Ohio History Journal

NEWS and NOTES

THROUGH the efforts of a group of Colum-

bus citizens, organized as the Kelley

House Committee, Inc., and the Franklin

County Historical Society, the famous

Alfred Kelley mansion, located at 282

East Broad Street, has been carefully dis-

mantled and removed to Franklin Park,

where it is to be reconstructed and re-

stored. At Franklin Park the stonework

of each wall has been laid out on the

ground in the same position it had

vertically. Each of the three thousand

stone blocks in the structure was marked

to indicate its precise position. Some

three hundred photographs were taken,

and careful measurements and drawings

were made, to record all exterior and in-

terior architectural features.

Walter L. Davis, construction super-

intendent of the Ohio Historical Society,

and Cyril H. Webster, who was on the

staff of the Society as building superin-

tendent of the Ohio State Museum before

his retirement in 1958, supervised the

dismantling and recorded the structural

and architectural details. Members of

the Columbus chapter of the American

Institute of Architects served as con-

sultants.

The Alfred Kelley House was one of

the largest and finest homes built in the

Old Northwest at the height of the Greek

Revival period. Erected in the 1830's, it

was then the most imposing house in

Columbus, and was until its dismantling

one of the few examples of Greek Re-

vival domestic architecture still standing

in the heart of a large city. Its design is

one of dignity and simplicity, featuring

four Ionic porticoes and an unusual, if

not unique, masking stepped parapet. The

structure was built of Ohio standstone,

probably brought to Columbus by canal

boat.

The house had many important his-

torical associations. As the home of one

of Ohio's ablest statesmen from 1838 to

1859, it was the center of hospitality for

all important state and local political

leaders. Sixty delegates to a convention

in 1840 were entertained there at the

same time. Alfred Kelley was one of the

"fathers" of the Ohio canal system and

supervised much of its construction. He

became the architect of Ohio's financial

and tax structure during his service in

the general assembly and on the canal

commission. At mid-century he turned

his energies to the introduction of the

railroad to Ohio.

THE Ohio Historical Society will hold its

seventy-seventh annual meeting at the

Ohio State Museum, Columbus, Friday,

April 27. The theme of the meeting is

to be the Early American and Ohio

Decorative Arts, and a special feature

will be the opening of a new decorative

NEWS AND NOTES 63

arts gallery at the Museum. The luncheon

for members of the Society, guests, and

officers and staff will be served in the

galleries of the Arthur C. Johnson Audi-

torium.

RAYMOND S. Baby, curator of archaeology

of the Ohio Historical Society, has been

appointed by the Society for American

Archaeology to participate in its abstract-

ing program. As collaborator of the

latter organization he is charged with

preparing abstracts of all current pub-

lished materials that concern the archae-

ology of the Ohio area. The abstracts are

to be published in the series known as

Abstracts of New World Archaeology, be-

ing prepared and issued by the Society

for American Archaeology. Two volumes

of this series have appeared to date.

TWO new publications on the general sub-

ject of Ohio and the Civil War have been

issued by the Ohio Historical Society

and the Ohio State University Press for

the Ohio Civil War Centennial Commis-

sion. They are Ohio Negroes in the Civil

War, by Charles H. Wesley, president of

Central State College, and Ohio Forms

an Army, by Harry L. Coles, professor

of history at Ohio State University.

Other publications in this series, which

is being prepared under the direction of

the Advisory Committee of Historians of

the centennial commission, are Ohio

Troops in the Field, by Edward T.

Downer; The Ohio Press in the Civil

War, by Robert S. Harper; and Ohio

Politics on the Eve of Conflict, by Henry

H. Simms.

Future publications scheduled to appear

during the coming year are Ohio's War

Governors, by William B. Hesseltine;

Ohio Military Prisons in the Civil War,

by Phillip R. Shriver; Ohio Agriculture

During the Civil War, by Robert L.

Jones; The Sherman Brothers and the

War, by Jeannette P. Nichols; Ohio

Churches and Religion During the Civil

War, by Richard W. Smith; Cincinnati

and the Civil War, by Louis L. Tucker;

Vallandigham and the Civil War, by

Frank L. Klement; Lucy Webb Hayes

Views the Civil War, by Mrs. Ralph

Geer; The Bounty System in Ohio Dur-

ing the Civil War, by Eugene C. Mur-

dock; Ohio Colleges in the Civil War,

by G. Wallace Chessman; and Gunboats

on the Ohio During the Civil War, by

Robert Seager, II.

The members of the Advisory Com-

mittee of Historians are Thomas L.

LeDuc, Oberlin College; Paul McStall-

worth, Central State College; Paul I.

Miller, Hiram College; Eugene C. Mur-

dock, Marietta College; Virginia B. Platt,

Bowling Green State University; James

H. Rodabaugh, Ohio Historical Society;

Robert Seager, II, Denison University;

Phillip R. Shriver, Kent State University;

Henry H. Simms, Ohio State University;

Duane D. Smith, University of Toledo;

H. Landon Warner, Kenyon College;

Harris G. Warren, Miami University;

Harvey Wish, Western Reserve Univer-

sity; and Everett Walters, Ohio State

University, chairman.

The publications may be purchased or

ordered from the Ohio Historical Society,

1813 North High Street, Columbus 10,

Ohio.

