Ohio History Journal

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE OHIO

STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

 

The Board of Trustees of The Ohio State Archae-

ological and Historical Society met in annual session

in the Trustees' Room of the Museum and Library

Building at 1 o'clock p. m., Tuesday, April 24, 1934.

The following trustees were present: Mr. Arthur C.

Johnson, Sr., President; Messrs. Goldman, Eagleson,

Miller, Goodman, Florence, Sater and Mrs. Dryer. Di-

rector Shetrone and Secretary Lindley were also present.

The reading of the minutes of the last annual meet-

ing and the last meeting of the Board of Trustees was

dispensed with since they had already been made a matter

of record.

The first business to claim the attention of the Board

was election of the regular staff of the Museum and

Library. Mr. Shetrone recommended the election of the

present members of the staff to succeed themselves and

also recommended the appointment of Dr. William D.

Overman, as curator of history, and Mr. Grover C.

Koons, as photographer and printer.    The salary

schedule for all these had been approved at the called

meeting of the Board of Trustees, held March 5. On

motion of Mr. Miller, seconded by Mr. Eagleson, the

recommendations were unanimously adopted.

Mr. Goodman reported for the Committee appointed

at the last Trustees' meeting to investigate the possibility

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316      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

of securing a state map featuring the state parks of

Ohio.

Mr. Goldman moved that the Committee be author-

ized to enter into negotiations with some private agency

and that the Committee be given power to act. This

motion was seconded by Mr. Eagleson and was unani-

mously carried.

An appropriation was authorized for the purpose

of purchasing filing cabinets for biographical reference

cards prepared by the D.A.R. of Ohio supplementing an

appropriation of $250.00 made by the D.A.R. An ap-

propriation was also authorized for the purchase of

metal vertical files for the preservation of pamphlet

material in the library of the Society.

In accordance with the action of the Trustees at a

former meeting when a special appropriation of $500

was made to the Librarian to secure special material for

the library, that the Librarian report from time to time

to the Trustees what material had been secured, the

Librarian reported that since taking charge of the li-

brary in March he had secured for $5 an old and rare

map of Ohio antedating the American Revolution; a

copy of the Union List of Serials in North American

Libraries, originally published at $75, but now out of

print, for $30; and for $4.50 a reprint of Elihu Embree's

Anti-Slavery Paper of 1820 entitled the Emancipator;

a total expenditure of $30.50.

New editions of the Handbooks on Fort Ancient and

the Serpent Mound were authorized.

The Secretary, as editor of the Society's publications.

submitted recommendations concerning a publication

policy for the Society. After some discussion these

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting      317

recommendations were referred to a committee consist-

ing of Mr. Lowry F. Sater, chairman, Dr. George W.

Rightmire, Professor Carl Wittke, Mr. Freeman T.

Eagleson, Mr. Clarence D. Laylin, Mr. Robert P. Gold-

man, Director H. C. Shetrone and Secretary Harlow

Lindley, with instructions to report to the next regular

meeting of the Trustees.

Action was taken in favor of securing an appropriate

bronze tablet to be placed in the newspaper library of

the Society in honor of Charles Burleigh Galbreath, for

whom the newspaper collection had been named.

Mr. Sater stated that he did not have his final re-

port ready on the scope and activities of the Society.

He reported that he would prepare and send a copy of

his conclusions to each member of the Board to be looked

over and studied.

The Board next gave attention to the annual election

of officers which had been deferred at the opening of the

session. Mr. Arthur C. Johnson, Sr., was elected to

succeed himself as president; Mr. Joseph C. Goodman

was elected first vice-president; Mr. Lowry F. Sater was

elected second vice-president; Harlow Lindley, secre-

tary; and Oscar F. Miller, treasurer, for the ensuing

year.

AFTERNOON SESSION, 2:00 P. M.

The afternoon session of the Annual Meeting was

called to order by President Arthur C. Johnson who an-

nounced selections of music by Mrs. Constance Ackors

and Miss Eleanor Lindley, and expressed appreciation

for their contribution to the program.

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318      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

MR. JOHNSON: We will now have a few words of

greeting from Mr. Shetrone, director of the Society,

and I am going to ask him, after he has finished, to in-

troduce the guest-speaker of the day.

