OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE:
PROCEEDINGS 247
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF
TRUSTEES OF THE OHIO STATE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, APRIL 5, 1940
The regular April meeting of the Board
of Trustees of the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society was held in the Ohio State
Museum, Friday noon, April 5, 1940.
Trustees present were Messrs. Eagle-
son, who presided, Florence, Rightmire,
Spencer, Spetnagel, Weygandt, and
Wolfe. Director Shetrone, Secretary Lindley,
and Miss Hiestand were also
present.
There being no objections to the minutes
of the previous meeting
which had been sent by mail to members
of the Board, they were declared
approved.
The Secretary presented a request from
Mr. Howard Baum that he
fall heir to the life membership granted
to his father (now dead) in ap-
preciation of archeological excavations
he had allowed on his farm. Mr.
Weygandt moved that the Secretary be
instructed to tell Mr. Baum that
life memberships in the Society are not
transferable. Mr. Spencer seconded
this motion which was carried.
The Secretary sketched the progress of
plans for the Maumee Valley
Historical Conference to be held next
October under the sponsorship of the
historical agencies of Ohio, Indiana,
Michigan, and the Province of On-
tario. At a previous meeting the Board
had approved of the Society's par-
ticipation in this project and had
instructed the Secretary to cooperate in
organizing the conference. . . .
The handicaps endured by the Society
because of the limitations of the
present budget were touched upon by both
the Secretary and the Director
in their presentation of the following
matters. The Secretary spoke of
the desirability of the Society's
securing three valuable collections of li-
brary and museum material: (1) The
Larwill Papers offered for sale by
Joseph S. Callery of Sandusky, Ohio,
concerned with the settlement and de-
velopment of the towns of Wooster and
Mansfield, Ohio. (2) The W. T.
Coggeshall Papers which are being
offered for sale by Ernest J. Wessen of
Mansfield, Ohio. (3) A large collection of Edisonia made by the
late
William J. Hammer who was a close
associate of Edison in all of his
enterprises. This collection would fit
in satisfactorily with an Edison
memorial at his birthplace in Milan. In
describing these collections the
Secretary stressed the advisability of
the Society's building up an adequate
endowment fund or of acquiring a group
of interested patrons who could
finance such purchases. It was suggested
by Mr. Eagleson that the possible
acquisition of these three collections
be referred immediately to the Execu-
tive Committee with power to act. This
suggestion was used in a motion
by Mr. Spetnagel, seconded by Mr.
Spencer, and carried. The Director an-
nounced the resignation of Ross W.
Shoemaker as Assistant Curator of