Ohio History Journal

THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

OF OHIO

By LEE SHEPARD

In the space of a short sketch it is impossible to write a com-

prehensive history of this 113-year-old society. When it is real-

ized that the first effort to form a historical society in Ohio was

made in 1822, only 27 years after the signing of the Treaty of

Greenville, one can only wonder at the temerity of the scattered

residents whose ambitions at that time were doomed to failure.

Ohio was developing fast, however, and on February 11, 1831,

the legislature passed another Act of Incorporation, the refer-

ence being Vol. 39, Local Laws, page 122, Sec. 1 which begins:

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that

Benjamin Tappan, John C. Wright and Doctor John Andrews of Steuben-

ville, Arius Nye and Doctor S. P. Hildreth of Marietta, Appleton Downer,

Doctor T. Flanner and E. Buckingham of Zanesville, Thomas James, B. G.

Leonard and James T. Worthington of Chillicothe, Gustavus Swan, John

M. Edmiston, Alfred Kelley and Doctor Benjamin Platt of Columbus,

Joseph S. Sullivant of Franklinton, Doctor E. Cooper of Newark, R. H.

Bishop, Thomas Kelly and James McBride of Butler County, Dr. J. Cobb,

Dr. Elijah Slack, N. Longworth, John P. Foote and Timothy Flint of

Cincinnati, John Sloane, of Wayne County, Jared P. Kirtland of Trumbull

County, Samuel Wheeler of Geauga County, Ebenezer Lane of Huron

County and William Wall of Athens, and such other persons as may from

time to time become members shall be and are hereby constituted a body cor-

porate, etc. . . .

Provided always, That the funds of said corporation shall not be used

and appropriated to the purpose of banking . . . That any five persons

named in the first section of this Act shall have power to call a meeting

of said Society for the election of their officers and the transaction of such

other business as may be necessary and proper, etc. . . . No person shall

be admitted a member of this Society who is not a resident of Ohio and

21 years of age--but honorary membership shall be obtainable for those

persons distinguished for their talents, knowledge, science or worth in any

part of the world. ...

(89)

90 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

At the first meeting of the Society held at Columbus Decem-

ber 21, 1831, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

"That Jeremiah Morrow, Ethan A. Brown, Benjamin Ruggles,

David K. Este, Edward King, John M. Goodenow, Philemon

Bucher, Ralph Granger and Thomas H. Genine, the individuals

named in the Act to incorporate the Historical Society of Ohio

(passed February 12, 1822) be admitted and considered members

of this Society."

Attesting to the fact that the incorporators of the Historical

and Philosophical Society of Ohio really tried to make it a state

society is the representative list of members from all parts of the

State. Among the earliest honorary members elected were Dr.

Thomas Say and Charles Lescuer, from New Harmony, Indiana,

exponents of a new social order. They were not elected how-

ever without some debate. Many prominent men in all parts

of the country were elected to honorary membership.

Who were these men who felt so strongly that the recollec-

tions and diaries of the first pioneers of this section should be

preserved while many of them were yet living?

Benjamin Tappan came to Ohio in 1799. He was the first

white settler in Portage County, became judge of the Common

Pleas Court and later U. S. Senator. Afterwards he was a law

partner of Edwin M. Stanton. He was the first elected president

of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio at its meeting

held in Columbus, December 31, 1831, and made the annual ad-

dress at the meeting of the Society, December 22, 1832. John

C. Wright came to Ohio in 1810. He was a Congressman and

later Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, editor of the Cincin-

nati Gazette and one of the founders of the Cincinnati Law

School. Alfred C. Kelley served for many years in the General

Assembly, acted as Canal Commissioner and was connected with

the development of two of Ohio's earliest railroads. R. H. Bishop

was President of Miami University at the time of the incorpora-

tion of the Society and a recognized educator in Kentucky and

Ohio.

James McBride was a resident of Butler County all of his

HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 91

life. He had quite a reputation as a writer and historian. Jared

P. Kirtland's reputation rested on the fact that he was well known

over the State as a medical college professor. Dr. S. P. Hildreth

was not only a well known physician in Marietta but he enjoyed

a state reputation as a historical writer. Timothy Flint, the Con-

gregational minister, missionary and author was well known in

the western country. Judge Jacob Burnet, E. D. Mansfield, Wil-

liam Gallagher, Manning F. Force, Rufus King were some of a

long and important list of members who gave generously of their

time and abilities to further the aims of the Society.

Certainly it can be claimed that even in 1831 Ohio had many

educated and scholarly men whose names would add lustre to any

historical society in any state, and while the Society did not

flourish as far as meetings were concerned it did, however, for

a time manage to hold an annual meeting each December in Colum-

bus. It was during this early period that John H. James addressed

the annual meeting, December 26, 1835, on a rational system of

education. At other meetings Dr. Hildreth presented a brief

history of the floods in the Ohio River from 1772 to 1832, John

W. Van Cleve's address covered the history of the early settle-

ment of Dayton, James McBride's paper was a sketch of the his-

tory of Oxford and the Miami University and a survey of the

ancient fortifications in Butler County, Ohio. Judge Burnet wrote

a series of letters on the early history of the Northwest Territory

which the Society published in 1839, this publication also including

discourses before the Society of Timothy Walker, General Wil-

liam Henry Harrison, James H. Perkins, James T. Worthington

and Arius Nye. Thus the Society fostered and developed the

literary talents of its members and preserved for posterity many

interesting facts relating to the early history of Ohio. With

travel conditions as they were at this time it was difficult for a

state society to function and the annual meetings were never well

attended.

