Ohio History Journal

THE REPORT OF THE FORTY-SIXTH AN-

NUAL MEETING OF THE OHIO STATE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HIS-

TORICAL SOCIETY

 

MORNING SESSION

The annual meeting of the Ohio State Archaeologi-

cal and Historical Society convened at 10 o'clock a.m.,

Tuesday, April 26, 1932, in the auditorium of the

Museum and Library building of the Society. There

were present:

Dr. W. O. Thompson                             Mr. O. K. Reams

Mr. Lowry Sater                                    Miss Jeannette Shields

Mrs. C. B. Galbreath                              Mr. J. W. Johnson

Mr. Dudley T. Fisher, Sr.                      Dr. Harlow Lindley

Mrs. George U. Marvin                         Mr. J. S. Roof

Miss Helen Bareis                                  Mr. J. C. Goodman

Mr. H. G. Simpson                                Mr. H. R. McPherson

Mr. John F. Carlisle                               Mr. Homer Charles

Mr. Edward C. Mills                              Mr. Roy Sampson

Mrs. Margaret P. Cope                          Mr. William G. Pengelly

Mr. E. S. Thomas                                   Mr. P. P. Bascom

Mrs. Orson D. Dryer                             Mr. John H. James

Mr. H. C. Shetrone                                 Miss Josephine Garner

Mr. C. B. Galbreath                               Mr. A. C. Spetnagel

Mr. H. R. Goodwin                                Mr. H. E. Davis

Mr. Oscar F. Miller                                Dr. J. M. Henderson

Mr. Adolphus Williams                          Mr. B. H. Pershing

Mr. Jerry Denniss                                  Mr. H. M. Povenmire

Mr. A. D. Hosterman                             Prof. F. C. Caldwell

Mr. M. G. Heintz                                  Mr. John Horst

(536)

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting   537

 

Gen. George Florence                             Mr. E. M. Lee

Mr. Guy Wallace                                    Mr. William McKinley

Mrs. Howard Jones                                Mr. Robert P. Goldman

Mr. John H. Watters                              Dr. Carl E. Guthe

Mr. F. A. Woolson                                Mrs. George Florence

Mrs. Frank H. Ellison                            Mrs. H. R. McPherson

Prof. H. E. Davis                                    Mr. Lawrence Gray

Mr. R. E. Woolson                                 Mrs. Roy Sampson

Mrs. M. W. Shuitt                                 Dr. E. F. Greenman

Miss Frances Krumm                            Dr. John Galbraith

Mrs. Homer Charles                              Mr. Glenn A. Black

In the absence of the president of the Society and

with vacancies due to the death of the first and second

Vice-Presidents of the Society, Secretary Galbreath

called the meeting to order.

Dr. Edward C. Mills moved that Mr. Lowry Sater

act as chairman pro tern of the meeting.

Mr. John F. Carlisle seconded the motion which was

unanimously carried.

Mr. Sater made brief introductory remarks on as-

suming the chair and asked for the first order of busi-

ness. The Secretary announced then that this would be

the reading of a telegram from President Johnson to

Director Shetrone. Mr. Shetrone read the telegram as

follows:

Washington, D. C.

H. C. SHETRONE,

Ohio State University, Director State Museum,

Columbus, Ohio.

Please preface opening of annual meeting by reading follow-

ing: The retiring president of your Society apologizing for his

absence takes this means of extending his felicitations to the trus-

tees both old and new, to the members of the Society and to the

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538       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

ever faithful staff of loyal workers in the Museum and Library.

Nothing but an invitation which custom designates as a com-

mand would have detained your president in Washington over

this annual meeting date. This afternoon your trustees will elect

officers for the coming year. For the next president the under-

signed bespeaks the same co-operation and loyalty to purpose

which have characterized the attitude of this organization dur-

ing his administration. He condoles with his fellow members

over the loss of those stalwarts who for so many years marched

in the forefront for the cause of human betterment and urges

that worthy successors be chosen to carry on. In his opinion it

would serve the Society best to reaffirm the policy of promoting

its educational program., of broadening the scope of its member-

ship, of modernizing its museum, of giving every effort to de-

velopment of its library, of pressing the state for all possible

support, of maintaining a fine relationship with its outlying com-

mittees and kindred Ohio organizations, and of refraining from

any unwise disturbance of its organic law. Close attention to

the treasurer's report will acquaint the membership with the dif-

ficult fiscal situation present and prospective with which the in-

coming administration of the Society will have to deal. With

keenest appreciation of unfailing co-operation during past years

and with warmest personal regard to all of you.

Sincerely,

ARTHUR C. JOHNSON.

The Chairman announced the next order of business

to be the reading of the minutes of the last annual meet-

ing. The Secretary then read the minutes. After some

suggestions by Dr. Thompson and explanations by the

Secretary the minutes were approved as read.

A conflict between a provision of the constitution

fixing the name of the Society as the "Ohio State Arch-

aeological and Historical Society" and the name of the

Society in the charter as revised one year ago to read,

"Ohio State Historical Society," was then considered.

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting  539

After some discussion Dr. Thompson moved to re-

scind the action at the last annual meeting changing the

name of the Society to Ohio State Historical Society.

Mr. Carlisle seconded the motion which was unani-

mously agreed to.

After further discussion Mr. Edward Sinclair

Thomas moved to provide that the articles of incorpora-

tion be amended to conform with the present accepted

(constitutional) name of the Society.

After an explanation of his motion by Mr. Thomas,

Chairman Sater stated that motion as follows:

 

"It has been moved and seconded that the Secretary of State

be officially advised that the correct corporate and only name of

this Society is the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society."

 

The motion was unanimously agreed to.

Secretary Galbreath then read his annual report.

After some suggestions by Dr. Thompson of modifica-

tion of two paragraphs of the report in the printed form

in which it should appear, the report was accepted. The

report was as follows:

 

SECRETARY'S REPORT

The presentation of an annual report is among the duties

of the Secretary prescribed in the constitution of the Society.

The meetings of the Society on March 26 and April 30 have

been adequately reported in the minutes which have this morn-

ing been read in your hearing. A summary had previously been

published in the Quarterly and Museum Echoes of the Society.

The annual meeting of the Board of Trustees was held in

the afternoon of March 26, 1931. At this meeting as usual

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540       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

officers of the Society and members of the staff of employees

were chosen.

There were four other meetings of the Board at which

some matters of considerable importance were acted upon.

On May 19, a number of items of routine administration of

the society were considered.

On October 8, a budget of adjusted salaries made neces-

sary by the cut of 7% required by the Director of Finance was

approved and attention was drawn to the fact that the Gover-

nor had vetoed the salaries for Curator of History and News-

paper Librarian for the year 1932.

On November 14, the Secretary announced that at the re-

quest of the President of the Society he had asked an opinion of

the Attorney General as to the authority of the Society to rent

properties in its custody and to apply funds thus derived.

On January 29, the current year, the Board of Trustees re-

ceived a gift of the title to famous Glacial Groove on Kelleys

Island. This was presented by the Cleveland Museum of Natural

History through Trustee Harold T. Clark. At this meeting an

opinion from the Attorney General, which had been requested at

the previous meeting was received and placed on file.

The minutes of these meetings of the Board of Trustees in

the past year have been approved and a stenographic report of

the same in each case has been filed in the records of the Society.

A stenographic report of the meetings of the Society has also

been filed.

 

The Secretary here gave grateful recognition of assistance

rendered the Society in the General Assembly by State Senator

Walter G. Nickels and expressed appreciation of the saving

service of Governor George White who restored to the staff of

the Society two important positions which had been vetoed.

 

 

The Secretary continued his report:

In spite of the cuts in appropriations for publications, the

Museum Echoes and the Quarterly have been continued to date,

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting    541

 

and the latter for April will be issued before the close of the

present month. An abundance of good manuscripts has been

acquired free of charge, including some for the continuance of

the series of Ohio Historical Collections, two volumes of which

have already been published. Had the favor been extended to

the Society that has been accorded to educational institutions, in

a cut of 7% instead of 15%, by strict economy all the lines of

publications could have been continued until the close of the

present year. This has not been done, however, and with the

meager funds for printing, the Historical Collections, the Echoes

and possibly the Quarterly may have to suspend publication be-

fore the end of the year. It is with sincere regret that this an-

nouncement is made, but conditions compel this frank statement.

Outstanding obligations for books, magazines and maps, will

consume practically all of the money available for such purchase.

Gifts and accumulations that have not yet been accessioned will

furnish employment and assure a limited growth until the end

of the current year. Under the better appropriations for the

previous year the library has continued to grow until the present

time. Since the last annual report there have been accessioned

1,680 volumes and bound pamphlets. The number accessioned

the previous year was 882. This shows a substantial increase

for the current year almost 100%. This brings the total num-

ber of accessions to the library on April 2, 1932 to 27,779. A

number of rare manuscripts, papers and documents have been

transferred to the vaults of the library and over 800 cards have

been made for these.

Prominent among the additions of manuscripts within the

year is the rare, unique and valuable collection presented by Pro-

fessor Emerson Venable, scholar, teacher and author, the son of

William Henry Venable, educator, poet and writer of national

reputation. Professor Venable presents this as a memorial to his

wife, to be known as "The Dolores Cameron Venable Collec-

tion." It is made up in part of the manuscript letters, papers

and books collected and written by William Henry Venable, in-

cluding, of course, his well-known volume entitled Beginnings of

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542       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley, 1891, the standard work on

this subject for almost forty years. A manuscript revision of

this volume which brought the text down to almost the time of

the author's death is in the collection and available for future

publication. There is also a large number of lantern slides used

by Professor Emerson Venable in his lectures on Ohio literary

subjects. The collection includes a large number of letters from

Coates Kinney, the well-known poet, author of "Rain on the

Roof," and other poems of equal merit. One of the first fruits

of the correspondence between Venable and Kinney is the de-

lightful volume by Debora McNeilan, entitled "An Interpreta-

tion of the Life and Poetry of Coates Kinney."

It is our intention to make this collection the foundation of

source material for a study of the literature and the literary men

and women of Ohio.

The library has been further enriched by the purchase of

four volumes of mounted manuscript letters from the famous

collection of Dr. C. E. Rice of Alliance, Ohio. These are almost

wholly of famous Ohioans and the letters are of the same high

order of the previous volumes acquired from. the same source.

Nor may we omit to acknowledge the acquisition of the

library of the famous Ohio historian, Henry Howe, whose name

is a household word in almost every home of the state. For al-

most three generations past and for generations yet to come, our

state will pay its tribute of gratitude to Henry Howe. His

library comes to this Society as the gift of his son, Mr. Frank

Howe of Columbus, Ohio, who aided his father in the preparation

of the second edition of Howe's Historical Collections. With

this library comes a large and fine portrait of Henry Howe which

I am loathe to permit to go from my office, but which must ulti-

mately find its way to our picture gallery.

By the way, this gallery is already taking form in the

painted portraits of the Trimble family that come as a bequest

from the late Miss Rachel Trimble of Columbus.

In a previous report your Secretary expressed the opinion

that the annual accessions of newspapers to the library would

• 7
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     543

 

diminish in number; that the canvass for these in the various

counties would soon cover the entire state. The number of

volumes added in the past year, however, almost reached the

accessions of any previous year in number, while in quality it

surpassed last year's record, which was numerically the largest

in the history of the library. The volumes accessioned in the

year that ends the first day of the present month number 2,059.

Some of these that were of unusual interest will be detailed in

the printed report which will reach all of the members. Mr.

Simpson in charge of the newspaper department, is to be com-

mended for the continuance of this excellent record. The rapid

growth of his department makes the need of additional shelving

not only obvious but pressing.

A little more than a year ago, at the suggestion of Judge

Carrington T. Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of

Ohio, an effort was inaugurated to have transferred to the library

the dockets of the justices of the peace in the different localities

of the state. Within the past year 715 of these dockets have

been received and filed in the newspaper department. 380 of

these were from Cuyahoga County and 335 from other counties

of the state.

Something must be said of the use of the library. Every

mail brings requests for information, some of which could not

be found elsewhere. This is especially true of the newspaper

department and the manuscript department. Dr. Carter, from

the Department of State, Washington, D. C., was in the library

a few days ago to consult the Winthrop Sargent papers and the

original Journal of the Northwest Territory which came into the

possession of the library a little more than one year ago. He is

now having copied many of these papers and the Record of the

Northwest Territory complete to be published in the series of

territorial manuscript records to be issued by United States

government.

The genealogical department is growing and its reference

sources are in frequent use.

The Secretary of the Society was appointed on the George

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544       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Washington Bicentennial Commission. He has delivered a num-

ber of addresses, or practically the same address a number of

times in different parts of the state. His theme was "George

Washington and Ohio," with special emphasis on the journey of

Washington and his party on the Ohio River in 1770, years be-

fore the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. He

broadcast the essentials of this address over WLW  from Cin-

cinnati January 20, and it has been published in the February

issue of Museum Echoes, extra copies of which have been printed

for use later in the year when the replica of this historic voyage

on the Ohio is planned as a final event of Ohio's celebration of

this bicentennial year. With his address has been published the

excellent map prepared by Dr. Guy-Harold Smith of the Ohio

State University. His pamphlet descriptive of the same is in

press and will also be available for the closing event in Ohio's

series of celebrations. The Bicentennial of George Washington

is the largest historical event of the year and fully justifies all of

the assistance and participation that the Society can give.

Four vacancies on the Board of Trustees occasioned by ex-

piration of terms have been filled by Governor White who made

appointments as follows:

For terms expiring in February, 1934:

Lowry F. Sater, of Columbus.

George B. Smith, of Dayton.

For terms expiring in February, 1935:

Freeman T. Eagleson, of Columbus.

R. P. Goldman, of Cincinnati.

There are four vacancies on the Board of Trustees to be

filled by vote of the Society, three for the full term of three

years. One of these was occasioned by the death of General

Edward Orton, Jr. The fourth vacancy is for one year, occa-

sioned by the death of George F. Bareis.

Tributes to the deceased Trustees will be presented later.

In conclusion, permit me to say that the work of the year,

while it has been arduous, has on the whole been most thoroughly

enjoyed by your Secretary. He has seen many of his plans for

• 9
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting    545

 

the upbuilding of the library on the way to a successful conclu-

sion. While he has been crippled by the illness of important

members of his staff, he has found those who still remain in

health devoted to the work and has been surprised at the interest

and valuable assistance rendered by the younger members. From

the vantage ground of the present there is every reason to be-

lieve that the Society may look forward to a successful year.

The only shadow that overhangs the future is inadequate provi-

sion for the issue of publications planned, but that, I am sure,

will drift away with the coming of the new year and the meet-

ing of the next General Assembly. To that end all members of

the staff will put their shoulders to the wheel with a determina-

tion to make the coming year the most pleasant and successful

in the history of the Society.

• 10
 

TREASURER'S REPORT

Treasurer Miller then read the following report for

the past year which was accepted as read and made a

part of the records of the Society:

REPORT OF TREASURER

For the Year Ending December 31, 1931.

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF TOTAL RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS

FOR YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1931^.

Total Funds on Deposit January 1, 1931 .........  $29,669.68

 

RECEIPTS

State Appropriations Used (1931).. $114,456.17

State Appropriations Used (1930--

Posted in 1931) ...............  29,557.95

 

Total State Funds Used... $144,014.12

Other Receipts.......... $8,051.30

Less--Refund from State    5,036.26    3,015.04

Total Receipts..                      $147,029.16

 

Total ............................... $176,698.84

 

DISBURSEMENTS

State Funds Expended ............. $144,014.12

Less: Refund for 1930 Advances....    2,500.00

$141,514.12

Other Funds Expended ............    4,608.34

Less: Transferred to Per-

manent Fund.......    $500.00

Advances (1931) Re-

funded by State   2,536.26    3,036.26

 

Net Expenditures from other Funds.........    1,572.08

 

Total Disbursements ................... $143,086.20

 

Cash Balance (Total) at December 31, 1931 ......  $33,612.64

(546)

• 11
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     547

 

STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS OF SOCIETY'S

FUNDS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1931.