MR. SHETRONE: This is, or should be, for the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society, "That great

day for which all other days were made." It is, or should

be the occasion for an annual invoice of the accomplish-

ments of the organization and, perhaps, for criticizing

its responsible agents for any sins of commission and

omission. That this occasion falls somewhat short of

ultimate possibilities is entirely obvious; and the fact that

this assemblage should be numerically much greater

does not detract from the importance of the relatively

small but select attendance present here today.

It has been customary at our Annual Meetings for

some years to refrain from reading extended reports

dealing with past accomplishments. These, if they can

be justified, always are encouraging and perhaps of in-

terest; but, although we are by no means ashamed of

what we have been able to do during the past year, under

unfavorable conditions, we should find it more helpful

to be critical of and even dissatisfied with the past and

to project our thoughts toward the future. While not

all those present are members of the Society, you will

be, I hope, in the not distant future; therefore, these brief

observations should be of interest to you.

A summary of activities for any year naturally shows

both losses and gains. In the first category there come

the passing of two of our stalwart officials--Dr. William

O. Thompson, trustee and vice president, and Charles B.

Galbreath, secretary-librarian; continuance of inade-

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting     319

quate appropriations for personal service, operation and

maintenance; depletion of our membership by deaths;

and inability of many to continue the connection be-

cause of financial retrenchment. On the credit side may

be listed the satisfactory filling of the official vacancies

by able successors, a more liberal attitude on the part of

the State Department of Finance, making possible par-

tial restoration of salaries and staff; and the devising of

a plan to augment membership. In addition, and of

utmost importance, a psychological awakening pervades

the Museum and Library staff, which signalizes an end

to "marking time" and assures definite future advance-

ment. Under the paralysis of budget reductions and un-

certainty as to the future, little could be done during

the past three or four years other than to pursue a policy

of "watchful waiting" and to attempt to conserve our-

selves in status quo. That we have been able to do this,

and more, during a time when many similar institutions

have fared much worse, is a compliment to the Society

and its past record.

Taking cognizance of the situation, your speaker

some months ago asked and received from the Board

of Trustees authority to make an extended study of con-

ditions and to devise a plan for correcting or at least im-

proving them. The study, based on personal acquaint-

ance with the institution, discussion and correspondence

with Museum authorities, and reflecting the findings of

the American Association of Museums, is finished; and

while a program of action is as yet not quite complete,

perhaps it is not too early to offer a rough outline of

some of its features.

We may liken the Society, in its function and situa-

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320      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

tion, to an important commercial concern located, let

us say, here in the capital of Ohio; a concern engaged

locally in retail trade but with a plant and an output of

manufactured commodities adequate for a wholesale

market over the entire State. However, it lacks stock-

holders and capital, advertising facilities and salesmen,

and therefore cannot take advantage of a ready and

waiting market; the investment represented by plant and

stock is not affording adequate returns; the result is

uneconomic, to say the least.

This analogy I believe is not unreasonable. The

Museum and Library building is our plant; its col-

lections, facilities and resources are the commodities; our

members are the stockholders; while advertising facilities

and salesmen are--mostly to be provided. The govern-

ment of the Society, considering that it is vouched us as a

labor of love, is adequate. Our Trustees are drawn from

among the finest men and women of the commonwealth.

Naturally they are occupied with their own affairs and

with few exceptions cannot take cognizance of details in

the Society's administration. The attitude of the Board,

if I interpret it correctly, is that the Society has grown

to be an important and complicated organization requir-

ing professional administration; that a paid staff of

experts and trained workers are to be held responsible

for carrying out policies authorized by the Constitution

and sanctioned by the Board itself. This arrangement

obviously imposes upon director and staff more respon-

sibility than would obtain in a purely commercial enter-

prise where the governing body is financially recom-

pensed and therefore in a position to give more freely

of their time; more responsibility, I may say, than these

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting      321

employes would voluntarily assume were it not neces-

sary that they do so. The arrangement of course has

its advantages; it makes for individual initiative, since

director and staff members stand or fall on merit, and

each recognizes that the institution is and should be

greater than the individual.

