. Rath, who is vice director of the New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, reiterates the general definition and purposes of the historical society, and devotes his major |
66 OHIO HISTORY |
remarks to the matter of presentation in historical museums, forcefully supporting the demand of modern professional lead- ers of the historical society movement for replacement of the "storehouse for collec- tions of objects" by artistically con- structed, clearly explained, interpretive exhibits, which use objects, labels, and other materials in combination to provide historical narration. Mr. Rath suggests that this type of dis- play is needed particularly for attracting and teaching the ordinary citizen who visits the museum, though he admits that the other "5% too appreciate and profit by the synthesis of careful research, the analytical selection of materials; and they realize that it is both an art and a science when interpretation is effective." These publications are available at the offices of the American Association for State and Local History, 151 East Gor- ham Street, Madison 3, Wisconsin. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION of Museums announced the establishment of an ac- crediting system for museums in the October 1962 issue of Museum
News. The program will be administered by the director of the association. The council and committees of the association, repre- senting the fields of art, history, and science, will serve as advisors to the di- rector in deciding upon the accreditation of applicant institutions. The new program is designed to help raise the general standards of museums throughout the country. It should be valuable to the museums in seeking pub- lic and private financial assistance to operate and develop their programs and facilities. Museums registering for accreditation must meet specified minimum require- ments defined by the association. To be eligible for registration, a museum must be a "non-profit permanent establishment, |
not existing primarily for the purpose of conducting temporary exhibitions, exempt from Federal and State income taxes, open to the public and administered in the public interest, for the purpose of conserving and preserving, studying, in- terpreting, assembling and exhibiting to the public for its instruction and enjoy- ment objects and specimens of educa- tional and cultural value, including ar- tistic, scientific (whether animate or in- animate), historical and technological material." In addition, a museum must perform one or more of the following functions: (1) maintain exhibits of educational value; (2) offer educational opportuni- ties to the public by providing special services such as guided tours, services to schools, and adult education programs; and (3) carry on, or provide facilities for, research for the advancement of knowledge. The name of an accredited museum must be clearly consistent with its purpose and its resources; the museum must keep accession records; it must own or occupy, in whole or in part, buildings or land appropriate to its purpose; it must have a "staff competent for the stated purpose"; and it must file an an- nual report with the association recording its educational and cultural activities. Accredited museums will be listed in the Museums Directory of the United States and Canada, a publication of the association. TWO SIGNIFICANT BOOKS on the Shakers, a communitarian and celibate sect that flourished in New England, New York, Kentucky, and Ohio in the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, have been reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc., New York. Shaker Furniture ($2.00), by Edward Deming Andrews and Faith Andrews, is a scholarly examination of Shaker crafts- |
NEWS AND NOTES 67 |
manship, especially in the manufacture of furniture. The authors explain the simple, rare charm of Shaker products in terms of the spirit, the distinct re- ligious philosophy, and the doctrines and rules of life of this unique American sect, for which purity, regularity, har- mony, order, utility, and labor were the cardinal principles. The value of the volume is enhanced by the inclusion of excellent photographs of Shaker rooms, furniture, and craft shops. The Gift to be Simple ($1.50) by Edward Deming Andrews, is a study of the songs, dances, and rituals which were inseparable forms of expressing praise, joy, yearning, or union in Shaker wor- ship. In a society where the believers were disciplined to simplified functional- ism in their crafts, to strict routines and traditions in their work, and to doctrinal taboos on recreation, reading, and inter- course with the outer world and between the sexes, the songs and exercises of worship furnished the only release of the urge to play, to love, and to create. The author provides descriptions of the rit- uals, reproduces many of the songs and tunes, and reveals the steps and forms of a number of the dances. MANPOWER IN OHIO, 1960 TO 1970, is- sued by the division of research and statistics of the Ohio Bureau of Unem- ployment Compensation, is an important projection of significant changes in the volume and composition of the popula- tion and labor force of Ohio and the resulting alterations in the general econ- omy of the state and the lives of its citizens. Based upon the careful analysis of statistics of the past three decades, the study is the work of John Shea, re- search assistant of the division, assisted by Mrs. Gerry Ziegler, and was con- |