 

CURRENT FUND

Cash Balance Current Fund-Jan. 1, 1931 ........    $4,669.68

 

 

RECEIPTS

Interest on Investments ............                                   $1,425.37

Books  Sold .......................                                              364.50

Subscriptions Received ............                                       50.00

Dues--Active Members ............                                         621.00

Life Memberships ..................                                        30.00

Refunds of Cash Advanced in 1931

(State Treasurer) .............  2,536.26

Refund of Cash Advanced in 1930

(State Treasurer) .............  2,500.00

Junior Memberships ...............        35.00

Fallen Timbers-Subscriptions ......                               119.1₇

Sustaining Memberships ...........                                  100.00

Total Receipts ............               $8,051.30

 

Total  ............................ $12,720.98

Receipts from State Treasurer on Sundry Appro-

priations  ................................                            144,014.12

 

Total ............................                     $156,735.10

 

DISBURSEMENTS FROM SOCIETY'S FUNDS

Library Expenses.................                                         $364.85

Museum Expenses .................                                        83.33

Fallen Timber Expenses ............                                      393.9

Cash Advanced (to be reimbursed

from State Treasury).........                                  2,536.26

Transferred to Permanent Fund....                                  500.00

Total Disbursements......   4,608.34

 

Balance in Current Fund December 31, 1931.....,   $8,112.64

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548       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

PERMANENT FUND

Cash Balance January 1, 1931 ......  $25,000.00

Transferred from Current Funds

(Above)  ....................      500.00

Balance December 31, 1931 ..... ----------             $25,500.00

 

Total Cash Balance December 31, 1931...   $33,612.64

STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURES OF STATE APPROPRIATIONS

DURING YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1931.

Personal

Service            Maintenance

Museum and Library .............    $58,832.35               $19,835.40

Big  Bottom  .......................                   104.40               104.69

Buffington Island ..................                                          48.50                 213.82

Campbell  Park ....................                                        16.00                       4.68

Campus Martius ..................                                       1,957.75                820.81

Custer  Memorial ..................                                      155.10                              155.20

Battlefield of Fallen Timbers .......   850.43                                       59.10

Felix Renick .....................                                                                            74.11

Fort Amanda .....................                                             276.47               461.68

Fort     Ancient ......................                                      3,420.39                2,284.27

Fort     Jefferson.....................    101.75                          532.35

Fort     Laurens .....................   1,448.66                         414.64

Fort     St.      Clair .................... 1,709.90                       1,070.41

Logan  Elm    .......................                                            184.51               389.70

Miamisburg Mound ..............                                         348.50               348.02

Mound City .................... ..                                         1,632.40                1,316.03

Schoenbrunn .....................                                          3,450.90                2,414.76

Seip  Mound ......................                                             282.52                          509.36

Serpent Mound ...................                                        1,818.85                2,865.84

Spiegel  Grove ....................                                          5,649.95                6,966.36

Williamson Mound ................                                        27.30                    37.86

U. S. Grant ......................                                            1,288.40                352.67

Wm. Henry Harrison ............                                           652.00                  53.29

George Rogers Clark..............                                         336.00                  77.36

 

Totals .....................  $84,593.03  $41,362.41

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting        549

 

STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURES OF STATE APPROPRIATIONS

DURING YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1931 -- Continued.

Additions and

Betterments      Total

Museum and Library ..............                                 $78,667.75

Big Bottom .......................                                           $424.61               633.70

Buffington Island ..................                                       3,000.00            3,262.32

Campbell Park ...................                                                                      20.68

Campus Martius .................                                                                  2,778.56

Custer Memorial ..................                                       11,003.65          11,313.95

Battlefield of Fallen Timbers........                               234.00               1,143.53

Felix  Renick .....................74.11

Fort Amanda.....................                                                                       738.5

Fort Ancient .....................       1,954.30                     7,658.96

Fort Jefferson ....................634.10

Fort Laurens .....................1,863.30

Fort St. Clair .....................2,780.31

Logan  Elm  .......................574.21

Miamisburg Mound ................696.52

Mound City .....................                                                                    2,948.43

Schoenbrunn .....................        1,420.99                    7,286.65

Seip Mound ......................791.88

Serpent Mound ...................           21.13                   4,705.82

Spiegel Grove. ....................                                                                  12,616.31

Williamson Mound ................65.16

U. S. Grant .......................1,641.07

Wm. Henry Harrison ..............705.29

George Rogers Clark..............                       413.36

 

Totals ........................    $18,058.68  $144,014.12

Total Receipts from State Treasurer .............                                       4,608.34

Balance on Hand in Current Fund Dec. 31, 1931..                               8,112.64

 

Total ............................     ....    $156,735.10

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550       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

REPORT OF THE AUDITOR

 

COLUMBUS, OHIO,

April 20, 1932.

Mr. C. B. Galbreath, Secretary,

The Ohio State Archaeological & Historical Society,

Columbus, Ohio.

Dear Sir:--

We herewith report on the audit made by us of the books of

account of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society for the

year ended December 31, 1931. Below is presented a brief resume

of the Society's financial transactions for the year, the details of

which are to be found in the statements comprising this report.

The Society collected in the course of the year a total of

$8,051.30, as compared with $8,957.52, in 1930. Of this total,

however, $2,500.00, was a refund from the state for disburse-

ments made in 1930, and $2,536.26 was refunded by the state for

advances made during 1931^. The amount, therefore, which was

received from private sources was $3,015.04. This compares with

$4,980.50, the amount received in 1930, exclusive of state refunds.

Out of state appropriations, the Society applied a total of

$144,014.12, as against $162,281.95 in 1930.

From its private funds, the Society expended $1,572.08 on its

various projects, advanced $2,536.26 for expenses later refunded

by the state, and transferred $500 to the permanent fund invest-

ment.

The Current Fund balance stood at $8,112.64 at the close of

the year as compared with $4,669.68 at the beginning of the year,

the increase amounting to $3,442.96. As mentioned above, the

permanent fund was increased by $500.00 to a total of $25,500.00.

The total funds controlled by the Society at the close of the year

were therefore $33,612.64 against $29,669.68 at the close of the

year 1930.

The customary Balance Sheet at the end of the report has

been omitted because of the difficulty of ascertaining the asset

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     551

 

increments from the account classifications used under the state

budget system.

It is suggested, as a matter of historical interest to the So-

ciety, that the cost of exhibits or properties of especial importance

be transferred to a permanent ledger from time to time as the

director may indicate. Such a record would be simple to operate

and would not aim to be a complete record of the capital expendi-

tures, but only those of major importance. It would eventually

furnish very strong evidence of the economic value of the So-

ciety's activities, since there is almost sure to be an enhancement

in the market value of many exhibits. The books needed, would

be a transfer journal and ledger.

The Society's accounting records were found to be in very

good order and systematically arranged. The bookkeeping staff

is to be especially commended for their efforts in maintaining their

records in agreement with those of the State Auditor.

With thanks for the cooperation extended and best wishes for

the coming year, this report is

Respectfully submitted,

(S) W. D. WALL,

Certified Public Accountant.

 

For a more detailed account of expenditures, see succeeding

pages of the Certified Accountant's Report in typewritten records

of the Society.

 

Mr. R. P. Goldman, the newly appointed trustee of

the Society from Cincinnati, was presented at this point

in the proceedings.

• 16
 

DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Director Shetrone then read the following report

which was received and placed on file with the Secretary:

 

REPORT OF DIRECTOR

The following report is intended to cover the activities of the

Museum and its several departments for the period of approxi-

mately one year since the 1931 Annual Meeting. Since the mem-

bers are more or less familiar with what has transpired, through

the columns of Museum Echoes, the report is not detailed--rather,

it is in the nature of a summary.

Dealing first with the accomplishments of the Museum as an

institution, it may be said that despite a sadly abbreviated appro-

priation, these have been favorably comparable to those of last

year. Through a drastic reorganization and modification of activ-

ities effected by close cooperation of the Librarian and the Di-

rector, basic activities are being maintained and, in addition, an

additional 15 per cent reserve in expenditures, demanded by the

State Department of Finance, is being met. In conforming to the

requirements of the general financial curtailment the above-men-

tioned officials were of mutual agreement that from a psycholog-

ical point of view and for the good of the Society the Museum

and Library staffs should be kept as nearly intact as possible with

a minimum decrease in pay. By sacrificing wholly or in part such

important items as funds for explorations, purchase of books,

publications, wages, travel, museum collections, etc., etc., and by

leaving unfilled two staff positions temporarily vacant, it has been

possible to retain the staff with a reduction in pay of 5% for the

year and with no reduction for those receiving $1,200 or less per

annum. At best this arrangement makes possible nothing more

than "keeping house" for the remainder of 1932, and it is entirely

possible that serious shortages may result before the close of the

year.

(552)

• 17
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting      553

 

Aside from the numerous routine activities of the Museum

which, incidentally, have come to constitute an extremely com-

plex service to the State of Ohio, the most outstanding accom-

plishment has been the providing, after several years of study and

preparation, of circulating loan collections in Archaeology

(Mound Builders), Mineralogy, and Natural History for the

public schools of the state. These are being furnished to every

county in Ohio, circulation being effected through county super-

intendents and in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Ed-

ucation. Dr. O. B. Skinner, State Director of Education, and his

staff have conferred enthusiastic assistance in this undertaking

and are aiding in preparation of an even greater service for the

approaching school year, a feature of which will be a "school

week," during which the Museum will keep open house for the

public schools of the state. The loan collection service, although

in its infancy, demonstrates that no other activity is so well

adapted to providing a statewide service nor to securing for the

Society more credit and prestige.

Still considering institutional activities, as distinguished from

departmental, brief reference may be made to the activities of the

Museum's honorary staff. Mrs. Margaret Cope, Honorary Cura-

tor of Special Exhibits, continues to give freely of her time and

energies in preparing these exhibits, which have become a dynamic

and valued asset of the institution; Prof. F. C. Caldwell, of the

Department of Electrical Engineering, O. S. U., has built up an

admirable display illustrating the evolution and development of

electrical equipment; Dr. J. M. Henderson, Honorary Curator

of Numismatics, has brought the numismatics display to a point

where it is attracting especial interest; Mr. Walter E. Heightshoe,

Honorary Curator of Firearms, continues an invaluable voluntary

assistant' to the Museum; and Mr. Dudley T. Fisher, Sr., has

contributed freely in the direction of models of canal boats and

locks and other pioneer crafts.

Out of consideration for an oft-expressed desire of our late

beloved vice president, Mr. Bareis, a Hall of Transportation, for

the present to include agricultural implements and machinery, has

• 18
 

554       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

been established in the large basement rotunda room. This prom-

ises to be of exceptional interest and I trust that all of you may

inspect it.

The Museum's service to the Columbus public schools, under

the supervision of Prof. J. C. Hambleton and Miss Olive Cleven-

ger, in charge of instruction, is growing in importance. For the

year ended April 1, 1932, a total of 10,054 pupils from the third

to the seventh grades, have attended the Museum classes.

The arrangement effected by the Director whereby Ohio is

now included with Michigan and Indiana in the Michigan-In-

diana-Ohio Museums' Associaton, recently announced in Museum

Echoes, will be of decided assistance to the Society in broadening

its service and in securing wider recognition and prestige. This

tri-state association has affiliated itself with the national organ-

ization, the American Association of Museums; Dr. Harlow Lind-

ley was chosen as vice president for Ohio.

Seeking for means of rendering a definite service to the state

as a whole, it is quite evident that Ohio State University, at our

very door, offers outstanding opportunity. With students from

every county and district of Ohio, our great state university offers

a vehicle equalled only by our State Department of Education for

conveying the Society's offerings to the public. Needless to say

the University has responded most freely to our advances and is

entering most freely into our plans. To cite a single instance:

the Department of Fine Arts is making free use of our prehis-

toric displays from the standpoint of primitive art and design. A

class of advanced students at the present time is preparing a series

of moving picture films, using living costumed models to illustrate

the use of various implements, ornaments and utensils from our

prehistoric mounds. From these a series of painted panels for

decorating the halls of archaeology are being prepared.

It would be impossible in this summarized report to give

credit to all those who have made donations of collections and

specimens to the Museum. These have been reported from time

to time in Echoes, and will be credited in full in the Quarterly.

Among outstanding accessions which may be mentioned is the

• 19
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     555

 

striking and exhaustive collection of Alaskan Eskimo objects fur-

nished by Prof. Clark M. Garber, superintendent of schools at

Akiak, Alaska, and the reconstructions from mound skulls of

heads and busts of Ohio aborigines by Prof. Frank N. Wilcox,

sculptor of the Cleveland School of Art.

Before passing to departmental activities, it seems fitting to

refer to a development fostered by Mr. Iowa D. Smith, an ardent,

though unsalaried honorary member of our staff. Through his

love of horticulture and his affiliation with the Columbus Horti-

cultural Society, Mr. Smith has developed a plan for landscaping

the Museum and Library grounds which, while entirely without

cost to the Society, represents an outlay of several thousands of

dollars. Plans for this pretentious scheme, in which the finest of

evergreen shrubs and plants are to be used, have been drawn and

contributed by individual landscape artists, and by members of the

University departments; planting material is being generously do-

nated by the Ohio Nurserymen's Association and the Columbus

Horticultural Society; and stone has been contributed and deliv-

ered by the Marble Cliff Quarries Company. The project' has

begun and will be completed without delay. The result will make

the Museum and Library building one of the finest examples of

the landscapers' art in Ohio.

Dealing now with the Museum departments: The Depart-

ment of Archaeology, Dr. E. F. Greenman, curator, and Robert

Goslin, assistant. Since last report, the Coons mound, in Athens

County, has been explored, and Dr. Greenman's report is ready

for publication. Incidental thereto, he has included an exhaustive

and scholarly study of the great Adena culture, to which the

Coons mound belongs. We have known far too little about the

Adena peoples, wherefor the present study is most timely, both

from the local and national points of view. The members of this

department have spent much time in rearranging the archaeological

displays and in preparing the circulating loan collections.

Dr. Harlow Lindley, Curator of the Department of History,

has had a busy year. His outstanding accomplishment is the prep-

aration of the permanent exhibit telling the "Story of Ohio,"

• 20
 

556       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

which is familiar to all of you. In addition he has aided in organ-

izing four local county historical societies; has made numerous

addresses and radio talks; has assisted in organizing the Ohio

College History Teachers' Association; has cooperated with histor-

ical agencies in the several states in compiling information con-

cerning source materials in American history, and, as associate

editor, has been mainly responsible for the editing of Museum

Echoes. He has been particularly successful in securing mate-

rial for the Story of Ohio from individuals and organizations, to

all of whom credit is hereby tendered.

The Natural History Department, Edward S. Thomas, Cura-

tor, and Charles F. Walker, assistant, has had a busy and profit-

able year. In addition to numerous valuable accessions and new

species of fauna for Ohio, the members of the staff have collected

some 5,000 Ohio insects for the circulating school collections, per-

haps the department's most important undertaking. An equal

number of insects were added to the study collections. It is in-

teresting to know that the average time needed for collecting and

mounting a single insect has been definitely computed to be more

than 10 minutes, a fact that will make for appreciation of the de-

partment's accomplishment in this direction. During the year

the staff completely rearranged the display cases in Natural His-

tory with the idea of making the material more readily usable to

schools and classes. Additional displays were installed in accord-

ance with the most modern museums ideas.

Curator Thomas, in addition to numerous lectures and radio

talks, has prepared copy for a booklet to accompany the Loan

collections of insects, while Mr. Walker has contributed several

technical papers to scientific publications, along the lines of his

specialization, the Amphibia.

The department works in close cooperation with the Ohio

Department of Conservation, the Ohio State University, and other

institutions. Much credit is due to a number of individuals for

assistance and contributions, notably Arthur Stupka and Robert

B. Gordon of Ohio State University; Milton B. Trautman, Depart-

ment of Conservation; Ralph Drury, Cincinnati; and Roger

• 21
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting      557

 

Conant, Director of the Toledo Zoological Society. Mrs. Mary D.

Neiswender, despite the fact that funds have been available for

only part-time payment of her services, has continued to give

freely of her time and has been invaluable to the department, par-

ticularly in preparing the loan collections for the public schools.

All of you have admired the fine collection of minerals and

gems displayed temporarily in the art alcove of the new wing of

the building. This display has been built up by Mr. H. R. Good-

win, Registrar and Staff Artist, as an adjunct to his regular duties.

The nucleus of the collection, as previously announced, was

financed through the generosity of our member, Mr. Ralph H.

Beaton. Mr. Goodwin recently began a rather pretentious project,

namely, the painting of a series of art panels for the halls of arch-

aeology, designed to illustrate the method of use of the various

prehistoric implements and utensils. The first four of these have

been placed in the south archceological hall. You will wish to see

them.

The efficiency of the maintenance force, under Mr. Eaton, con-

tinues most effective. The condition of the building at all times

testifies to this; not only does the maintenance staff keep the

building in first class condition but practically all repairs, painting

and decorating, which ordinarily entail considerable expense, are

taken care of by the regular employes of this department.

The numerous parks in the Society's custody, supervised by

Mr. H. R. McPherson, Business Agent, have been well adminis-

tered and greatly improved despite the very nominal funds avail-

able. Mr. McPherson has built up an admirable staff of park

superintendents selected for their fitness and trained to cooperate

with one another.

The parks in the keeping of the Society now number 24, an

increase of three during the past year. The newly acquired parks

are Inscription Rock, Kelley's Island, to which is to be added the

noted Glacial Groove tract, both deeded to the Society by the

Cleveland Museum of Natural History through our trustee, Mr.