I need say little or nothing regarding the plant and

the commodities which it has to offer the people of Ohio

as an educational contribution. All of us know that it

is adequate to serve a wholesale market and that the

investment which it represents is considerable.

As to stockholders, that is, membership: As in the

instance of the Trustees, the membership is drawn from

Ohio's finest citizens; the very fact that they are in-

terested in the Society is sufficient proof; quantitatively,

however much remains to be desired. On the basis of

public interest in archaeology and history, our member-

ship in Ohio alone should be ten- or twenty-fold greater.

The Society is primarily a membership organization and

while the very nominal fees are not a major considera-

tion, the prestige and standing accruing from adequate

membership are vital to our welfare, both in public ap-

proval and legislative support.

Permit me to revert momentarily to the subject of

plant and commodities. It is a matter of common agree-

ment that Museum and Library collections and facilities

find their principal justification in serving as educational

aids. Our members, the general public and the schools,

make use of these assets increasingly. But this, unfor-

tunately is confined in very great part to those living in

and immediately adjacent to Columbus--very much less

than 25 per cent of our potential patronage. I do not

Vol. XLIII--21

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322      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

believe that museums are justified in infringing upon

the teaching profession. They should, however, serve

as laboratories of materials and resources within their

appropriate spheres, upon which schools may draw as

freely as they will. Nor do I feel that Museums should

overreach themselves in this direction. In our own case,

these educational aids would be confined perhaps to Ohio

archaeology and Ohio history, in both of which we are

the only logical source to which schools can look for

material aids. Clearly, in a state-supported museum,

this unique service should be made available, to whatever

degree it may be possible, to the State as a whole. Mani-

festly a museum can and does serve its immediate com-

munity. We may think of this as a retail service. But it

cannot, I am convinced, adequately serve a territory as

large as the State of Ohio; it cannot of itself render a

wholesale service. And therein lies our problem.

The solution? I think there is one, but it must be

reached over a considerable period of time and after a

deal of planning and working. The answer, I believe,

lies in branch museums. Not necessarily such, at first,

but ultimately. The problem may be approached at first

by doing what your Museum staff is doing today--by

organizing county historical societies where they do not

exist and by encouraging those already existing; by

affiliating these with the present Society or by effecting

close cooperation therewith; by inspiring them to seek

out and preserve the archaeological and historical treas-

ures within their own regions and, eventually, to use

these affiliated units as distributing centers for our own

loan collections, literature and other educational aids.

Thus the county becomes the unit of representation for

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting      323

the State Society, and eventually the entire State receives

the benefits of a service for which the entire State pays.

What we really desire, then, still holding to our

analogy, is to secure sufficient stockholders and advertis-

ing to sell our goods to the public--or rather to give our

goods to the public--in order to justify our investment.

The following rough outline of proposed activities may

hold the answer to that objective:

Utilize present staff in prosecuting a membership

program, based on lists of prospective members secured

from present members and other sources; make this a

quiet but permanent routine activity, through corre-

spondence and otherwise; encourage members to secure

other members, providing for their use and for general

use attractive pamphlets setting forth the advantages

of membership.

Utilize as fully as possible for publicity purposes the

press of the State by supplying them systematically with

acceptable news and feature matter; make use of radio

broadcasts, particularly the broadcasting station of the

Ohio State University, for the same purpose.

Cooperate more closely with the State Department

of Education; Ohio State University, as a cross-section

of Ohio; the public schools; outstanding educational and

patriotic organizations; the Ohio Historical Conference;

and other helpful agencies.

Organize and encourage county historical societies

and museums, and effect affiliation or cooperation; also

perhaps joint memberships.

Effect better understanding with whatever political

administration may be in office, with the idea of tender-

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324       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

ing them, without political compromise, our cooperation

in return for greater consideration on their part.

Encourage Columbus-Franklin County membership,

approximately one-third of our total, to serve as a

nucleus of interest and activity; these, being close at

hand can and do avail themselves of the Museum and

Library, and should be amenable to further interest pro-

vided something worth-while is provided for them. Util-

ize these nearby members more freely on committees and

as volunteer aids in Museum and Library projects. From

such a nucleus we should be able to extend our service

and our support to all parts of the great State of Ohio.