The first minute book of the Society contains a faithful rec-

ord of the meetings up to May 6, 1850. The constitution was

signed by many of the members who also listed their ages and

92 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

places of residence. It is interesting to note that the average age

of the first 70 members was only 39. But the early enthusiasm of

the scattered members cooled off and by the late 1840's it became

increasingly difficult to hold annual meetings at Columbus.

At a special meeting of the Society held at the Neil House in

Columbus on December 26, 1848, the question of poor attendance

was discussed. Salmon P. Chase made a motion: "Resolved that

the 2nd Section of the By-Laws be amended by striking out the

word Columbus where it occurs in said Section and filling the

blank with the word Cincinnati so as to provide that the future

meetings of this society shall be held at Cincinnati." On motion

of Mr. Chase it was further resolved: "That this annual meeting

stands adjourned to meet at the rooms of the Cincinnati Historical

Society in Cincinnati on the first Monday in February next and

public notice be given such meeting in one newspaper in each of

the cities of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati." These motions

were passed by those in attendance and on February 5, 1849, the

Society met pursuant to adjournment in Cincinnati.

On February 8, 1849, eight new members were elected, all

from Cincinnati. It was not long before it was voted to take in

all those belonging to the Cincinnati Historical Society. By this

action it was felt that a strong society could be sustained at Cin-

cinnati. The Cincinnati Historical Society had been formed in

1844 and a broadside recently acquired dated August 24, 1844,

reads as follows:

Sir: An Association has been recently organized in this city whose

principal object is the collection of the historical records of the west, with

a view to their preservation and diffusion. Among those we include all

books, maps, statistics, pamphlets, addresses and manuscripts relating to

the transactions of the past.

The Society is called the Cincinnati Historical Society and has the

following officers; James H. Perkins, President, John P. Foote, Vice-

President, J. G. Anthony, Recording Secretary, Charles Whittlesey, Cor-

responding Secretary, Harvey Hall, Treasurer, and A. Randall, Librarian.

The Executive Committee have procured and directed the Corresponding

Secretary to print a catalogue of the Works we wish to obtain. . . .

Will you examine it, and inform the Secretary as soon as practicable

through the Post Office or other means, what Works of the proper kind

HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 93

you are in possession of--whether you are disposed to donate any of them

to the Association--what Books you would exchange for others, or sell,

and affix the prices to all. Also, what publication you would be willing to

deposit with the Librarian, with the privilege of purchase within a rea-

sonable time; and whether you are disposed to become a member--admis-

sion fee, three dollars.

Then followed a list of some 275 books wanted by the So-

ciety. The curious thing is that at least three-fourths of this list

can be found today in all three of the great state collections in

Ohio in their original editions published before 1844, a hundred

years ago.

When the societies merged in 1849, naturally, the libraries

were merged, but because neither society had much of a system

for taking care of their collections, the merged library was still

small and comparatively unimportant, except for the manuscripts

and diaries which had a tendency to disappear as time went on.

The minutes are lacking from May 6, 1850 to May 23, 1868. The

Society continued to function, but by the close of the Civil War

only four members remained. They were Robert Buchanan,

George Graham, John D. Caldwell, all of Cincinnati, and Joseph

Sullivant of Columbus.

By 1871 a revival of interest had set in, for the membership

of the Society climbed back to 68. It now grew rapidly in num-

bers and prestige with the passing years, until, by 1889, the mem-

bership numbered 188.

During the period from 1850 to 1868, the Society functioned

because of the great loyalty of its few members. The collection

had been moved about from one location to another and had finally

been placed in the Public Library in 1860. On May 23, 1869, a

meeting was called for reorganization and new life was infused

by the addition of new members, the collections then being moved

to the Literary Club. Special mention should be given to Julius

Dexter, Robert Clarke and E. F. Bliss, three men who were very

influential in leading the Society back to its rightful place among

historical societies. Robert Clarke's book company published

many historical works during the next few years and his counsel

94 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

was valuable, while both Bliss and Dexter not only worked hard

in the interests of the Society, but both became important bene-

factors in a financial way. The Society has always been privately

sustained and controlled, depending upon its members and friends

for support.

The Society's collection, which is said to have contained only

700 volumes in 1868, really started to grow with the reorganiza-

tion and its growth has been steady ever since. Today, it contains

over 40,000 volumes, besides thousands of pamphlets, maps, manu-

scripts and other historical material. The membership has been

growing steadily for several years and much interest in the work

of the Society is being shown by the Board and the membership

at large. Over the years, the Society has been the recipient of

important manuscript material, such as the Walker Papers, the

Gano Papers, the William Greene Letters, the Follette Papers,

the Torrence Papers, and the Clarke Papers. The correspond-

ence of John Cleves Symmes, edited by Beverley W. Bond, Jr.,

and published by the Society in 1926 was based upon a collection

of letters acquired from Peter G. Thompson.

From Mr. Thompson's estate was also acquired one of the

finest private collections in existence on the history of Ohio and

the old Northwest Territory. In 1880, Peter G. Thompson pub-

lished his Bibliography of Books and Pamphlets Relating to Ohio

which was largely based on his own collection. It would take a

great deal of space to list all the important source material in

the Society's present collections. The Society has been active

through the years in publishing portions of its manuscript mate-

rial, starting in 1838, when it published the early addresses of

and articles written by its members on various historical subjects.

The last publication of the Society covered the celebration last

year in Cincinnati of the Centenary of the Cincinnati Observatory,

and included a sketch of the Cincinnati Telescope and its dedica-

tion by John Quincy Adams written by the Society's Vice Presi-

dent Robert L. Black.

The outstanding event of recent years in the history of this

organization was the celebration of its one hundredth birthday.