Harold T. Clark; W. H. Harrison Memorial State Park, Hamil-

ton County; and the U. S. Grant Memorial State Park, Clermont

• 22
 

558       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

County. Several additional parks shortly will be placed in our

custody. In connection with two or three of the park properties

there has been some lack of agreement as to methods of adminis-

tration. The Director, accompanied by Trustee J. C. Goodman,

Chairman of the Committee on State Parks, recently visited these

properties, conferred with local committees, and provided means

for correcting the situations.

It may seem superfluous to consume the brief time at the dis-

posal of this Annual Meeting in reviewing past accomplishments;

however, the justification lies in the fact that members of the

staff, who toil patiently month after month are entitled to this

annual consideration, although most of you already are acquainted

with their accomplishments. If time permitted I should like to

discuss generalities of Society concern; but this will have to await

another time. Those of us solicitous of the Society's welfare

and its future must not lose sight of the fact that the world is

undergoing a social revolution, and that ours, along with all other

institutions, must be awake to the new interpretation of affairs.

Without going into details I may summarize our need at this time

as lying in the direction of alertness in rendering a maximum

service to our public and, when the time arises, of finding a way

to affect a more satisfactory legal status for the Society in the

state government. This latter should be based, I believe, on the

idea of appropriations made in payment of a definite service to

the public, along the lines of existing legislation with respect to

cities and counties, but not as yet extending to the commonwealth.

Under authority of the Board of Trustees, your director has under

way a study of the situation from a nation-wide point of view,

and in cooperation with the American Association of Museums

and museum authorities. The results of this survey, with possible

recommendations, will be submitted to you at a later date.

 

LIST OF ACCESSIONS

Collection of Civil War Envelopes; lent by Miss Martha Sproat,

Chillicothe, O.

Siderite, iron carbonate; gift, W. J. Nonnenmacher, Columbus, O.

• 23
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting      559

 

Material from Tuttle Hill, Iroquois Village Site, Independence, O.

Material from South Park, Iroquois Village Site, Independence, O.

Material from Esch Mounds, Huron, O.

Material from Taylor Village Site, Iroquois, near Huron, O.

Material from Coon Mound, The Plains, Athens, O.

Old Document, 1799; gift, Dudley Keever, M. D., Centerville, O.

Model of Mayan Temple; gift, Dept. of Architecture, O. S. U.

Piece of First Atlantic Cable; gift, Dr. Frank Warner, Co-

lumbus, 0.

Antique Clock; gift, Mr. George Schneider, Columbus, O.

Two Antique Watches; lent by Schneider Bros., Columbus, O.

Skull; from gravel bank near Trenton, O., Mr. M'Della Moon.

Ohio State Flag (first); gift, Mrs. William S. McKinnon.

Roster of 188th Reg't., O. V. I., Co. E, and Flag of 150th Reg't.,

O. V. I., gift of Henry Payne McIntosh, Columbus, O.

Brick from Appomattox, Virginia; gift, Mr. Charles S. Wolfers-

berger, Columbus, O.

The Griswold Collection; lent by Miss Ruth Griswold and Mrs.

McCollough.

Leaf from Washington Elm, Cambridge, Mass., gift, Dr. W. H.

Harper, Columbus, O.

Minerals; gift, Mr. J. E. Busch, Phoenix, Arizona.

Model of First Reaper, invented by Cyrus H. McCormick, 1831;

presented by the International Harvester Company.

Hoopskirt lent by Mr. Robert C. Wheaton, Columbus, O.

Ladies' Dress of 1865; gift, Miss Josephine Klippart, Co-

lumbus, 0.

Model of Covered Wooden Bridge; gift, Mr. Frank S. Miller,

Columbus, O.

Music written for poem on Ohio; music by Blanche Kerr Brock,

poem by Mrs. Lida Keck-Wiggins.

Steinway Piano; gift, Mrs. Ida M. D. Riddell, Columbus, 0.

Graphite for Educational Purposes; The Joseph Dixon Crucible

Co., Jersey City, N. J.

Copper Plate of Confederate Note; gift, Mr. George R. Waitley,

Worthington, O.

• 24
 

560       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Indian Doll and Beadwork; gift, Miss Clara Mark, Westerville, O.

Model of Coal Mining Machine; lent by the Jeffrey Mfg. Co.,

Columbus, O.

Machine Gun Belt Box; gift, Mr. Charles Witzler, Perrys-

burg, O.

Pistol and Flask; gift, Mr. William J. East, Toledo, O.

Fossils; gift, Mr. J. Rodney Gragg, Bainbridge, O.

Clothes Wringer and Archaeological Specimens; gift, Miss Hat-

tie E. Morris, Toledo, O.

Wooden Mortar and Iron Pestle; lent by Mr. Clyde W. S. Hinch-

ley, Brechsville, O.

Alaskan Specimens; lent by Prof. Clark M. Garber, Akiak,

Alaska.

Model of New Bedford Whaling Bark; lent by Mr. Dudley

Fisher, Sr, Columbus, O.

Rifle and Accessories; lent by Mr. Harold A. Barnhart, Chilli-

cothe, O.

Clock; lent by Mrs. Marie B. Schoening, Los Angeles, Calif.

Stoneware Jug; gift, Mr. Earl Knittle, Ashland, O.

Bicycle, "British Challenge"; lent by Mr. Robert G. Knight,

Delaware, O.

Blue China Plate, "Jonathan Alden Cabin," purchase.

Picture; gift, Mr. William Traxel, Cincinnati, O.

Mineral Specimens; exchange with Paterson Museum, Pater-

son, N. J.

Left Hand Sickel; gift, Dr. H. O. Whittaker, Dublin, O.

Medical History of Indiana, old document, etc.; gift, Mr. W. H.

Kemper, Bremen, O.

Antique Forks; gift, Mr. Elmer G. Wilson, Columbus, O.

Elk Antlers and Doll; lent by Mrs. N. W. Lord, Columbus, O.

Sword and Picture; gift, Mr. F. H. Howe, Grandview, O.

Flag of U. S. Shipping Board; lent by Miss Carrie M. Allen,

Plain City, O.

Medal Awarded to Ohio Horticultural Society; gift, Prof. Pad-

dock, 0. S. U.

Mineral Specimens; gift, Mr. Philip Schneider, Columbus, O.

• 25
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     561

 

Old State Bank Notes; gift, Mr. H. D. Davenport, Columbus, O.

Guatamalan Specimens; gift, Mr. C. D. Thompson, Columbus, O.

Proclamation by Gov. Tod, Plot of Alexandria, O. (photo);

gift, Mr. H. A. Lorberg, Portsmouth, O.

Collection of Photographs, Air and Ground Views of State In-

stitutions and Parks; deposited in museum by Supt. of

Budget, Merlin Brenneman, Columbus, O.

Amethyst Geode; gift, Col. Frank Long, Columbus, O.

Old Blue China Bowl and Other Material; gift, heirs of Joseph

and Annette Ichler, Kenton, O.

Antique Spectacles and Coins; gift, Mrs. Adell Middlesworth,

Columbus.

Mineral Specimens; gift, Mr. Albert C. Spetnagel, Chillicothe, O.

Samples of Sandstone; gift, The Taylor Stone Company, Mc-

Dermott, O.

Field Service Post Card; lent by Mr. Meehan, Columbus, O.

Flag of 101st Reg't., O. V. I.; gift, Mrs. C. M. Funk, Fos-

toria, O.

Minerals; exchange of specimens with Mr. B. Lane, Galena,

Kansas.

Archaeological Specimens; gift, Mr. Earl Creek, McGonigle, O.

Earthenware Object; lent by Mr. C. L. Wentling, Carey, O.

Minerals; exchange of specimens with Mr. T. J. Lewis, Phila-

delphia, Pa.

Shingle Splitter; gift, Mr. O. R. Kearns, Bainbridge, O.

Statuette, "Madonna of the Trail"; lent by Columbus Chapter,

D. A. R.

Stone Axe; gift, Mr. Walter Estis, Columbus, O.

Cane of Col. Benjamin Wilson, Virginia, Revolutionary Army;

lent by Mr. Daniel Weiny, Columbus, O.

China Teapot; gift, The Hall China Company, East Liverpool, O.

Old Document; gift, Mrs. O. D. Dryer, Columbus, O.

Specimen of Limestone; gift, Mr. Charles Rockhold, Co-

lumbus, 0.

Medals; gift, Mr. W. J. Schultz, Cincinnati, O.

• 26
 

562       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Stalactites and Photographs of Ohio Caverns; gift, Mr. I. E.

Smith, West Liberty, O.

Samples of Early Ohio Brick; gift, Mr. Homer Charles,

Eaton, O.

Pine Knots; gift, Miss Clara Mark, Westerville, O.

Early Ohio Pottery; purchase.

Saddler's Horse; gift, Messrs. J. H. & F. A. Sells, Columbus, O.

Specimens of Fluorite; gift, Mr. R. R. Priddy, Swanders, O.

Manuscript Book; lent by Miss Marian McPherson, Columbus, O.

Two Patchwork Quilts; lent by Miss Elsie B. Purcell, Co-

lumbus, O.

Medal: gift, Mr. L. Ridgeway, New York, N. Y.

Board Rule; gift, Mr. C. F. Reasoner, Columbus, O.

Glassware; gift, The Libbey Glass Mfg. Co., Toledo, O.

Alaskan Collection; lent by Prof. J. B. Titchener, O. S. U.

China Plate; gift, The C. C. Thompson Pottery Co., East Liver-

pool, O.

Two Small Stone Axes; gift, W. A. Wagner, Columbus, O.

Badge of Gen. J. W. R. Cline; gift, Miss Margaret Pearl Cline,

Washington, D. C.

Sample Watches; lent by The Gruen Watch Co., Cincinnati, O.

China and Glassware; gift, Mr. Roland Elderkin, Columbus, O.

Rifle and Accessories; lent by Mr. Harold Barnhart, Chilli-

cothe, O.

Civil War Drum; bequeathed to the Society by the late Major

J. R. Miller, Tacoma, Wash.

Oil Paintings; portraits of Gov. Trimble and members of the

Trimble family; bequeathed to the Society by the late Miss

Rachel Trimble, Columbus, O.

Flint Spear Point; exchange with Mr. P. F. Mooney, Mt. Sterl-

ing, O.

Flags of 14th Reg't., O. N. G.; gift, Col. George D. Freeman,

Jr., St. Augustine, Fla.

Two Coffee Mills; gift, Mr. W. F. Nihart, Columbus, O.

Wool Carders and Other Specimens; gift, estate of Eliza Money-

peny, Columbus, O.

• 27
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting      563

 

Portrait of James Kilbourne; bequeathed to the Society by the

late William D. Richards, Boston, Mass.

Two Carbines Taken from Morgan's Raiders; gift, Mrs. A. E.

Fox, Columbus, O.

Collection of China; lent by Mr. and Mrs. Harry R. McPherson,

Columbus, O.

Specimen of Conglomerate; gift, Prof. J. F. Craig, O. S. U.

Two China Plates; gift, Sarah Copus Chapter, D. A. R., Ash-

land, O.

Archaeological and Mineral specimens; gift, Mr. H. V. Schiefer,

Cleveland, O.

Ohio State Fair Poster, 1851; lent by Mr. G. L. Ballentine, Co-

lumbus, O.

China Platter; lent by Mrs. E. M. Lee, Fort Ancient, O.

Model of Canal Boat and Lock; gift, Mr. Dudley Fisher, Sr.,

Columbus, O.

Minerals; exchange with Mr. John Obert, W. Paterson, N. J.

Specimen of Labradorite; gift, Miss Clara Mark, Westerville, O.

China; gift, Leigh Potters, Alliance, O.

Kentucky Rifle and Accessories; lent by Mr. M. S. Webb, Co-

lumbus, O.

• 28
 

REPORT OF COMMITTEES ON HISTORICAL

ACTIVITIES

Dr. Harlow Lindley read the following report of the

Committee on Historical Activities in Ohio, which was

filed with the other reports for publication in the

Quarterly:

 

REPORT ON HISTORICAL ACTIVITIES IN OHIO

BY HARLOW LINDLEY, Chairman Committee on Cooperation.

From information at hand it appears that there are about

forty local, county and regional historical societies now in exist-

ence in the State of Ohio. Some of them seem to be nothing

more than organizations on paper. We have data at hand which

would indicate that at least twenty-five of the number have a

working organization and are carrying on some sort of active

historical program.

In order to give the members of the State Society and the

members of these various groups some idea of the activities

which are being carried on by these local organizations, the fol-

lowing report is presented which has been secured in reply to an

inquiry submitted to all the societies in the state. This report

does not attempt to give a complete survey of all the activities

of all historical organizations, but it is intended to give informa-

tion concerning new organizations, and special activities during

the past year.

During the year at least four new historical societies have

been organized: Piqua Historical Society, The Paulding County

Historical Society, Licking County Historical Society and the

Belmont County Historical Society.

* * *

The Zoar Historical Society sponsored the publication of a

brief history of Zoar, prepared by Howard Sarbaugh, Secretary

of the Society.

(564)

• 29
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     565

The Quarterly Bulletin of the History Society of North-

western Ohio, at Toledo, continues to publish new historical

material which has never been published before.

The Ashland County Historical Society has continued with

marked success its programs so arranged as to arouse the interest

of the people of the various parts of the county.

The Allen County Historical Society cooperated with other

agencies in celebrating the centennial of the establishment of

Lima last September. A marker was dedicated at the site of the

old Shawnee Indian Council House, south of Lima.

The Tuscarawas County Historical Society recently placed

a steel flag pole at the grave of David Zeisberger in the old

Goshen Cemetery, and the Teachers Institute of the county fur-

nished a beautiful flag, so from now on the American Flag

will wave over this great teacher's last resting place.

The Pioneer Historical Society of Muskingum County, of

which Mr. E. M. Ayers is President, reports that they have two

hundred members, paying $1.00 a year membership fee. The

society meets monthly with a program and is considered one of

the outstanding civic societies in the county. The headquarters

of the society is in the Monumental Building and they have a

large collection of museum material. They consider their best

asset a complete file of their local papers since 1833.

The Adams County Historical Society is working on a plan

to gather accurate information in regard to the industries of

Adams County. They have had papers prepared on the tanneries

of the early days and historical sketches of all the old mills and

factories. They are also making a survey of all the towns and

town sites that have been laid out in the county and are gather-

ing historical facts in regard to the development of education in

the county. They are also erecting markers along the Zane

Trace.

The Hiram Historical Society, cooperating with the Hiram

College participated in a Garfield Centennial Celebration, Novem-

ber 19, 1931. The society published a booklet entitled "Garfield

of Hiram," in connection with the event. This booklet is No.

4 of the Hiram Historical Society Publications and is edited by

• 30
 

566       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Prof. Harold E. Davis, of Hiram College and Secretary of the

Hiram Historical Society.

Under the auspices of the Greene County Historical Society

there was dedicated a Brown-Logan-Kenton monument near State

Road No. 72 between Cedarville and Jamestown.

The Clark County Historical Society, through the Secretary,

Mr. A. L. Slager, reports two recent interesting additions to their

museum collection: A complete full sized replica of Cyrus Hall

McCormick's first reaping machine in working order, and a

replica of the lattice type bridge on the National Road spanning

Mad River west of Springfield, which was erected in 1837. The

replica is 7½ feet long, made to scale from the timbers of the

old bridge. The Chamber of Commerce, High School History

Club and other local organizations are making regular use of the

society's collections and a number of the public schools of the

county are availing themselves of its benefits.

The Licking County Historical Society, organized in No-

vember, 1931, provides for the continuation of the work of the

Pioneer Antiquarian Society organized in 1867 by Isaac Smucher

and others. The society proposes to preserve the mounds of

the county and is fostering a movement to have the group of

mound enclosures incorporated into a State Park under the State

Society. The society also proposes to foster the study of local

history. The society has committees on Program, History,

Archaeology, Pageants, Exploration and Pioneers. The chair-

man of the History Committee, Mr. C. P. Smith, is the co-

author of a new book on Ohio history entitled "My State--Ohio."

The book is commended to all who are interested in Ohio his-

tory. Mr. F. A. Woolson is president of this new historical

society.

One of the newest societies is the Belmont County Historical

Society organized recently at St. Clairsville with Mr. Frank H.

Frazier as President. The new society has a splendid field for

historical activity and the character of its officers and membership

indicate some excellent work in the future. They have already

taken steps looking to the organization of a library and museum.

• 31
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting      567

 

During the past year two colleges have observed Cen-

tennial occasions--Hiram and Denison University--and Oberlin

College and Wooster College are now preparing for historical

celebrations this year.