ducted under the general supervision of William Papier, director of research and statistics, and C. Thomas Haworth, as- sistant director for research. Among their significant disclosures are these: Ohio's population will increase by 2 million during the 1960's, to reach a total of 11.7 million by 1970. Con- tributing to this increase will be 2.4 million babies born in the state and a net in migration of 550,000 people chiefly from other states. Offsetting part of the total increase will be the death of nearly 1 million Ohio residents. Notable shifts in age composition of the population will occur as a result of the low birth rates of the depression pe- riod of the 1930's and the high birth rates since World War II. Thus, there will be many more people over 45 years of age and under 25 than in the last two decades, while the age group 25 through 44 will have relatively little gain--less than seven percent during the sixties. The most startling population change will occur in the age groups 14 through 17, which will increase by fifty percent dur- ing the decade, and 18 through 24, which will increase by sixty-three per- cent. Finally, the number of persons in the dependent-age group (under 18 and over 64) will rise by twenty percent. Actually, between 1950 and 1970 the de- pendent group will have increased by seventy-two percent, while the productive- age group will have grown by only thirty-one percent. These figures indicate several quite challenging facts: (1) the relative de- cline of a key producing group in the labor force and a significant element in the social and political life of the state; (2) an increased financial burden upon the productive-age group and govern- mental agencies to provide for the care of dependents; and (3) the inescapable necessity of providing greater support |
68 OHIO HISTORY |
for Ohio's public schools and universities. Ohio's civilian labor force is expected to grow from 3,830,000 to 4,732,000 in the present decade. Women will com- prise one-third of this group by 1970. Agricultural and mining employment will continue to decline, as they have during the past several decades, and techno- logical developments, which reduce the need for labor, will put great pressure upon the manufacturing and construction industries to expand their operations. |
Employment in service industries, which passed that in the production industries-- agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and mining--in Ohio in 1953, will ac- count for about fifty-two percent of the workers in the state by 1970. The fastest growth in employment will occur in pro- fessional and technical occupations that require the greatest education and train- ing, which, it is evident, will place greater demands upon our educational system. |
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NEWS and NOTES ONE OF THE BETTER results of the effort to recognize the centennial of the Civil War has been the establishment of a project to collect and publish the cor- respondence and other papers of Ulysses S. Grant, supreme commander of the Union armies and eighteenth president of the United States. To accomplish this end the Ulysses S. Grant Association was created through the efforts of the Civil War centennial commissions of Ohio (where Grant was born and lived his early years), Illinois (which gave him his first command in the war), and New York (where he spent his last years). The association has been chartered as a non-profit corporation by the state of Illinois. Its offices are located in the Ohio State Museum, Columbus, the head- quarters of the Ohio Historical Society. Officers of the association are: Ralph G. Newman, Chicago, president; Bruce Catton of the American Heritage, David C. Mearns of the Library of Congress, and T. Harry Williams of Louisiana State University, vice presidents; Erwin C. Zepp of the Ohio Historical Society, secretary; Clyde C. Walton of the Illinois State Historical Society, treasurer; and Allan Nevins of the Huntington Library, chairman of the editorial board. Dr. John Y. Simon of the department of his- tory of Ohio State University is executive director and managing editor. |
The Grant Association expects to pub- lish the writings of U. S. Grant as com- pletely as possible. Exceptions will be formal and routine documents which called only for Grant's signature as an army officer or as president. These will be noted, however, and located and de- scribed briefly. Letters to Grant, espe- cially those which elicited some response, will be utilized as fully as space and finances will permit. According to Dr. Simon, the project is "currently in the collecting phase of its operations. The methods employed are an adaptation of those employed by the editors of similar projects, such as the Jefferson Papers, Adams Papers, Franklin Papers, and Woodrow Wilson Papers." The association is acquiring photoduplicates wherever available of all material written by Grant or addressed to him. The extensive collection of copies of Grant letters gathered by Dr. Orme W. Phelps of Claremont College, now of the Brookings Institution, has been turned over to the association, and Dr. Phelps has agreed to assist in the project as a member of the editorial board. The association believes it already has brought together the largest collection of Grant material to be found in a single depository. It urges that any person knowing of Grant papers, particularly isolated pieces in depositories and items in private collections, notify Dr. Simon of their existence. A preliminary analysis of known Grant letters and other manuscripts reveals a dearth for the first forty years of his life. By 1862, however, when Grant was beginning to make a name for himself in the Civil War, recipients of his letters began preserving them. Hence there is considerable material for the army years, the period of the presidency, and the immediate post-presidential years to 1880, when the Republican party denied |