Ohio History Journal

OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE: PROCEEDINGS                239

 

moved that the members of the Society assembled in annual busi-

ness meeting memorialize the members of the General Assembly

and the members of the Finance Committee in particular to make a

more careful study of the needs and requirements of the Society

and give the biennial budget presented more adequate considera-

tion and approval. The motion was unanimously carried.

The Nominating Committee unanimously recommended the

re-election of Arthur C. Johnson, Sr., Albert C. Spetnagel, and

George Florence to the Board of Trustees for the regular three-year

terms from the date of election. The Secretary was instructed

by the Chairman to cast the ballot for each of the nominees.

Under miscellaneous business the Secretary presented a brief

summary report concerning the activities of local and regional

historical societies during the year.

 

REPORT ON LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

There seem to be fifty-six local, regional and county historical societies

in existence in Ohio at the present time. We have information indicating

that six local historical societies have been organized during the year:

Alliance Historical Society; Defiance Historical Society; Granville His-

torical Society; Lisbon Historical Society (Columbiana County); New-

comerstown Historical Society; Bezaleel Wells-Jefferson County Historical

Society.

In inviting all the societies to be represented at the Annual Meeting,

a request was made that information be given concerning outstanding ac-

tivities during the year. From reports received the following facts are pre-

sented:

The outstanding activity of the Belmont County Historical Society

during the year was the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of

the death of Benjamin Lundy with a public meeting at St. Clairsville and

the unveiling of an historic tablet erected on the St. Clairsville home of

Benjamin Lundy.

The Summit County Historical Society, with headquarters at Akron,

has had a very worthwhile year. The following is a summary of their

activities and certainly is suggestive of what many other local historical

societies might do: more than doubled their membership; created a me-

morial membership; sponsored an essay contest on local history in the

history department of the University of Akron (to be an annual award);

gave a reception for former Old Stone School pupils at the Akron Art

Institute; sponsored a hobby and antique show; celebrated the one hun-

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240     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

dredth birthday of Summit County at a centennial banquet; carried on a

successful campaign to raise five hundred dollars for the Restoration Fund

for the Old Stone School; made a special effort to educate a wider public

to realize the importance of the work of the historical society; and started

a series of bulletins of historical data, the following already having been

issued--Historical Spots in Summit County, Bibliography of Material about

Summit County History, and Historical Spots in Summit County Con-

nected with the War of 1812.

The Trumbull County Historical Society reports as its chief activity

the completion of the interior restoration of the John Starke Edwards-

Thomas D. Webb House in Warren.

The Western Reserve Historical Society's most outstanding project

during the year has been the moving of the society's museum into its new

building. A few of its collections which had never been shown before are

now on exhibit. The library of the society remains for the present in its

building on Euclid Avenue, Cleveland.

The old Bezaleel Wells Historical Society at Steubenville, which

has not been functioning for a number of years, has recently been reorgan-

ized under the name of the Bezaleel Wells-Jefferson County Historical

Society. The new organization has already taken steps to re-erect the old

land-office which was torn down many years ago. However, at that time

the logs were saved and the office will be set up on the property of the

county home.

The Newcomerstown Historical Society, organized in January of this

year, has stated its purpose as follows:  (1) promotion of study and re-

search in the history of Ohio and Newcomerstown and vicinity; (2) col-

lection, preservation, and publication of facts about this area; (3) dis-

semination of historical information by means of programs, newspaper

articles, cooperation with the schools in the teaching of local history; (4)

cooperation with local libraries in the building up of separate Ohio and

local history sections; (5) the establishment of a local historical museum

when feasible; and (6) the marking of places of local historic interest.

Its immediate interest is the erection of a marker near the spot of the de-

livery of the first Protestant sermon in the Northwest Territory by Rev-

erend Zeisberger, March 14, 1771.

The Ross County Historical Society reports the following activities

during the past year: sponsored a lecture by Dr. Wallace Nutting; con-

ducted tours of the museum by the Standard Oil Company's "Let's Ex-

plore Ohio" group, and by members of the Cleveland branch of the Na-

tional Archaeological Institute; published the first issue of the Society's

bi-monthly bulletin The Recorder; held a meeting commemorating the 121st

anniversary of the birth of William T. McClintock, first president of the

society. Their most notable accession during the past year was the William

T. McClintock Collection of historical papers on early Ohio history, one

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OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE: PROCEEDINGS                 241

 

item of which was a diary (1821-1826) of Charles Willing Byrd, the last

Secretary of the Northwest Territory.

The Clark County Historical Society, under the direction of Mr.

Arthur R. Altick, sent in a most interesting report of the year's activities,

giving an account of additions to their collections and a summary of ex-

ploration and field work. Mr. Altick feels that the major accomplishment

during the past year was the inauguration of an educational program in

connection with the public schools.

The Allen County Historical and Archaeological Society's activities

are summarized in a very attractive and model report submitted by the

Secretary, Mrs. Harry B. Longsworth. Compiling historical records; com-

pleting data on Allen County's ninety-eight cemeteries, on family records,

on Civil War diaries and Allen County's incorporated societies have been

accomplished in addition to enlarging and rearranging the society's mu-

seum.

A number of the local historical societies had official representatives at

the annual meeting and it is hoped that the representation will be in-

creased from year to year.

 

The next item   on the program    was a paper by Dr. William

D. Overman, Curator of History.

 

 

THE RELATION OF A STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO

LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

By WILLIAM D. OVERMAN

 

Fifty years ago the president of the Western Reserve Historical

Society addressed that organization on the subject "New Methods of His-

tory".1 He praised the work of the Johns Hopkins graduate school for

applying the scientific method to the writing of monographs on American

history and government, and although history is not an exact science, this

method has been pursued by American historians for over half a century.

Original sources have been re-interpreted in the light of new evidence and

views cherished by former generations have been changed in the light of

modern research. But "each age interprets the past to suit its own pur-

poses",² and whether we continue to write so-called "objective history" by

the scientific method, or whether we adopt a philosophy of history, and it

appears that we are tending in the latter direction, we must retain the

 

1 Charles C. Baldwin, "New Methods of History," Western Reserve Historical

Society, Tracts, No. 78 (Cleveland, 1891), 209-13.

2 Carl Becker, Everyman His Own Historian (New York, 1935), 169-70.

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