It is quite noticeable the way communities over the state are

waking up to the opportunities offered by Centennial occasions

and to the value of the Pageantry as a means of portraying his-

tory and building community spirit.

The State Historical Society and the Gnadenhutten His-

torical Society, cooperating, are working on plans for a memor-

able Sesqui-Centennial Commemoration of the massacre of the

Christian Indians at Gnadenhutten in 1782. This event will take

place according to present plans on September 2, 3 and 4, 1932,

in connection with which a Pageant written and directed by Mr.

O. K. Reames will be presented. Mr. Reames has already estab-

lished his reputation in Ohio as a Pageant Master in connection

with pageants at Zanesfield and the George Rogers Clark Sesqui-

Centennial Celebration Pageant at Springfield in 1930.

Another new historical activity worthy of notice, although

not organized primarily to encourage Ohio history, is the Ohio

College History Teachers Association, organized at Cleveland,

April 8. At this organization meeting, the Curator of History

of this Society, was asked to speak on the related interests of

such an association and the State Historical Society. No such

organization in the state can help but be of assistance in our

educational program.

The Committee on Cooperation, representing the local his-

torical societies of the state, the educational institution, and this

society, which is appointed by the President of the Society, is

still actively interested in the best program possible for further-

ing the interests of Ohio history. Because of decreased appro-

priations, the committee has not been able to accomplish as

much as it had hoped to do during the year, but stands ready

to support as far as possible any worth while movement.

Chairman Sater announced that the reading of me-

morials would be the next order of business.           Dr.

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568     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Thompson presented a memorial resolution in honor of

the late General J. Warren Keifer. This memorial was

placed on file as a part of the records of the Society.

The reading of memorial resolutions in honor of Mr.

George F. Bareis, General Edward Orton, Jr., and Dr.

G. W. Knight, was temporarily passed.

 

ELECTION OF TRUSTEES

The election of Trustees was announced as the next

order of business.

Miss Helen Bareis, Dr. W. O. Thompson, Mr. Webb

C. Hayes, II, and Mr. Harold Clark of Cleveland were

nominated to fill the vacancies;--Miss Helen Bareis to

fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of her father.

On motion of Mr. Carlisle, nominations were closed and

the Secretary was authorized to cast the unanimous vote

of the Society for those nominated. The motion was

duly seconded and agreed to. The Secretary cast the

ballot of the Society accordingly, and Miss Bareis was

elected for one year and the remainder of the nominees

for three years each.

 

READING OF MEMORIALS

The Secretary then read memorials to George F.

Bareis, General Edward Orton, Jr., and Dr. G. W.

Knight which were made a part of the records of the

Society. Copies of each were directed by the Chairman

to be forwarded to the families of the deceased. The

Memorials are found on succeeding pages. After the

reading of Memorials the Society recessed until 2 p. m.

• 33
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     569

GEORGE F. BAREIS

WHEREAS, Since our last annual meeting it has pleased

Divine Providence to remove from our midst our First Vice-

President and life member, George F. Bareis, and

WHEREAS, He had been identified with this Society since

1888, as a life member since February 19, 1891, and through a

greater portion of the subsequent years as First Vice-President,

and had seen this Society grow from a very humble beginning to

its present creditable proportions, and

WHEREAS, He was very active in the upbuilding of all the

departments of the work of the Society and especially the de-

partment of archaeology, therefore

Be it Resolved by the Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Society, That in the death of George F. Bareis, the So-

ciety has sustained a great loss, his associates a genial, optimistic,

sincere friend, and the state an unselfish and efficient servant.

Mr. Bareis was born July 23, 1852 near Bremen, Fairfield

County, Ohio. He was educated in the district schools and high

schools of Logan and Canal Winchester, Ohio. He was

through a large portion of his life engaged in the lumber busi-

ness in his home town, Canal Winchester, where he followed a

successful business career.

His sympathies were broad and his attitude toward and his

judgments of his fellow-men were generously tolerant. He re-

spected the sincere opinions of others, even when they differed

from his own. He had a wide acquaintance and a continually

growing list of friends in Ohio and other states.

He early identified himself with the Reform Church and was

active in its interest through life. He was sincerely interested in

the cause of education. Though he did not have the opportunity

to attend college or university, he was active in efforts to provide

the means in order that his young friends might have the oppor-

tunity that was not his. He was superintendent of the Sunday

School of the Reformed Church of Canal Winchester for thirty

years. He served as a member of the Board of Missions of

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570       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

that church and also on the Board of Directors of the Ohio

Council of Religious Education. He was especially noted for his

long and devoted service and financial support to Heidelberg

College.

His faithful service to this Society continued almost to the

hour of his death. He was present at the last meeting of the

Board of Trustees, at which he presided.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded

to his two surviving daughters as an evidence of the respect and

sympathy of this Society, which he served so long and well.

 

EDWARD ORTON

WHEREAS, On February 10, 1932, stalwart, vigorous, tal-

ented, courageous, General Edward Orton, Jr., at the age of 68

years, 2 months and 2 days, was called from faithful service to

the nation, state, this city and this Society, and

WHEREAS, The great loss in his death has been widely felt

and acknowledged in sincere tributes from the organizations and

institutions that he served efficiently and to which he gave freely

and generously of his time and means, and

WHEREAS, He leaves a vacant place in the official ranks of

this society that will be hard to fill, therefore

Be it Resolved by the Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Society, That we appreciate his earnest, unflagging and

effective service to this institution. He not only rendered helpful

service in getting appropriations for the north wing of the build-

ing in which we are now assembled, but as Chairman of the

Building Committee was the leader in planning the construction

of this addition. The Memorial Room was the object of his

special care. He devoted much time to the helpful criticism of

the World War panels and composed the legend inscriptions

accompanying each.

He was also active in securing funds for the erection of the

South Wing. Had he lived, it would have been one of his am-

• 35
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     571

 

bitions to have completed this quadrangular structure, but he was

not vouchsafed fulfillment of this ardent desire.

In the effort of this Society to complete the work that he

so successfully commenced here, thoughts will often revert to his

valiant, aggressive, and prevailing leadership, and we shall appre-

ciate even more fully the loss that we sustained in his departure.

His interest in military affairs was a development of his later

years, but there was always something of the soldier in his atti-

tude toward life and its problems. He told me once how eager

he was for overseas service. Like Lord Byron who died for

Greece at Missolonghi, he sought active service for the cause of

country on the far flung battle line. That was denied him, and

he was spared to carry on valiantly in his native land.

Resolved, That while we mourn his departure we cherish

the memory of his brave, helpful, manly life as a beneficent

inspiration.

Resolved, That we extend to his wife and surviving relatives

our sincere sympathy and congratulate them on the influence

left by this noble life "with much to praise, and naught to be

forgiven."

GEORGE WELLS KNIGHT

WHEREAS, George Wells Knight, since 1885 a professor of

history in the Ohio State University, and "a citizen of broad in-

tellectual interest in public affairs" and eminent scholarship in

his chosen field, was called by death in the early morning of

February 10, 1932, and

WHEREAS, In his long service as teacher he came into con-

tact with a vast number of young men and women who left the

university to carry with them into life the impress of his thor-

ough teaching and the inspiration of his example, and

WHEREAS, He ever found his greatest pleasure in the

achievements of his students and his keenest interest in history,

general and local, and

WHEREAS, His interest in local history led him years ago at

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572       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

the founding of this Society to become a member and soon after-

ward to become the first editor of its QUARTERLY, therefore

Be it resolved by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society, That in the loss of Dr. George Wells Knight this Society

has lost one of its most scholarly members and the community a

worthy public spirited citizen.

Dr. Knight was of distinguished New England ancestry. A

number of his forebears were soldiers of the Revolution. He

was a lineal descendant of William Bradford, first Governor of

the Plymouth colony. In this ancestry he took a modest but

patriotic and pardonable pride.

While he kept aloof from politics, he maintained a keen in-

terest in public affairs. His interest in the study of constitu-

tional history caused him to consent to the use of his name as a

candidate for delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention of

1912. With ten candidates in the field and two to nominate he

led the ticket with a large majority. The work of that conven-

tion bears many of the marks of his conscientious, conservative

service.

He was fond of travel and in his later years visited many

foreign lands.

Dr. Knight's name appears on the earliest printed lists of

the members of this Society. At the time of his death he was

the oldest surviving member. The memory of his character and

achievements we claim as a cherished heritage.

Resolved, That we send with these resolutions to the sur-

viving members of his family the assurance of our sincere sym-

pathy in their bereavement.

 

GENERAL J. WARREN KEIFER

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society has

learned with profound regret of the death of one of its distin-

guished members, Brigadier General J. Warren Keifer, at his

home in Springfield, Ohio, Friday, April 22, 1932, at the age of

96 years. The Society records its appreciation of his membership,

• 37
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     573

• 38
 

574       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

of the interest he took in its welfare and progress and of the

service he rendered from time to time in the plans and projects

before the Society.

General Keifer was in many ways an unusual man. Born

in 1836 he lived through one of the thrilling periods of our his-

tory. As a boy whose father was a pioneer he became familiar

with the experience with the Indians. This interest reached its

maximum expression at the dedication of the George Rogers

Clark Memorial near Springfield in 1924, when General Keifer

was one of the active promoters and a speaker for the occasion.

In the Civil War he proved himself a true and courageous

soldier, returning at the close of the war with military honors to

renew his civic duties amid the scenes of his boyhood. Later on

he went as a soldier in the War with Spain risking his health and

life in the climate of Cuba. This service was rendered in the

same patriotic, high-minded manner as marked his service in the

Civil War.

General Keifer's interest in politics took him to Congress

where he became Speaker of the House. After his retirement

from Congress and many years of the practice of the law he was

again returned for two terms to the House where a generation

before he had served. His return brought him many pleasant ex-

periences in which he was privileged to rejoice in the renewal of

the confidence and affection of former years.

As a civilian General Keifer spent his long life in the com-

munity of his birth. He associated with himself in the practice

of the law his son and his grandson. Thus four generations of

the Keifer family have served and continued to serve as citizens

of merit--in their native city.

In local matters General Keifer was an active substantialcit-

izen--in the church, in the city government and in general in the

progressive movement of the city. He was an ardent and devoted

Republican associated with two generations of men beginning

with the period of the Civil War. In the parlance of every day

he was "a gentleman of the Old School." His intellectual life

found expression in reading the history of his country and in

• 39
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     575

 

familiarity with the history of the profession to which he devoted

his life.

We shall not soon see another man of his type. Most of

them have passed. We shall miss him from the roll of this

Society. His name, however, will be on the roll of honor and we

shall hold him in grateful memory as a citizen of integrity, honor

and distinction.

 

GENERAL J. WARREN KEIFER

Tribute of Clark County Bar Association

High praise of the achievements of the late Gen. J. Warren

Keifer, dean of the Clark County bar, as lawyer, soldier, states-

man and citizen, was sounded at a meeting in his memory held by

the Clark County Bar Association in the common pleas courtroom

in the court house Saturday morning.

Principal tribute was paid in the memorial prepared by a

memorial committee headed by Attorney Chase Stewart, consist-

ing of laudatory review of the life of this distinguished citizen.

Others on the committee included Attorneys John L. Zimmerman,

Sr., Jacob M. Harner, Clem V. Collins and Judge Frank W.

Geiger.

Attorney John M. Cole, president of the Clark County Bar

Association, presided. The service was attended by about 50

members of the Clark County Bar, including Judge Albert H.

Kunkle of the Court of Appeals and Common Pleas Judge Gol-

den C. Davis. The service also was attended by a number of

persons not members of the bar.

Verbal tribute to Gen. Keifer was paid in addresses by Judge

Geiger, and Attorneys Stewart, John L. Zimmerman, Sr., Harry

A. Brenner, George S. Dial and Clinton S. Olinger.

High spots in the memorial relate to the admission of Gen.

Keifer to the Clark County Bar, January 12, 1858, nearly three-

quarters of a century ago, his service in the state senate, his 14

years in the national house of representatives, during two years

of which he was speaker and his accomplishments as soldier,

lawyer, statesman and private citizen.

• 40
 

576       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

The association voted to approve the memorial and ordered

that a copy be delivered to the Keifer family, another copy pre-

sented to the common pleas court to be spread on the records of

the court and other copies distributed for publication.

"Save four years, 100 years have passed since Gen. Keifer

was born," Attorney Stewart said. "It was a remarkable period

during which the state of Ohio has emerged from a condition of

wilderness to its present state of development. Gen. Keifer lived

during this period and tried to keep pace with this development."

"The memorial as set forth," Attorney Zimmerman said,

after the memorial had been read, "contains the facts concerning

the life of Gen. Keifer as the committee understands them.

Every fact therein set forth is based on the truth and this me-

morial can go down in the record as authentic history."

Declaring the memorial was written "largely by my friend

Stewart," Attorney Zimmerman related early experiences with

Gen. Keifer whom he pictured as "the outstanding figure" in

Clark County history.

Gen. Keifer possessed certain "Bohemian traits found in

every great man and was organizer of an unrecorded Bohemian

Club in Springfield composed of Catholics, Protestants and Jews

which for 30 years exerted a powerful influence in public affairs

in Clark County," Attorney Brenner said.

"Few of those closely associated with Gen. Keifer," Judge

Geiger said, "stopped to realize what a great character dominated

the actions of Gen. Keifer. Early history has it that Gen. Keifer

was born just a few miles from the birthplace of Tecumseh,

two outstanding figures in the history of Ohio."

The memorial adopted by the Bar Association follows:

"Memorial

"Of Clark County Bar Association

"In honor of

"General J. Warren Keifer

"April 30, 1932

"General J. Warren Keifer, son of Joseph and Mary (Smith)

Keifer, was born in Bethel township, Clark County, Ohio, on

• 41
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     577

 

Jan. 30, 1836, the family residence being in the neighborhood of

the battlefield in the valley of Mad River, where Gen. George

Rogers Clark fought and defeated the Shawnees.

"On March 22, 1860, Gen. Keifer was married to Eliza

Stout, who was born in Springfield, Ohio, and to them were

born four children, Joseph Warren Keifer, jr., and William W.

Keifer, both living, and Horace Keifer and Margaret Eliza Kei-

fer, both deceased. The present Horace Keifer is a grandson.

"The earliest recorded reference to Gen. Keifer appears in the

first volume of Henry Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio. It

was made in 1846 when Mr. Howe was securing data in Clark

County to be published in connection with the early history of

Ohio. Desiring to secure information relative to Tecumseh he

states that 'a bright intelligent boy 10 years old stood by my side

who had been sent by his father, a farmer nearby, to point out

to me the various objects of historic interest and among them

the hill called Tecumseh.' This boy was J. Warren Keifer, the

subject of this memorial. He obtained his education in the coun-

try schools and attended Antioch College one year. When 19

years of age he commenced the study of law with Gen. Charles

Anthony in Springfield; was admitted to the bar Jan. 12, 1858,

practicing his profession for a short time only, for almost before

the young lawyer had an opportunity to prove his ability, the

Civil War was precipitated upon the country and his ambitions,

like those of hundreds of his fellow citizens, fell into abeyance

before the great wave of patriotic enthusiasm that then swept

Ohio. Forensic triumphs were to be delayed, for upon the in-

auguration of hostilities in 1861, he volunteered and enlisted in

defense of the Union on April 19, 1861, being among the first

to proffer his services. They were so prolonged and of so dis-

tinguished a character that their records appear in every contem-

porary history of Ohio.

"On April 27, 1861, he was commissioned major of the Third

Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a period of three months, and be-

fore the expiration of that time was commissioned for three years.

"He participated in the battle of Rich Mountain, July II;

• 42
 

578       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

1861, and in the same year was on the field at Cheat Mountain

and Elkwater, W. Va.

"On February 12, 1862, he was commissioned lieutenant-

colonel of the Third Ohio Infantry Regiment and was present

at the capture of Bowling Green, Ky., Nashville, Tenn., Hunts-

ville and Bridgeport, Ala.

"In April, 1862, he led an expedition to Georgia, and on

September 30, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the 110th

Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and being assigned to Gen.

Milroy's division in West Virginia, was placed in command of

a brigade and the Post at Moorefield.

"On June 13, 14 and 15, 1863, were fought the battles of

Winchester, in which Col. Keifer was twice wounded.

"On July 9, 1863, Col. Keifer was assigned to the Third

Army Corps of the Potomac which was pursuing Gen. Lee's

army.

"In August, 1863, he was dispatched with his command to

New York to suppress riots and enforce the draft, after which

he rejoined the army and from that time to the close of the re-

bellion participated in the many battles that took place between

the armies of Grant and Lee to the time of the surrender of the

latter at Appomattox.

"At the battle of the Wilderness, on May 5, 1864, he was

seriously wounded, but in August of the same year, in spite of

his disability he resumed command of his brigade. He was

nominated for promotion to, Brigadier-General by President

Abraham Lincoln for his conduct in commanding the Third

Division of the Sixth Army Corps in the battle of Cedar Creek

where Philip H. Sheridan made his famous ride.