The high spot of the afternoon program and some-

thing which I am certain all of us will appreciate is an

address entitled "A New Deal in History," by Prof.

John W. Oliver, head of the Department of History,

University of Pittsburgh.

 

A NEW DEAL IN HISTORY

AN ABSTRACT OF ADDRESS GIVEN BY DR. JOHN W. OLIVER.

This is a day of New Deals. History and historians are not

being overlooked. A good slogan for us would be, "An Histori-

cal Society in every State, and in every County of every State."

A Renewed and Sustained Interest in State and Local His-

tory is of more lasting value than any number of new deals in

politics or government. The New Deal in history really started

before the brain trusts. Woodrow Wilson turned, early in the

World War, to the historians, and sought their help. They, more

than any other group, gave the President the FACTS for a proper

understanding of the people with whom we were associated as

Allies, and against whom we waged war as enemies. Our histor-

ians, better than all others, understood the background of these

peoples, their life habits, their psychology, their moods and their

desires, and they were able to interpret these to the President, the

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting             325 Department of State, and other responsible parties. (A number of illustrations given to support this point). Then, following the Armistice, the President took with him a number of historical experts, to aid in drafting the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Had their advice been written into the provisions of that Treaty, the last fifteen years of world his- tory would tell a different story. It would never have been ne- cessary to appoint the dozen and more special Commissions to

patch up the mistakes that occurred--for it can be shown in most every case that these special Commissions finally had to adopt the original suggestions laid down by the historical advisers, fifteen years ago. Today, we are witnessing rapid, some say revolutionary changes in industry. Where, one asks, does the historian, where do the historical societies, come in on this "New Deal"? I answer by mentioning the important historical and archival research being done under the C. W. A. This work climaxes the less spectacular, but none the less important work that historical societies have been doing for generations.

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326        Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications

Why not take advantage of this revival of interest? You,

here in Ohio, have done great work. You have greater things

in view. The program of things-to-be-done, just read by your

Director, Dr. Shetrone, is indeed a challenge. It almost staggers

one when he hears of the ambitious program you have set up for

yourselves.

I am reminded here of a plea I heard an English Bishop

make a few years ago. He was addressing a meeting of British

scientists. He urged the men of that organization to declare a

ten-year holiday in science, his reason being that it would take at

least that long for his people to catch up in politics, ethics, and

morals.

And then he went on to say that what his people needed

most was a study, a thorough study, of their history. For "when

people cease to study their history," he declared, "they begin to

decay." Such a study, he continued, would include "a study of

England, its soil, its climate, its people, its local laws, and its

local institutions."

Such is precisely the function of the Ohio Archaeological

and Historical Society,--if we substitute Ohio for England. In

fact, that is the only excuse that a state or a local historical

society has for existing,--namely, to make a study of the state,

the soil, the climate, the people, the local laws and local institu-

tions of that state.

But do not underestimate that duty. For when you study

the history of a great Commonwealth like Ohio, its soil, its

climate, its people, its local laws and local institutions, you are

indeed going to the very foundation of American history.

Illustrations may be cited, and enlarged upon. These include

topics that run through the whole of American history. (A num-

ber of illustrations were cited.)

The point for us to remember is this: the study of American

history does not begin in some far off region,--or in Washington,

D. C.,--but rather it begins right here at our own front door.

And here is where our duty lies.

Ohio is teeming with history. It is our duty--an obligation

that the members of this Society must assume--to discover that

history, reveal it to its citizens, and pass it on to others.

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting      327 MR. JOHNSON: I cannot remember when in this room a speaker has brought us a more reassuring, a more constructive and a more inspirational address than that which you have heard today. Thank you very much, Dr. Oliver. MR. SHETRONE: I am sure that we are not only comforted but encouraged to realize more than ever that we do live in a region so worth while. The hour is growing rather late and I believe that since Dr. Oliver's message has been so clear and concise, perhaps we may dispense with any discussions. After a selection of music by Mrs. Ackors and Miss Lindley the Secretary suggested that the entire audience join with Mrs. Ackors in singing "Ohio, the Beautiful" an adaptation of "America, the Beautiful," thus bringing the forty-eighth Annual Meeting to a close.

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