"For gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Ope-

quon, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek he was breveted brigadier-

general by President Lincoln on December 29, 1864, and in 1865

he was breveted major-general for gallant and distinguished serv-

ices, being mustered out of the service shortly thereafter.

"In 1866 he was tendered a commission as lieutenant-colonel

of the 26th United States Infantry, but this honor he declined,

• 43
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     579

 

as the country was at peace, and a return to civil life and to the

practice of law was preferred rather than to remain in permanent

military service.

"Many years after, in April, 1898, when war with Spain

was declared, he was again ready for service, although 62 years

of age.

"Appointed a major-general by President McKinley, he

served in command of the Seventh Army Corps at Miami and

Jacksonville, Florida, and embarked at Savannah with 16,000

men for Cuba, establishing his headquarters at Buena Vista, just

outside the city of Havana.

"He was in command of the United States military forces

which took possession of the city January 1st, 1899.

"The political life of General Keifer also covers a long period,

and as a statesman he has won the commendation and admiration

of his fellow citizens in equal degree as a soldier.

"From 1868 until 1870, he served with marked efficiency as

a member of the Ohio state senate. In 1876 he was sent as a

delegate to the Republican national convention and in the same

year was elected to congress, where he served continuously from

1877 until 1885.

"In December, 1881, he was chosen speaker of the house of

representatives, an office which he filled with his usual distinc-

tion, enjoying the prestige of being at that time the first and only

Ohio man who was selected for this office, having occupied it

until March 4th, 1883. It was during his term as speaker that

was caused to be introduced a new procedure, which attracted

much attention at the time locally and abroad, under the name

of 'Cloture,' which is the right of a speaker to close debate

and cut off purposely obstructive motions and questions and bring

the house to an immediate vote upon the main question. This

decision was cited and adopted by Gladstone in the house of com-

mons.

"Following his service in the Spanish-American War, Gen-

eral Keifer was again called into public life, and in 1904 he was

again elected to congress, where he served three terms, making

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580       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

14 years in all in which he served the country in the house of

representatives.

"During his retirement from public life and while in the

active practice of the law he found time to turn his attention to

literature and wrote his political and military history 'Slavery

and Four Years of War,' in 1895-6, but interesting addenda were

made after the Spanish-American War, prior to the issuance of

the book, in 1900. The work was recognized as being compre-

hensive and convincing.

"He assisted in the organization of the Men's Literary Club

on the 3rd day of October, 1893, and remained an active and

valuable member, when not in public service of the country, until

recently, when the condition of his health prevented his attend-

ance.

"As a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, he did

much for the interests of the soldiers and has been honored by

them with official position. He was first commander-in-chief of

the United Spanish War Veterans; was an honorary life mem-

ber of the International Peace Union and America's official rep-

resentative at the World Peace Conference at Brussels, Belgium,

in 1910; a member of the Perry Centennial Commission, and

served for many years as president of The Lagonda National

Bank at Springfield, and when it merged with The Citizens'

National Bank he was made honorary president of The Lagonda-

Citizens' National Bank.

"In 1870 he served as one of the trustees of the Soldiers'

and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Xenia, he having organized its

board of control in 1868.

"In 1908 a reception was given in his honor by the Clark

County Bar Association at the fiftieth anniversary of his admis-

sion to the bar, which was attended not only by his fellow mem-

bers of the bar in Springfield, but by the judiciary and distin-

guished lawyers from different parts of Ohio.

"Either the political or the military career of Gen. Keifer

was sufficiently outstanding to entitle him to a position of promi-

nence, but added to these distinct careers was that of the lawyer.

• 45
 

Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     581

 

"Across the threshhold of his practice fell the shadow of the

Civil War. When that had passed, he returned to active practice,

and soon gained recognition as one of the outstanding young men

of the bar. As time went on, his activities touch every compli-

cated relationship arising in a highly industrial community, and

he became the trusted advisor of many important business enter-

prises.

"His outstanding ability was not confined to office practice,

as he was eminently successful in the trial of important cases be-

fore courts and juries.

"The Ohio Supreme Court reports contain many cases in

which Gen. Keifer appeared as counsel. He was an active prac-

titioner in both state and federal courts.

"His practice was not confined exclusively to civil cases. He

often appeared in criminal cases, where his success was marked.

"The prominent characteristics of Gen. Keifer as a lawyer

were his unceasing industry in his client's cause, a persistence in

the pursuit of what he conceived to be his rights, and a never-

flagging determination to employ every honorable means to ob-

tain the result he sought. The younger men of the bar could

approach Gen. Keifer with full assurance that he would take a

kindly interest in their problems and extend to them any aid that

his experience and learning could furnish.

"Closely connected with his activities as a lawyer were those

incident to his unceasing interest in civic matters and the welfare

of this community. He was not one to let important local mat-

ters pass without giving them deserving recognition. As a public

speaker he was impressive and convincing. He had a remarkable

fund of information, covering a wide range of study, which il-

luminated his discussion of any topic.

"The numerous positions he has filled with honor and in-

tegrity attest the esteem in which he has been held by the public,

and his long and familiar acquaintance with public measures and

public men, his wide legislative experience both in the Ohio senate

and in the congress, his distinguished military career, his many

and valuable civic services, his national prominence, and his for-

• 46
 

582       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications mer abundant usefulness to the people of the country fully entitle him to the respect that has been shown him by his fellow coun- trymen. "This is not an occasion for sorrow or mourning. A great man has passed after a life of intense activity and splendid service to humanity. "It is rather an occasion for rejoicing that during his re- markable career he has done so much to bring honor, not only to himself, but to the community which loved and will always revere him. "We recognize his splendid genius and rejoice that his life was crowned with so many victories. "He lived far beyond the allotted span of life and there should be no regret at his passing, but only gladness that he wrought so much and so well. "The rewards of the faithful are his. He earned them, and what we may here record will not add to or detract from them. "Chase Stewart, "John L. Zimmerman, "Jacob M. Harner, "Clem V. Collins, "Frank W. Geiger."

• 47
 

AFTERNOON SESSION

 

ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR CARL E. GUTHE

Chairman Sater called the meeting to order at 2

p. m. After a few well chosen remarks he introduced

Prof. Carl E. Guthe, University Museums of the Uni-

versity of Michigan, who delivered an address which

was heard with the closest attention entitled, "Outdoor

Guiding in History and Prehistory." Professor Guthe

spoke as follows:

 

OUTDOOR GUIDING IN HISTORY AND PREHISTORY

BY CARL E. GUTHE

The phrase "outdoor guiding" if considered in the narrow

sense refers to the physical process of interpreting an exhibit sit-

uated in the open to a group of visitors. This process must, of

necessity, show infinite variety in accordance with the detailed

demands of the individual exhibit. Yet the successful accomplish-

ment of such outdoor guiding depends upon an adequate appre-

ciation of the reasons for such an occupation, and its place in the

entire scope of museum policy. Therefore I intend to confine my

remarks to a discussion of the more general, and occasionally,

the more theoretical aspects of outdoor guiding in history and

prehistory. The subject may be stated in the form of three ques-

tions, namely: (1) What constitutes an outdoor exhibit?  (2)

How shall this exhibit be cared for? and (3) What is its relation

to the public?

The function of a.museum exhibit, whether it be in the open

or confined in glass cases in a building, is to illustrate, by visual

means, certain facts of a given body of human knowledge, and by

the arrangement of its several parts to demonstrate the relation-

ship of these facts to others. Just as nature trails, wild life sanc-

tuaries, and parks of several kinds supplement and expand the

(583)

• 48
 

584        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications indoor exhibits in the several natural sciences, so a variety of out- door exhibits of historical subjects may widen and strengthen the field of indoor historical displays. For the purposes of this paper, the term "history" is used to

refer to the temporal aspects of the development of human com- munities. It is the function of history museums to preserve all of the great variety of records which have historical significance. As a rule, such museums in this country confine their activities to the preservation of the human records pertaining to a restricted geographical region, whether that be a city, a county, a state, of

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting      585

 

the nation. Clearly, the story of the human occupation of a given

region is not that of a single civilization, nor of one historic

period, nor of one occupation. Prehistory and history are only

two parts of a single story; the story of a man's use of a given

region.

Not all objects associated with the human story of a com-

munity are necessarily historic specimens. The fact that a thing

is old does not mean that it must be preserved. Also, an object

which is unique is not an historic specimen. Materials constitut-

ing historical exhibits should illustrate the variety of the com.

monplace activities and objects of a given group, or period. His-

toric values of specimens are often dependent upon their location.

Some objects have a definite and important local significance only,

while others are of interest to the entire nation. In constructing

an outdoor exhibit, these several points must be kept in mind.

An outdoor history exhibit should supplement those within

a museum building; and should be centered around objects which,

for several reasons, cannot be placed within a building. Obviously

it is not possible to house Indian mounds and historic buildings

because of their gross size. Transplanting of some subjects from

specific localities destroys the associations under which they exist,

and consequently their only historical value. Thirdly, there are

historical records which cannot be moved without destroying their

identity, such as trails, waterways, and geographical locations.

The principal value of an outdoor exhibit in history is the

creation of an association between the geographical environment

and some historic fact or principle. Such exhibits may then be

grouped as localities; that is, those associated with historic periods,

those associated with events or episodes, and those associated with

famous individuals.

The most common feature of the localities associated with an

historic period is the habitations in which man lived during that

period. The first human group to thus occupy a region in any

part of the United States were the Indians. Throughout the

length and breadth of our country their forms of habitation varied

greatly. In the east and in the middle west, the average Indian

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586       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

village site contained only houses which were impermanent and

which have long since disappeared. In the southern Mississippi

Valley, pyramidal mounds of earth were used as foundations for

buildings. One of the most famous of these, Cahokia, at East St.

Louis, has recently been created a state park by the Illinois State

Legislature. In the eastern Great Plains, a type of earth lodge

was occupied by Indians, somewhat similar to the ceremonial

lodge which has been reconstructed on the grounds of the North

Dakota Historical Society at Bismarck. In the southwest are the

dwellings of the sedentary peoples, which include a great variety

of structures, only a few of which have been made famous in the

Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. Along

our coasts, evidences of the first occupation of an era are found

in the huge shell heaps built with kitchen refuse. Throughout the

country caves have been used by man during all periods.

Because we are better acquainted with the detailed story of

human development since the coming of the white man to this

continent, we are inclined to subdivide the past three hundred

years into several historic periods, each of which may be re-

garded as satisfactory material for outdoor exhibits. Their value

depends, to some degree, upon their relative local and national

importance. The interesting development which is taking place

at Williamsburg, Virginia, is an example of what can be done in

restoring an entire community to a single period in its history.

Similar attempts might be made, not only to preserve villages typ-

ical of the pioneer period of the middle west, of the frontier towns

of the far west, and of the early mining communities, but also

to reconstruct, while opportunity still exists, a few blocks of a

town of the middle of the 19th century, or even of the early part

of the 20th century, before the coming of the automobile and the

resulting changes in our communities.

Such large exhibits, dealing with a particular historical

period, have their administrative and economic difficulties.

Usually a desire to memorialize an historic period results in the

preservation of a single house within an otherwise modern com-

munity. Throughout the country there are innumerable log

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     587

 

cabins and houses of the 18th and 19th centuries, which serve as

historical exhibits. The chief purpose of any exhibit is to teach

a lesson and, insofar as possible, to create an illusion of reality

in the mind of the observer. If this statement is true, then it is

important that houses representing specific periods have the ap-

pearance of being lived in, and not of merely being a store house;

and that those parts of the house open to visitors to be absolutely

true to the period, without incongruous objects and arrange-

ments. Many exhibits of this class are completely ruined through

a misguided attempt to cater to public interest.

Another great class of exhibits dealing with historic periods

is that which includes monuments erected by human beings in

the past. Under this heading come the great burial mounds

erected by Indian communities in commemoration of those who

lived before them. Both Wisconsin and Ohio have been partic-

ularly active in having such monuments preserved in state parks.

The Indians also created monuments of similar nature when they

placed inscriptions in the form of geometrical and natural figures

upon various rocks and cliffs. Within the past year, considerable

time and patience have been spent in the state of Pennsylvania

preserving such records found near Safe Harbor, on the Susque-

hanna. These records, distributed throughout this continent, con-

stitute a valuable form of outdoor exhibit. Since the coming of

the white man, similar monuments have been erected according to

our own customs. Our cemeteries contain, both in the private

monuments and in those of a more communal nature, definite his-

toric records. Arlington, because of its national scope and its

dedication to a particular phase of modern civilization, holds an

important historical lesson.

The next great group of exhibits is that dealing with locali-

ties associated with events or episodes in which either the

European or Indian may have participated. The creation as

parks of such places as the battlefields at Gettysburg and Sara-

toga, the preservation of historic trees such as the Washington

Elm in Cambridge, and the Logan Elm in Ohio, under which

important events occurred, and the guarding of such objects as

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the Plymouth Rock exemplify the natural desire to preserve a

locality associated with some historic event. In all of these cases,

the lesson is best taught if considerable care be taken to maintain

the locality in the condition in which it was when the event

occurred.

Another class of events or episodes which may be commemo-

rated in an historic exhibit is that relating to the first appearance

of some culture trait. The only claim to history which the fields

have over which the Wrights first flew is that they mark the

location of an epoch-making event. Similarly, Menlo Park in

New Jersey is famous only because it was there that the electric

light was invented.

There is another group of geographical localities which are

sometimes not classed under this category. Many are inclined to

overlook the definite historic value of trails and waterways.

These are the arteries through which the changes in civilization

occurred, and if we are to understand the interrelations of the

several communities in our country, it is essential that adequate

provision be made for the interpretation of these trails. They

were Indian trails first, used later by frontiersmen and traders.

Then they were traveled in a variety of conveyances by the

settlers and the military groups. In these days of the automobile,

the traveler is usually unacquainted with the historic background

of the artery of communication over which he drives. A begin-

ning has been made in utilizing this group of outdoor exhibits

in the setting up of stone markers all over the country. A great

deal more can be done. With proper handling, I feel sure that

the general traveling public would be interested in the story of

such famous routes as the Long Hunters' Trail, the Warrior's

Trail, the old Sauk Trail, as well as the better known ones, such

as the Mohawk, Santa Fe, and Oregon Trails.

The third of the great classes of outdoor historical exhibits

is that comprising the localities associated with famous indi-

viduals. The first of these is that group which are definite

shrines to the memory of great men, and which may or may not

be located at a place where the individual actually worked.

These shrines usually take the form of shafts, statues, or build-

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting      589

 

ings erected to a certain attribute of the individual. In the

Stillman Valley in Illinois, there is an empressive heroic statue

of Black Hawk overlooking the region in which he carried on his

activities. Throughout the country we find monuments erected

to the pioneers and the pioneer women as tributes to a particular

characteristic of this class of individuals. The gigantic portraits

on Stone Mountain are another example of this type of memorial

to individuals. Without question, the most spectacular and the

most perfect of these shrines is the famous Lincoln Memorial

in Washington.

Another group of these localities is the one containing the

birth-places, death places, and dwellings of individuals. The

various buildings throughout the country preserved merely be-

cause they happen to have been the birth places of subsequently

famous people are legion. All of you know of dwellings of

well-known men which have been preserved as monuments

through local or national interest, such as Mt. Vernon and Monti-

cello.

The fact that the public is interested in these historic indi-

viduals is well known, but I think historians are sometimes in-

clined to overlook or perhaps belittle the potential value of

famous names. A consideration of their use by public service

organizations in localities associated with these individuals brings

out forcibly what can be done in this field. There would not be

so many uses of the name Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, nor of

Andrew Jackson in Nashville, Tennessee, if the public were not

interested in this aspect of history.

In this very brief and hasy review of the different kinds of

outdoor historical exhibits, it has, of course, been impossible to

consider all of the interesting problems involved, or to elaborate

upon some of the more pertinent examples. My only purpose in

cataloguing this material is to place before you a conception of

the complexity of the problem and the need for judicious con-

sideration in choosing only those subjects which definitely have

historical significance as outdoor exhibits.

We may now pass to the second question before us--How

shall these exhibits be cared for? It is clear that an outdoor

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historical exhibit is not in itself a museum. No one would think

of classing a wild life sanctuary or a nature trail as a museum.

Therefore, one must not become confused between an historical

exhibit and an historical museum merely because certain of these

exhibits happen to be buildings. The several exhibits of which

I have spoken should be handled in a way similar to that in

which habitat groups in natural history are dealt with in museum

buildings. This means that in order to preserve and properly

care for the exhibit, there must be some outside agency interested.

We museum men naturally feel that the best of such agencies

are organizations well acquainted with museum principles.

However, such organizations are not as yet widespread, and in

the meantime these exhibits can be and are cared for by civic

groups, including women's clubs and luncheon clubs, or by com-

munity departments, such as state historical societies and, as in

Phoenix, Arizona, by an archaeological commission. The im-

portant point is recognition of the fact that the establishment of

an outdoor exhibit does not constitute the sole responsibility of

the group involved. There is the expense of overhead and up-

keep, as well as the details of guiding to the exhibit, which must

be cared for in perpetuity.

We now come to the last of three questions--What is the

relation of the exhibit to the public? In many ways, this ques-

tion is the most important of the three. Unless a collection or

an exhibit is used, it does not justify its existence. What may

be most important to the individual specializing in history may

not be of the slightest interest to the average public. Therefore

one of the most important problems of outdoor guiding in history

is to bring the subject matter to the attention of those to whom

the guiding would be a service.

In outdoor guiding, the problems of public relations are of

greater variety than within a museum building. We are not only

concerned with the various age groups within a community, from

the children of the primary grades to the old people who have

personal recollections of the objects exhibited, but also with that

continually increasing group known as the tourist. The exhibits,

unless of a national character, must be so arranged as to appeal

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting      591

 

not only to the local interest, but also to those individuals who

come from afar without a knowledge of the detailed history of

the community.

We have heard for some time that natural history exhibits

should not be built for the education of the specialist in natural

history, nor for the gratification of the curator, but rather for

the use of those individuals who are not primarily interested in

the subject matter of the exhibits. The same holds true in his-

torical matters. There is a tendency to assume that the average

person has a sufficient knowledge of history to take an interest in

these materials regardless of their method of display. As a mat-

ter of fact, I feel that the majority of visitors to historical ex-

hibits do not have an adequate appreciation of either the facts or

the principles which an historical exhibit should illustrate. The

obvious interest which does exist on the part of individuals is not

of an historical nature, but is rather the result of three natural

and inevitable tendencies which I call the appetite for vicarious

experience, hero worship, and family pride.

It is not sufficient to ignore these three natural reactions to

historical exhibits, nor merely deplore them. They will occur in

any event, and the proper attitude should be that of utilizing

them to teach the desired lessons, bearing in mind that undue

catering to these reactions may obscure the true reason for the

existence of the exhibit. A desire to take advantage of the in-

terest in vicarious experience may cause the exhibit of a series

of objects associated with an event which was neither typical of

any given period nor which had any historical significance. The

recognition of hero worship has sometimes resulted in the

preservation of utterly useless things which were at one time

associated with some historical personality. I have in mind

some cigar ashes which came from a cigar smoked by General

Grant and a nondescript one-roomed wooden shack which was

once occupied by a subsequently important person. Perhaps the

most frequent cause for mistakes in historical exhibits is the

desire to satisfy family pride. This results in the unnecessarily

prominent display of the donor's name, and also in the close

association within a single exhibit of totally unrelated materials

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592       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

because of their acquisition by the organization from a single

source.

It is possible, on the other hand, to favor these aspects of

public interest and at the same time accentuate the historical

value of the exhibits. The chief charm of outdoor exhibits lies

in their surroundings. The fact that the visitor is standing on

the very spot on which some historic personage stood, or where

some important event occurred, is a vicarious experience, which

is entirely lost if the exhibit is moved to a locality which appears

to be either more convenient to those in charge or more conducive

to a larger number of visitors. A policy of leaving objects in

their natural location prevents incongruity through mixture of

periods and objects as a result of attempted centralization of ex-

hibits.

It must also be remembered that outdoor exhibits are only

exhibits and not museums. They must be treated as "habitat

groups", and explained in that way to the visitors. Insofar as

possible, the illusion of stepping into another historic period must

be preserved, granted, of course, that there are a number of

classes of exhibits which do not lend themselves to such treat-

ment. The worst offenders in this matter of retaining the illu-

sion, the spirit of the "habitat group", are the attempts to repro-

duce period houses and period rooms. Framed copies of news-

papers current in the period would not normally be found upon

the walls; the various pieces of furniture would not bear cards

giving names of individuals from whom the family had received

them; nor, as recently witnessed, a card with the word "original".

The illusion should be that of a home in which people live. One

good way of maintaining such an illusion, and one which at the

same time would be a means of support, would be a tea room,

with waitresses dressed in the costumes of the period, using linen

and table equipment which are replicas of those of the period, and

bringing food from a kitchen in which the cooking was being done

according to the methods and with the utensils of that period.

The requirement that history exhibits emphasize the human

element behind them is paramount. It is true that in many cases,

such as the sites of battlefields, the locations of old trails, and

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting       593

certain localities associated with famous individuals, it is impos-

sible to reconstruct the actual life of the period represented.

However, the human element may be emphasized by secondary

exhibits, and arrangements. Such adjustments are particularly

necssary in the case of the localities dealing with the pre-Colum-

bian history of the Indians of the region.

The first and simplest of these secondary exhibits is the

tablet or marker which, when once in place, becomes of value only

upon the initiative of the visitor. Clearly such a method is in-

adequate, but it is often the only way in which Indian sites, his-

toric trails, and the locations of events and episodes can be

marked by a group with limited time and funds. A more ade-

quate secondary exhibit is what has been called a "wayside

museum"; that is, a small building erected, if possible, in a style

of architecture in keeping with the major exhibit, in which a

variety of small objects are so arranged in glass cases as to ex-

plain its importance and historical significance. This is a par-

ticularly satisfactory method of bringing out the human values

of Indian sites, of treaty spots, frontier and mining communities,

and the like. The entire significance is lost if this secondary ex-

hibit is a perfunctory group of miscellaneous material. As much

or more care must be given to such a display as to those in

similar glass cases in the parent museum. By presenting clearly

the physical relationship between the minor specimens and the

major exhibit, it is possible to emphasize the historical value of

apparently unimportant objects. However, the greatest care must

be used not to destroy the sense of illusion, which is the first con-

sideration of the outdoor exhibit. The use of a part of an his-

toric block house of colonial times as a small exhibit room and a

sales room for postals and books dealing with the historic event

which took place in and near that block house definitely destroys

some of the historic value of the construction. One of the most

appropriate of such secondary exhibits is that at the Aztec Na-

tional Monument in New Mexico, where the smaller objects

illustrating the daily life of the inhabitants of a pueblo ruin are

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594        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

housed in some of the undisturbed and partly reconstructed rooms

of the pueblo itself.

A third means of creating public interest in outdoor exhibits

is through the individual in charge, one who, unfortunately, some-

times bears the title "care-taker."  His responsibility should be

not only that of protecting the exhibit from small boys, thought-

less tourists and vandals, but also that of making the visitors

appreciate, insofar as possible, the significance and interest of the

exhibit which has been placed in his charge. A training which

will teach the caretaker or curator of the exhibit the real value

of that for which he is responsible, will result in a cordial atti-

tude of the teacher towards visitors.  The actual guiding of

visitors through the exhibit might be supplemented by outdoor

lectures on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.    At the Mesa

Verde National Park, campfire talks each evening are doing

much to interest the public in the story of the builders of these

famous cliff dwellings.

A fourth means, of no historical significance whatever, is of

considerable importance in increasing the use of an outdoor ex-

hibit by the public. This is the establishment of adequate facilities

for amusement, recreation, and camping. The only important

consideration is that such playgrounds and camping grounds be

situated near, but not upon, the area which constitutes the ex-

hibit. Concessions must be granted for food, stationary, and the

usual mementos. It should also be remembered that an Indian

curio shop or antique store would be just as incongruous on the

outskirts of an historical exhibit as a furrier's establishment or a

taxidermist's shop situated at the gate of a wild life sanctuary.

The fifth tool for use in outdoor guiding is the printed word.

Brief accounts, published as small leaflets, or in some cases, as

more pretentious pamphlets, have a tremendous effect upon the

public. Ohio has prepared a guide to historic spots. The Wis-

consin Historical Society has published a large number of small

leaflets calling attention to a great variety of outdoor historical

exhibits.

In conclusion, then, the first requirement in considering the

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting     595

 

question of outdoor guiding in history is to determine what con-

stitutes an outdoor historical exhibit. Not all historical objects

can be exhibits. The particular value of outdoor materials is

that attention may be called to objects which cannot be placed

within museum walls. Yet all things which are old do not have

historical significance, and conversely, not all historical speci-

mens are old. They must be typical of some period or have a

definite association with some event, circumstance, or personage

of importance.

Outdoor exhibits are not museums, and like all exhibits,

they must be associated with some organization which is pre-

pared to care for the overhead and upkeep incidental to pre-

serving such historical material.

If the material is worth exhibiting at all, it is worth study-

ing carefully in order that it may best serve to demonstrate, by

visual means, the pertinent historical facts, and by its presenta-

tion to establish its relationship to other facts and exhibits. It is

necessary to cater to the visiting public by considering such mat-

ters as love of vicarious experience, hero worship, and family

pride, but the true function of an historical exhibit must not be

forgotten. Public interest and participation in outdoor exhibits

can be secured by emphasizing the human values; that is, by pre-

serving the exhibit in its natural surroundings; by fostering the

illusion of the present use through careful adherence to the

period of the exhibit in all details; by supplementing, but not

marring, the major exhibit through the use of secondary housed

displays of related smaller materials; by fostering public recrea-

tion parks in the neighborhood, but not upon the grounds of the

exhibit; and finally, by issuing carefully prepared leaflets and

pamphlets.

 

(Applause.)

CHAIRMAN SATER: The Secretary has an announce-

ment to make at this time,

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596      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications SECRETARY GALBREATH: Professor Venable, who will make a presentation of the collection of which I read this forenoon, is here ready formally to present it. I in- vite you now, so as to facilitate the return of Mr. Ven- able to Cincinnati, to go to the Library and see and hear this presentation.

• 61
 

PRESENTATION OF RARE COLLECTION BY

PROFESSOR EMERSON VENABLE

After adjourning to the Library, as above noted, the

following proceedings were had:

SECRETARY GALBREATH:       Mr. Emerson Venable,

teacher, author, and writer, will present the Dolores

Cameron Venable Memorial Collection in honor of his

late wife.

MR. EMERSON VENABLE: Mr. Galbreath and Mem-

bers of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical So-

ciety: I regret that my daughter, Evelyn Venable, is

unable to be present on this occasion; but she is present

in spirit, and has asked me to convey to you her greet-

ings. Mr. Secretary, in behalf of my daughter and my-

self I now have the pleasure of presenting, through you,

to the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society,

the Dolores Cameron Venable Memorial Collection.

In accepting Professor Venable's gift Secretary

Galbreath said:

Professor Emerson Venable and Friends:

In behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio State Arch-

aeological and Historical Society, I accept this notable gift--the

first of this kind in the history of this institution.

With William H. Venable's standard work, The Beginnings

of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley, published in 1891, come

also a revision of that work by the author in manuscript form

brought down almost to the time of his death, over 500 manu-

script letters by prominent Ohio writers of the past century, and

some rare items from Ohioans prominent in statesmanship and

(597)

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598       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications war. There are also hundreds of lantern slides largely devoted to Ohio literary subjects. The plan was to present this valuable and unique gift when not only Mr. Emerson Venable but his talented, cultured and

beautiful daughter, Miss Evelyn, could be present. Miss Evelyn has the culture and refinement of both parents and the beauty of her mother whose portrait you see, and in whose memory this

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting    599 collection is presented. The daughter has commenced a promising career on the stage and is now making a coast to coast tour with the Walter Hampden Company presenting "Cyrano de Ber- gerac," by Rostand. We hope to be honored by her presence at some future meeting. I accept and dedicate this collection as a foundation source for the study of Ohio literature and the careers of Ohio literary men and women. As a first fruit of this source I invite atten- tion to the neat volume entitled An Interpretation of the Life and Poetry of Coates Kinney, by Miss Debora M. MacNeilan, of Columbus. In behalf of the Society I thank the donor, Mr. Emerson Venable and his daughter, for this precious gift and assure him that it will be sacredly preserved. After the ceremonies incident to the dedication, the audience repaired to the auditorium to hear Mr. C. A. Jones deliver his address on Abraham Lincoln. After introduction by Chairman Sater, Mr. Jones delivered his address which was out of the line of the ordinary eulogy on Abraham Lincoln and presented many facts that were new to his audience.

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN

AN ADDRESS BY CHARLES A. JONES

CHAIRMAN SATER: I feel that we are all obliged to Professor

Galbreath for making a little shift in the program here and in

giving us a chance to walk about for a few minutes and to be

present at the presentation and dedication of this beautiful gift

that Mr. Venable and his family have made to the Society.

A few years ago the managers of a very enterprising maga-

zine in this country sent out a questionnaire to the high school

students of the civilized countries of the world and they asked

for the answer to one question, they were polling high school

students of the civilized world to find out who, in their opinion,

was the greatest man of modern times. Now, that is a pretty

big order, my friends. But the high school students apparently

were able to answer that question. And who do you think led

the list? Probably a number of you have seen that list, maybe

some of you have not. But who do you think led the list of

the greatest man of the modern world? It wasn't Napoleon, there

wasn't a king or an emperor or a prince or a potentate or a rich

man in the list, not one. The man who received the greatest

number of votes as the greatest man of modern times was a

quiet, mild-mannered little Frenchman who spent his whole life

in a laboratory, Louis Pasteur, and the second name on that list

was Abraham Lincoln.

We are very fortunate this afternoon in having with us as

one of our speakers, one of the most careful, painstaking of the

younger students of Abraham Lincoln in the state of Ohio. We

never tire of hearing of Lincoln and you will not tire of hearing

what this speaker has to say of him.

Mr. Jones, as you know, was Secretary for Governor and

Senator Willis for seven years. He was Secretary for Gover-

nor Cooper throughout the entire time that he was Governor. But

Mr. Jones' reputation doesn't depend upon his connection with

(600)

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting   601

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602       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

any other man. He has a name and a reputation and ability of

his own. You will discover that, if you don't already know it,

before he has proceeded very far with his paper. It is my great

privilege to introduce to you Mr. Charles A. Jones, who will

speak to us on Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Jones. (Applause.)

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: That is a very much appreciated

introduction, a little bit different from the one that I got up in

Mansfield some months ago when I went up there to speak to

the men's group. The chairman of the meeting was making some

announcements in a perfectly informal manner.  I am certain

that he did not think about what he was saying. Nevertheless,

it was rather interesting. Right in the middle of his announce-

ments, he said to the group, "Now, boys, next week we will have

a real speaker." (Laughter.) And the boys looked at me and

I looked at them and then we all laughed.

I have been very much interested in the work of this Society

ever since the first time that I came to Ohio and went into a

little room down in the capitol building and saw a number of

things, one of which especially struck my attention, coming as I

did from the border state of Maryland. I saw a flag there with

a placard on it, "Rebel Flag from the First Maryland Regiment."

I suppose long since it has gone back to Maryland. It was the

first time in my life that I ever saw in any public place the

word "Rebel" and I have never forgotten it. The setting, of

course, as you know, in the state of Maryland was very different

in regard to that word from what it was out here in Ohio, and I

have never forgotten the impression that that particular exhibit

made upon me.

I have had very interesting and pleasant relations with the

Society and its officers through the years and have been glad to

make such contributions to it as I could. I was very much in-

terested in some phases of the paper which preceded. One of the

officers of this Society and I went up to one of the nearby counties

not so long ago to speak at a local historical society meeting. We

drove into the town and up to the court house and asked if this

was the place where the meeting was to be, and the gentleman

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting    603

 

who stood in front said to us, "I have no doubt this is where it

is to be, this is where they have their junk." (Laughter.)

A little later in the evening, after the meeting was over, we

were taken in to see the exhibit, which is really a very interesting

one, and the guide took us over almost instantly to one of the

cases and pointed out a piece of rope and told us that a certain

man was hung with that. (Laughter.) So I have some knowl-

edge of the subject matter that was discussed.

Nothing is more strange when you come to study it out,

except life, than the choices of men and women that history

makes for immortality, and by immortality in the sense in which

I use it, I mean the fame that will so endure that a hundred

years from today, the ordinary citizen in the ordinary country

of the world will know or care that a man lived and where he

lived and what he did. Those of you who have examined the

literature of any day much less than a hundred years ago are

always struck with the importance given to men and to events

which have wholly passed out of the knowledge of the men and

women of your own day and generation, probably never have

come to their attention, and yet at the time in which those things

happened or in which the men and women lived they had a no

inconsiderable importance.

Now, viewed from that standpoint, nothing is more strange

than that I should be here speaking to you about Abraham Lin-

coln or that you should be interested in him, or that this day

and generation should, in many places in the world, consider

Abraham Lincoln equal to or even above the man who is the

father of his country, George Washington.

There can be no question about the fact that in many coun-

tries of the world, Abraham Lincoln is definitely better known

than any other man that ever lived in the United States. Half

a world from here is the city of Chengtu, almost at the Tibetan

border. Walking down a little street of that city one day, a street

not much wider than this old and historic desk here, I looked

into the room of a little store and on the back wall of that store

I saw a Chinese printed picture of Abraham Lincoln. The man

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604       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

that owned the store knew practically nothing about Mr. Lin-

coln; he knew so little about the United States of America that

he asked how many days' journey it would take by sedan chair

to come from his country to this country. But he did know that

a man by the name of Abraham Lincoln who was born an ex-

ceedingly poor boy came to be one of the greatest men in the

world.

Not so very long ago in the city of Berlin, Germany, the

high school students were asked who was George Washington.

More than half of them did not know. There were many in-

teresting answers, among which was the statement that he was

the chief aide to General Pershing during the World War. Just

what they might have said about Mr. Lincoln is not recorded,

but that is an indication of the general knowledge of the world.

How marked it is that Mr. Lincoln achieved fame almost by

accident is illustrated, perhaps best, by the sketch of Mr. Lin-

coln's life that was given by Dr. Aked, one of the most famous

English preachers of our generation, at the Lincoln Memorial

Service in Washington, about six years ago. In beginning his

address, Dr. Aked said that to the people of Great Britain, "Abra-

ham Lincoln is an absolutely incomprehensible character." Those

were his exact words, and he added that his experience in the

United States led him to believe that Mr. Lincoln is actually as

little understood almost by the people of his country as he is by

the people of Great Britain. Of course, we wouldn't agree with

that statement.

And then Dr. Aked followed with this outline, which I want

to read to you with some little comments, because it is a state-

ment of the life of Mr. Lincoln as it might well have been set

down up to the time that he was past fifty years of age, the age

at which men in public life are usually well on their way towards

success or permanent failure. Let me read this:

"He was born amid conditions of poverty scarcely compre-

hensible to the men and women of today."

Oftentimes when I am speaking over the state, I refer to a

log cabin that is down here in the basement, which is a really

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Report of the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting    605

wonderful exhibit of the life of a hundred or more years ago.

This cabin is a palace beside any building in which Abraham

Lincoln lived up to the time he was nineteen years of age. This

is a first class cabin. A hundred years ago the cabin in which

Mr. Lincoln was born was considered a third class cabin, even in

the hills of Kentucky where it stood and still stands, and if you

will go down there and talk with the people who have built those

cabins and lived in them, they will tell you that under any stand-

ards, the cabin in which Mr. Lincoln was born was a very poor

cabin. Then when his father moved to Indiana, he lived all

through one of the coldest winters in historical times in a build-

ing that had only three sides.

"Now," said Dr. Aked, "of his father, the less said the

better."

My own judgment is, while that was the judgment of our

fathers, it is not just. Nobody knew anything about Thomas

Lincoln or cared anything about him up until the time that Mr.

Lincoln became President, and the President's father was then a

man well along in years. Dr. Barton says, after very careful re-

search, that something happened to Abraham Lincoln's father

about the time he was forty or forty-five years of age which

transformed him from an ordinary individual with some degree

of enterprise, not very great, into an absolutely shiftless indi-

vidual. It was as the individual of that second period that

Thomas Lincoln came to the notice of men who cared and his

name was passed down into history. Thomas Lincoln was an

elder of his church and he was a public official. He did certain

things of more or less credit in the Kentucky neighborhood in

which he lived, all of which have been developed in the research

of the last few years to somewhat change the picture of Thomas

Lincoln. He wasn't the greatest man that ever lived by a long

shot, but neither was he, in the earlier years of his life, at least,

the poor, shiftless individual that he was when he came into the

picture of history.

Let me return to the outline. Dr. Aked said that "The best

that can be said of his mother is that she was an ignorant but

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rather attractive pioneer woman. Mr. Lincoln had no education

from the viewpoint of the modern school." The fact is that his

education from our viewpoint was less than a year. "From early

boyhood he was compelled to do hard physical labor for every-

thing which he secured, and to use his own testimony, he had to

work hard, but he never learned to like it. Life for him was

one succession of failures from the viewpoint of the thing which

he wanted to achieve. The three women he especially loved, his

mother, his sister and his sweetheart, all died in his early life,

their deaths casting over him a gloom from which he never en-

tirely emerged.

"He became a storekeeper and the business failed, plunging

him into debt from which he never was able entirely to emerge

until after he had served in the Congress of the United States.

He became a surveyor and his surveying instruments were sold

to pay his debts. He went into the Black Hawk War a captain

and returned a private. He rode a horse to the war and had to

walk back. He became postmaster at the town of New Salem,

and not only the postoffice but the town in which the postoffice

was located went out of existence. He became a candidate for

the legislature but was defeated. Then he was elected and his

name is associated with some of the worst economic legislation

ever enacted by the General Assembly of any state in the union."

Let me say that this last is not particularly to Mr. Lincoln's

discredit. The name of every other man of any consequence in

his period and place was associated with the same legislation. It

was a period of bond legislation, somewhat like the ones through

which we have gone with the same kind of consequences that we

are now having in the United States and are likely to continue to

have until we get some of this bond business cleared away.

"He became a candidate for Congress and was defeated.

Later he was elected and served two years. His record was such

as not only to prevent his re-election, but to prevent the elec-

tion of his friend, Judge Logan, who had been chosen by his

party to succeed him.

"He became a candidate for Land Commissioner, but the

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President for whom he had campaigned wouldn't appoint him.

The President wanted to appoint him as Governor of Oregon,

and it is to the exceedingly great credit of Mrs. Lincoln that she

said 'No' and made him obey it. He was a candidate for United

States Senator in 1852 and was defeated. He was a candidate

for the nomination for Vice President at the First Republican

National Convention in 1856, received perhaps a hundred votes

out of some three hundred and fifty, but he was defeated.

"In 1858, he was a candidate for United States Senator for

the second time, took part with Stephen A. Douglas in the

greatest political debate ever staged on the American continent

and emerged from the campaign defeated, deep in debt, and so

far as he could see and so far as Mrs. Lincoln, who had said

she was about to marry a President of the United States, could

see, his political career, the thing that he wanted more than any-

thing else in this world, was over."

He expected to have nothing further except the practice of

law in the city of Springfield, Illinois, with occasional excursions

into public affairs from an incidental viewpoint, and if he had

passed off of the stage at any time, ladies and gentlemen, in the

year 1859, there isn't a single person in this room nor in this

state except some technical students of history who would know

or care that any such a man as Abraham Lincoln ever lived.

In September, 1859, Mr. Lincoln came to Columbus and

spoke on the east side of the State House to less than a hundred

people. On the following day, the editors of the two leading

papers in this city, each, of course, without knowledge of what

the other was about to say, said editorially that "Abraham Lin-

coln, a former Congressman from Illinois, spoke yesterday by

the State House," and each editor took occasion to point out that

he didn't consider that it was an event of enough consequence to

go across the square to hear Mr. Lincoln. Now, that was in

September, 1859.

In January, 1860, a noted Washington correspondent issued

a volume of sketches of the probable presidential nominees and

the name of Abraham Lincoln does not appear in that volume of

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five hundred and sixty-two pages, except with reference to the de-

bate with Mr. Douglas, and if the National Convention had been

held in January, 1860, Mr. Lincoln would not have been nomi-

nated, and if it had been held in February, 1860, Mr. Lincoln

would not have been nominated. He wasn't in the thinking of

most of the people of the United States. What I am saying is

that this man who is pre-eminent in American history, who is the

best loved man in our history and the best known man in our

history, despite the fact that he had participated in what is prob-

ably the second most important law case from the viewpoint of

decisions in the history of the United States, the famous railway

bridge case, was a local man with nothing more than a local rep-

utation from a political viewpoint and that he would not have

been known to you today.

I do not propose to talk to you about the outstanding events

in Mr. Lincoln's life. You know them just as well as I do. I

do intend to talk about five very little things, without any one of

which in all human probability Abraham Lincoln would not have

been President of the United States.

Sometimes when we think about these outstanding men we

think about them in terms of monuments. George Washington

appears to more people in terms of that great obelisk down in

Washington than he does as an individual. Most people do not

know that all through his life George Washington had a very

great affection for another man's wife, which clouded his happi-

ness through all the years, just as Mr. Lincoln's loss of Ann Rut-

ledge probably clouded his life. The human element passes out

somehow as we go down through the years and a good deal that

we know or think we know about Abraham Lincoln, who has

been dead only sixty-six years, is myth, myth in its setting and

myth in its actuality. The fact is that Mr. Lincoln's way to des-

tiny was influenced by five or six little things like those which

might have affected and probably often have affected your own

lives.

The first of those about which I want to speak today is the

climate of the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Lincoln never was in

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Cleveland alive but once and that was in 1861 when he was on his

way to Washington to be inaugurated as President of the United

States. His body was brought back there on its way to entomb-

ment at Springfield. How then could the climate of the city of

Cleveland, Ohio, have a vital effect upon the life of Abraham

Lincoln? The fact is that probably no individual thing that hap-

pened to Mr. Lincoln directly or indirectly was as important as

that factor of climate.

In the year 1832, the littlest man physically that ever at-

tained great importance in the history of the United States grad-

uated in New England and started west to go somewhere to prac-

tice law. He had letters of introduction to some people in Cleve-

land, Ohio, and he came there and established a legal connection

that was far beyond his dreams and far beyond the dreams of

almost every young lawyer. He hadn't been there very long, how-

ever, when he was taken ill with what we would today probably

call bilious fever, or something like that. He was very ill for

three months. At the end of that three months, the doctors said

to him that he must either leave the city of Cleveland or take the

chance that he would pretty soon leave the world entirely.

So he took a canal boat and went down to Portsmouth, Ohio,

then down to Cincinnati where he attempted to make a legal con-

nection but couldn't; went on down to St. Louis and didn't have

enough money to stay there; went into Illinois to practice law,

because without any knowledge of the law and without any

money, he could live for a time until he could get himself estab-

lished.

That is why Stephen A. Douglas came to go to Illinois. He

didn't want to go to Illinois, he didn't intend to go to Illinois, he

went there only because of economic conditions, he had to go to

Illinois.

Now, then, if Stephen A. Douglas had stayed in the State of

Ohio, he probably would have become a great man; he might

easily not have become as great a man as he did become, because

we had in this state some pretty big men in those days, Thomas

Corwin of Lebanon, and Salmon P. Chase and a number of other

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men that could be named here today. But, nevertheless, the evi-

dence would seem to point to the fact that Stephen A. Doug-

las would have become a big man. He had a greater knowledge

of the psychology of public address than almost any man of the

fifties. He had a wonderful voice. He could imitate the roar of

a cataract or he could lower his tones to paint the picture of a

breeze. And yet he never read books to amount to anything.

He was the least read of any man who became great in the his-

tory of the United States, in a public capacity, in the years after

education became general, at least. He must have been a great

man because he succeeded to eminence in this country immediately

after Webster and Clay and Calhoun had passed off the scene of

action and he maintained his greatness by the power of his speech.

But suppose he had become great in Ohio, would that have

made any difference in the life of Abraham Lincoln? How

would Abraham Lincoln have come into contact with Stephen A.

Douglas if Stephen A. Douglas had been a resident of Ohio?

Lincoln could not have campaigned against Mr. Douglas for the

United States Senatorship, and if Mr. Lincoln had not cam-

paigned against Mr. Douglas for the Senatorship, in all proba-

bility Mr. Douglas would have been President of the United

States and Mr. Lincoln would have been an obscure figure in

Illinois.

It is pretty hard for an audience these days to understand

that when the Lincoln-Douglas debates started, they were not of

interest at all because Mr. Lincoln was taking part in them; Mr.

Lincoln was just the tail to the kite. Mr. Douglas was the kite

and I will give you current evidence of that. Mrs. Joseph B. For-

aker has written a very entertaining and interesting book on her

life, I Would Live It Again. Referring to the things of her

youth in the home of her father, the distinguished Congressman

Bundy of that day, she relates about the conversations around

the table concerning the fact that "a Mr. Lincoln was debating

the great Douglas in Illinois." After the debates were over some

time and the people had had a chance to think the thing through,

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Mr. Lincoln became the kite and Mr. Douglas became the tail to

the kite; but that wasn't true when those debates took place.

If Mr. Douglas had not had an attack of bilious fever in

Cleveland in 1832 and had stayed in Ohio, the whole course of the

life of Mr. Lincoln and the whole course of the national history

might have been changed. That is the first of the incidental

things to which I want to call attention today as important in the

life of this great man and as contributing directly to the develop-

ment of his life.

Now, then, we are going to skip clear over until the early

part of 1860. What little fame Mr. Lincoln had in the early part

of 1860 was due to the fact of his participation in these debates

with Mr. Douglas. The outline I have given you here that Dr.

Aked gave is in essence true. It would have been set down, if

anything had been written, in 1860. There wasn't a single sketch

extant of Mr. Lincoln in the early part of 1860 anywhere and you

can't find one today that was written up to that time, yet he was

past fifty years of age when he was nominated for the presidency

of the United States.

There are more books about Abraham Lincoln today than

about any other man that ever lived in the Western World, ex-

cept possibly Napoleon Bonaparte in France, but they weren't

written before 1860 and most of them were not written for thirty

years after Mr. Lincoln had passed off of the stage. Dr. Holland

wrote the life of Mr. Lincoln in 1866 and Ward Lamon, his as-

sociate, wrote one in 1872, and then along in 1888 or thereabouts,

his law partner, Mr. Herndon, with the assistance of Mr. Weik,

wrote a three volume edition that stirred everybody. About the

same time Hay and Nicolay issued their great ten volume history,

and it was supposed all that was worth while had been said. You

can put in about a dozen volumes all the things of permanent

worth that the people cared to know about Mr. Lincoln, at least

as far as they had appeared in print up to about 1890 or '95.

It was not until Ida Tarbell spent three or four years digging

up facts that nobody ever dreamed existed about Abraham Lin-

coln and the Lincoln family and printed them along about 1905

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and 1906, that the floodgates on Mr. Lincoln were let loose; and

now there are about twenty-five hundred volumes on Mr. Lincoln

and four or five thousand pamphlets. There is scarcely a month

goes by that some book that is worth while is not printed about

Mr. Lincoln. About six or eight have been printed this year

already. It takes forty or fifty dollars a year to keep up with the

procession if you buy just the publications that are really worth

while that come out every year. But the men who lived with Mr.

Lincoln and who immediately followed him didn't have much of

that kind and didn't care for much of that kind.

So we pass over to the early part of 1860, which was just a

few weeks after Mr. Lincoln came to Columbus to deliver this

address which was listened to by less than a hundred people. He

was not in the eye of the East as a presidential possibility at all.

Then there came to him an invitation to come to Brooklyn, New

York, to speak to a Lyceum Club of about a hundred members.

A man who happened to be one of the directors of this Lyceum

in Brooklyn had been out in Illinois and had heard Mr. Lincoln

in these Lincoln-Douglas debates. He thought it would be an

interesting and valuable thing from a monetary viewpoint to bring

Mr. Lincoln to Brooklyn as one of the attractions on that lecture

course, not because of anything he would say particularly but

because he was a natural physical and political curiosity. This

man had a strenuous time persuading his six associates that an

invitation should go to Mr. Lincoln at all.

I know just how that appealed to them. When I was on

the Senior Lecture Course Committee up at Delaware, we wanted

to bring Captain Jack Crawford, a famous Indian Scout, there,

not because of anything that he would say, but because we

thought he would be one of the few remaining curiosities of the

wild and wooly West. The faculty vetoed the suggestion; they

said we couldn't, he wouldn't contribute anything cultural to what

we were there for.

Well, now, that was about the same way with this committee

down at Brooklyn, but the director of the Lyceum Club finally

got the invitation across and sent it out to Abraham Lincoln.

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And then this thing occurred. Mr. Lincoln didn't want to go

to New York to deliver that address; he was tired; he felt he

was out of public life, but there was one reason why he wanted

to come east, and you who have sons and daughters in college

will sympathize with his viewpoint. The oldest son of Mr. and

Mrs. Lincoln was Robert T. Lincoln. This son, if it had not

been for the overwhelming greatness of his father, would today

be an outstanding man in American history. For many years he

was the leader of the Chicago Bar; he was a member of the cab-

inet of two presidents; he was talked about as a candidate for

Vice President and for the Presidential nomination; he became

president of the Pullman Company, not because he married any-

body connected with the Pullman Company, but simply because

of his great executive and legal ability, and he retained that posi-

tion through many years. He was an outstanding able man.

In the fall of 1859, however, he went to Harvard University

and attempted to pass the sixteen entrance examinations. It is

probable that the graduates of our day couldn't pass them after

they have gone through college, and therefore it may be with

some excuse that Robert T. Lincoln, at the end of those examina-

tions, found himself to have failed in fifteen out of the sixteen.

His parents sent him over to Phillips-Exeter Academy to be

stuffed for the second examination. He could get two chances at

Harvard then. If you didn't pass the second examination, you

didn't get in; that was all there was to it.

Now, if it was your son, you would be interested, wouldn't

you, even in this day? Mr. Lincoln was interested. He wanted

to go and see what Bob was doing, how the son was getting along,

and he didn't have the money. He hadn't had the money to pay

$250 of a campaign assessment the preceding fall. He was the

leader of the Illinois Bar, and yet he didn't have the money to go

from Springfield, Illinois, to Boston, Massachusetts, to see his son

who was about to pass the most critical examinations in his life.

So he wrote back to this Lyceum and he said to them, "If you

will give me $350, enough to go to Boston and spend some time

with Bob, I will come."

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You cannot imagine sitting here in this day and generation

what a sensation that letter made in Brooklyn. The Reverend

Henry Ward Beecher, who was then probably the greatest lyceum

talent in this country, or Ralph Waldo Emerson, or any men of

that class, would come from Boston or New York to Cleveland

and deliver their address and pay their own expenses for $75,

and here was this funny man from Illinois who wanted $350.

Well, by one of those strange chances of fate, they decided to

give it to him and Mr. Lincoln went to work on the address which

he was to give.

Before that address could be given, though, Ladies and Gen-

tlemen, the plaster fell off of the room in which that Lyceum was

accustomed to meet. I am talking about the little things now

that might happen about your life. And that Lyceum Committee

had to move that address from their hall to some place else and

for some reason, (and reading about it from the man who staged

the performance a few years ago, he frankly says that he does

not now know or did not then know how it all came about) it

came about that this address of Mr. Lincoln's was moved into the

most outstanding speaking hall in the United States or at least in

the East, outside of Congress, namely, the Cooper Union Hall.

That brought it to the attention of the most brilliant people in New

York, and if I remember correctly, William Cullen Bryant was

the presiding chairman over the meeting that night.

Mr. Bryant says somewhere that the most embarrassing ten

minutes he ever spent were the ten minutes at the time in which

he and Mr. Lincoln walked out on that stage and Mr. Lincoln

began to speak. Mr. Lincoln had bought a new suit of clothes

and he had put it in his carpet bag, in Springfield, Illinois, with-

out trying it on; carried it down to New York and took it out of

that carpet bag not to exceed two hours and a half before he was

to go on the stage before that great audience (for those days) of

a thousand or more people.

I spoke on this subject to the Chamber of Commerce in To-

ledo three years ago and when I had finished, one of the leading

men of that city said to me, "Mr. Jones, there is a fine lake cap-

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tain here who heard the Cooper Union speech." He said, "I think

you would be interested to go down and talk with him." And, of

course, I was. Seventy years had gone by. There aren't many

men living who heard the Cooper Union speech, not very many

comparatively who saw or talked with Mr. Lincoln. So Mr. Mc-

Cray of the Toledo Blade and I went down about five o'clock and

we went into a fine residence. In a minute a door opened; in

walked a man who in my judgment was dressed in the best suit

of clothes that I ever saw, Captain Craig, multi-millionaire lake

captain, ninety-six years of age. If I live to be seventy, I hope

I will have somewhat of the figure that he had at ninety-six, for

he was an upstanding man. "Gentlemen," he said, "what can I

do for you ?"

I said, "Captain Craig, I understand that you heard Mr. Lin-

coln at Cooper Union."

"I did, sir."

"Did you intend to go to hear him?"'

"I did not, sir."

"How did you come to hear him ?"

"I was on my way to the ferry to go home to Brooklyn that

night and I passed Cooper Union, which was quite a place in

those days. I saw a lot of people going in. I asked someone

what was going on; the answer was, 'That buffoon, Abe Lincoln

of Illinois, is going to speak.' I thought I had better go in and

see him, I had heard about Lincoln, so I went right in; I sat right

up in front."

"Well, what impression did Mr. Lincoln make on you when

you saw him?" Now, this was a lake captain. If you know any-

thing about the lakes, you know there are a lot of strange things

on the lakes that you see.

This was his answer. "He was the funniest looking human

specimen I ever saw." Then he went on to tell me. When I said

to you Captain Craig had on the best suit that I think I ever saw,

I really meant it. But he said to me that Captain Lincoln had

on that night one of the best suits he ever saw on a man, so the

impression he made wasn't due to the cheapness of the suit. But

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Captain Craig said, "You know, Mr. Lincoln was the funniest

looking thing that ever walked out on a stage. He hadn't had on

that suit and he didn't have it pressed, it didn't fit him anywhere,

the sleeves were about three or four inches too short, the pants

were also much too short." Captain Craig made a gesture with

his hands that I wish I could show to you. He showed by the ges-

ture how Mr. Lincoln's suit didn't fit him anywhere. "And then,

as if to clap the climax to a New York audience, the bright red

flannel underwear stuck down below his trousers."

I said to Captain Craig, "What impression did Mr. Lincoln

make on you when he spoke?"

He said, "After ten or fifteen minutes, the audience forgot

all about this funny man that was standing up there and thought

only of what he was saying. When the speech had come to a

conclusion, more people than I had ever seen on a similar occa-

sion stood around and discussed what was said until the lights

were turned off."

That speech was delivered the 27th of February, 1860. Mr.

Lincoln was nominated for President May 18, 1860. After the

meeting was over, the chairman of that meeting went with Mr.

Lincoln to a horse car, got in. with him, rode four or five blocks

until he came to the place where he was accustomed to stop;

got off, and let Mr. Lincoln proceed to his hotel alone. Mr. Lin-

coln got up the next morning and went to Boston without any-

body in New York caring that he went or being at the station to

bid him goodbye. Can you imagine a thing like that in this day

or generation; for any man who is likely to be nominated for

President of the United States by the convention next June? But

that is what happened to Mr. Lincoln less than three months be-

fore he was nominated.

The Cooper Union Speech ranks next to Webster's reply to

Hayne. Some people think it is even greater, the greatest polit-

ical speech ever delivered on this continent. It put Mr. Lincoln

into the thinking of the people of the East; it made him a presi-

dential possibility. It wouldn't have been delivered if Bob Lin-

coln had passed his entrance examinations to Harvard University,

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and Robert T. Lincoln said that he was convinced that if he had

been just a little smarter and had passed those examinations, his

father never would have been President of the United States.

Very well, he still wouldn't have been President of the United

States if it hadn't been for two or three other little things. When

the Republican Convention met at the Wigwam in Chicago on

May 16, 1860, William H. Seward was the outstanding candidate

for the presidential nomination. William H. Seward was one of

the best qualified men for the presidency that the United States

ever produced, one of its greatest men. He ought to have been

nominated under all the rules of the game, in a Republican Con-

vention. In a Democratic Convention where one must have a two-

thirds vote, it is a little different. And he would have been nom-

inated if Horace Greeley hadn't been in that Convention. I say

he would have been; in all human probability, he would have been.

Horace Greeley, next to Abraham Lincoln, was the funniest

man in physical appearance of his day and generation, and one

of the ablest. He probably was the ablest and most influential

editor in this country for a continuous length of time. But Mr.

Greeley was like many others who, having achieved high rank

in some line of activity, think that in order to complete a career,

they must hold some political office. Having held a number of

political offices, I can't quite understand why that is so, but they

do. Greeley didn't say anything to anybody about it, he just ex-

pected that his companions, Mr. Seward and Mr. Tweed, with

whom he ran the Whig politics in New York, would give it to

him. He didn't say anything to them about it, he just expected

to be appointed Collector of the Revenues or Postmaster of New

York, and they not knowing anything about it, didn't appoint him.

I know just how that goes too. About three months after

Governor Cooper was in office, a lady from this city came in and

said to me, "Do you know that Mrs. So and So is very mad

at the Governor?" I said, "No, I don't. Why is she mad?"

"Why, he hasn't given her a job, he hasn't offered her one."

I said, "I can't imagine anybody that needs a job less than

that lady; she has about everything that anybody could want and

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she is just about as busy as she can be in political affairs of a

semi-official nature; what does she want with a job?"

She answered, "I don't know what she wants with it or even

why she wants to be tendered the job, but she is very mad at

Governor Cooper because he hasn't called her in and offered her

one."

That was the way with Horace Greeley and he wrote a let-

ter to Senator Seward which Senator Seward didn't read until

after the Convention of 1860. Mr. Tweed read it and didn't pay

any attention to it, threw it up on a desk.

All of this, when considered together, looks just as if there

was some preconcerted plan. Of course, there wasn't anything

of the kind.

When the Republican Convention met at the Wigwam in

Chicago in May, 1860, it allowed delegates to be seated by proxy

from the states that didn't have a full delegation. If you will

look up the record, you will find that is the only convention of

either of the major parties in the whole hundred years' history

of those conventions in which that was permitted. Mr. Greeley

had been denied a seat on the New York delegation because of

Mr. Seward, but the delegation from the Territory of Oregon,

away out in the Northwest, a territory in which Mr. Greeley never

set foot as long as he lived, lacked two members and the con-

vention was asked to permit outstanding Republicans to be seated

to represent the Territory of Oregon. Mr. Greeley was seated as

one of the two delegates. That gave him the prestige and the

power that a seat on the floor of any convention gives to a man,

a power which he could not possibly have otherwise, no matter

how great he may be.

Now, Mr. Greeley wasn't for Mr. Lincoln. He never was for

Mr. Lincoln. I know that he delivered a great address on Mr.

Lincoln after Mr. Lincoln was dead, but Mr. Greeley wasn't for

Mr. Lincoln that day. He was the biggest thorn in Mr. Lincoln's

flesh during his whole presidency. After Mr. Lincoln was dead

Greeley pronounced him a liar. That was his judgment of Mr.

Lincoln.

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He wasn't there to nominate Mr. Lincoln, he wasn't there to

nominate anybody, he was there to defeat William H. Seward

and he was willing to do it with anybody. He went around from

delegation to delegation, lining up their second choice, not for

Abraham Lincoln, but for a man of whom you probably never

heard, Mr. Bates, who was Attorney-General of Missouri and

an infinitely greater man in the minds of most of the people that

May day than Abraham Lincoln. And he found out along about

2 o'clock in the morning--there is where this 2 o'clock expression

really originated--he found out about 2 o'clock in the morning

that he couldn't line up the delegates for Mr. Bates, but that

somehow or other it could be done for this man Lincoln of Illinois

whom he hadn't seen except incidentally.

And so from 2 o'clock in the morning until just before the

Convention was to meet at 10 o'clock, Mr. Greeley waddled from

delegation to delegation to undo that which he had previously

done and to line them up for second choice votes for this man

Lincoln of Illinois. Thus a few minutes before 10 o'clock when

he added up the result, he found that he lacked one and a half

votes of having enough to do that. Then he went to the man

from Mount Vernon, Ohio, and asked him if it became apparent

that Mr. Seward was not to be nominated, as Mr. Greeley the

preceding night at 10 o'clock thought would be the result, if Mr.

Seward were not to be nominated, would Ohio give enough votes

on the ballot that marked the break to nominate Mr. Lincoln. The

Ohio delegation said it would and it did. It gave four votes; a

gentleman that lisped cast them.

If Mr. Greeley had not been in the convention, the delegates

who were scattered between a number of candidates (and Ohio

in accordance with its general rule of having more than one can-

didate for President had three) would have had no one to line

them up for one man against the outstanding candidate. After

two or three votes, Mr. Seward would have been nominated in

all human probability and the convention would have adjourned

and gone home.

Now then, just to conclude this chapter of incidental and

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accidental things, Mr. Greeley got his chance to do that by one

of the least little things that ever was important in American

political history. If you will read the history of Republican Con-

ventions since that day, you will find that some very incidental

things have determined who was to be the nominee for President

of the United States--a chapter of incidental things that is prob-

ably not paralleled in any other country in the world. The first

of these happened at the close of the second day of that Repub-

lican Convention in 1860.

If you will get a copy of the official minutes of the conven-

tion, you will find that late on the second afternoon, Mr. Good-

rich moved to proceed to ballot for a candidate for the Presi-

dency. A motion to adjourn was made and lost. Amid great

disorder there were cries of "Ballot, Ballot." There was every

indication that the convention was about to make its choice.

Then the President said: "I am requested by the Secretary

to inform the gentlemen of the Convention that the papers neces-

sary for the purpose of keeping the tally are prepared, but are

not yet at hand, but will be in a few minutes."

Murat Halstead, Ohio's great journalist, writing for the Cin-

cinnati Commercial that night, states that a recess for two hours

was asked until the printer could deliver the tally sheets. This

delay was too much for the Convention. Whereas a moment be-

fore it had been insisting on a vote, it now adjourned over night

because a printer fell down on his job. If that printer had been

on time, if those tally sheets had been there, in all human prob-

ability, the outstanding candidate would have been nominated by

that Convention that night and the delegates would have taken

their trains for home and the nominee wouldn't have been Abra-

ham. Lincoln of Illinois, it would have been William H. Seward

in all probability. Because the tally sheets were not ready, Horace

Greeley had all night to line up the divergent delegates for one

man and that man turned out to be Abraham Lincoln.

Let no one go away from here and say that I say that Abra-

ham Lincoln was nominated for President because the tally sheets

weren't ready on time. I am not at all a believer in the theory

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of history that limits the causes for great events solely to the

incidental things. If there hadn't been a great background in

Abraham Lincoln, he wouldn't have been nominated in Chicago

even then. But it is unquestionably true that in the political

affairs of the United States, great destinies have been determined

in the final throw of the dice by just such little things as the

failure of that printer to deliver the tally sheets on time, and with

the background as it was and all the other things entering into

it, the great character and the great training of Abraham Lincoln,

he still wouldn't have been President of the United States and

he still wouldn't have had his chance for immortality in all human

probability if it hadn't been possible in that Convention for dele-

gates to be seated by proxy, or if Horace Greeley had been ap-

pointed to the job he wanted some seven or eight years before

and had been on the delegation for Mr. Seward, or if the tally

sheets had been delivered on time.

Just in connection with our own local history, let me call

your attention to the fact that Stephen A. Douglas' law partner

in Cleveland was a man by the name of Andrews, who became

one of the greatest lawyers that Cleveland ever knew, who when

Abraham Lincoln came to Cleveland on his way to be inaugu-

rated as President of the United States was chairman on the

committee which officially welcomed him to the city of Cleveland;

the same man who twenty-nine years before had given Stephen

A. Douglas his opportunity in the city of Cleveland, Ohio.

We honor Mr. Lincoln today in a way that we honor no other

man in the United States. Down in Kentucky, they have taken

the little third rate cabin in which he was born and have encased

it in a marble structure which makes it one of the beautiful

shrines in this country. The state of Indiana proposes to spend

a million and a quarter of dollars to preserve the farm on which

during that cold winter Mr. Lincoln lived in a cabin with an open

side and that part of the farm on which on a cold, bitter, winter

day, Mr. Lincoln and his father buried his mother. Out in Illinois

almost every spot that is associated with Mr. Lincoln's life is

sacredly preserved.

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Down in the city of Washington, where he was President

and where life came to its end, we have preserved the humble

little house in which he died. There is a great collection of Lin-

coln relics brought together by a man from Ohio, one of the

greatest collections in this country. And then, dominating them

all, down on the Potomac, a grateful people have erected the cost-

liest monument ever erected to the memory of a man by any

people any place in the whole history of the world, comparable

only to the Taj Mahal in India, which was erected to the memory

of a woman. One of our great highways is the Lincoln Highway.

The greatest collection of "lives" is about Abraham Lincoln; in

every story book, in every treatise on the history of the United

States, the name of Abraham Lincoln has its places of eminence

and honor. And yet it might well not have been so if it had not

been for a chapter of incidental things, just the kind of things

that might happen in your life and mine.

I thank you very much. (Applause.)

Chairman Sater: I am sure, my friends, we are all greatly

indebted to Mr. Jones for bringing to us a great deal of informa-

tion about Abraham Lincoln which perhaps very few of us have

heretofore heard. We are under many obligations to Mr. Jones

for this tribute and I suspect, sir, that when we get old and feeble

and our minds go back to the doings of the Ohio State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society and we try to connect something

with it, a good many of us will say, "Well, it was along back there

about that time Charlie Jones talked to us about Abraham Lin-

coln." (Applause.)

Mr. Randolph Walton spoke briefly on the influence

of the McGuffey Readers, a fine collection of all copy-

righted editions of which is found in the Library of the

Society, the presentation of the McGuffey Society of

Columbus, Ohio.

At 8:00 p. m. a large audience assembled in the chapel

of University Hall and heard Mr. Julius F. Stone in his

address on "Some Aspects of the Maya Civilization in

Central America."

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