WILLIAM T. Utter, professor of history at

Denison University, Granville, since 1929,

died suddenly in a Newark, Ohio, hos-

pital, January 12, 1962. Dr. Utter is re-

membered as a contributor to and warm

supporter of the work of the Ohio His-

torical Society. He was the author of

The Frontier State, 1803-1825, which

was Volume II of the six-volume History

of the State of Ohio, published by the

64 OHIO HISTORY

Society between 1941 and 1944. In the

early 1950's he served as a consultant

historian to the Society on improvements

at Zoar, Adena, and the William T. Sher-

man Birthplace.

His most recent major publication was

a book entitled The Story of an Ohio

Village, a history of Granville issued in

1956. At the time of his death he was

serving as chairman of the Ohio His-

torical Advisory Committee of the Gov-

ernor's Committee for Commemorating

the Sesquicentennial of the War of 1812.

Dr. Utter was the recipient in 1957

of an honorary life membership in the

Ohio Historical Society.

THE annual meeting of the Ohio Academy

of Medical History will be held in Cleve-

land, Saturday, April 28, 1962. The

morning session is scheduled at the West-

ern Reserve Historical Society, the lunch-

eon and afternoon session at "Gwinn,"

the former Mather estate, located on the

shore of Lake Erie at 12407 Lake Shore

Boulevard.

THE Historical and Philosophical Society

of Ohio, Cincinnati, has announced plans

for a new building. For many years

housed in a section of the University of

Cincinnati Library, it will erect its new

structure as an addition to the Cincinnati

Art Museum. The society will house its

valuable collections in air-controlled sec-

tions of the new quarters, enjoy modern

reading rooms and offices, and have

access to lecture hall and exhibition

facilities.

The January issue of the Bulletin of

the Historical and Philosophical Society

is a special edition devoted to the subject

"Germany and Cincinnati." Among its

nine articles and notes are an article on

"The Germans of Cincinnati," by Carl

Wittke, vice president of Western Re-

serve University, another on "German

Philosophy in Nineteenth Century Cin-

cinnati," by Loyd D. Easton, chairman of

the department of philosophy at Ohio

Wesleyan University, and a third on

"Some Architectural Aspects of German-

American Life in Nineteenth Century

Cincinnati," by Carl M. Becker, associate

professor of history at Sinclair College,

Dayton, and William H. Daily, a Dayton

architect.

THE Jonathan Hale Homestead, a museum

of the Western Reserve Historical Society

located near Peninsula, Ohio, is the sub-

ject of a book recently published by the

society. Written by John J. Horton, an

associate for research of the society, the

160-page volume is entitled The Jonathan

Hale Farm: A Chronicle of the Cuyahoga

Valley.

Jonathan Hale came from Connecticut

to the Western Reserve in 1810. There he

settled on the farm, which remained in

the possession of the Hale family until

1956. In that year the Western Reserve

Historical Society inherited the property

from Miss Clara Belle Ritchie, who in-

structed the society in her will to "take

the necessary steps to establish the Hale

Farm and buildings thereon as a museum

for the display of books, paintings, furni-

ture, household goods, farm and house-

hold implements, china, silver, plate,

ornaments, and similar objects, belong-

NEWS AND NOTES 65

ing to the period and culture of the

Western Reserve."

The Hale house, a large three-story

brick structure, built about 1827, has

been restored and furnished in period

by the society and opened to the public.

Open also are the old sheep barn, which

houses a museum of tools and imple-

ments and methods of farming, and the

Forge Barn, which is a museum on the

skills and crafts of the early settlers of

the Western Reserve.

TWO significant research projects in Ohio

history were given financial assistance

by the American Association for State

and Local History at its meeting in

Washington, D. C., December 29, 1961.

They were a study entitled "Internal Im-

provements and Economic Change in

Ohio, 1820-1860," by Harry N. Scheiber,

assistant professor of history, Dartmouth

College, and "A History of the Society

of Separatists of Zoar," by Edgar B.

Nixon, editor, the Franklin D. Roosevelt

Library.

Working under a Social Science Re-

search Council Fellowship, Dr. Scheiber

spent the year 1959-60 pursuing his re-

searches for his study in the collections

of the library of the Ohio Historical So-

ciety. Dr. Nixon, a former resident of

New Philadelphia and a descendant of

Zoarites, has also worked in the Society's

library in its extensive holdings of Zoar

materials.

A total of ten grants were made by

the American Association for State and

Local History at its December meeting.

Such grants are made each year by the

association as a part of its program to

stimulate research and publication in

state and local history.

THE Fifth National Assembly for the

centennial commemoration of the Civil

War will meet in Columbus, May 4-5,

1962. Invited to Ohio by the Ohio Civil

War Centennial Commission and the

Ohio Historical Society, the assembly

will bring to the state capital the officers

of the national Civil War Centennial

Commission, representatives of state com-

missions and historical societies through-

out the country, and the nation's leading

Civil War historians.

Heading the federal delegation will be

Allan Nevins, newly appointed chairman

of the national commission, and James I.

Robertson, Jr., the new executive di-

rector.

A feature of the program of the as-

sembly will be the exhibition of "The

General," the famous railroad engine of

the Andrews Raid, popularly known as

"The Great Locomotive Chase." The en-

gine is being sent to Columbus by its

owner, the Louisville and Nashville Rail-

road.

THE Western Reserve Historical Society,

Cleveland, announces that negotiations

are under way for the removal and dona-

tion of the Thompson Auto Album, a mu-

seum of antique automobiles and air-

planes, to the society. Thompson Ramo

Wooldridge, Inc., now owns the collec-

tion, which it displays in a building at

East 30th Street and Chester Avenue,

N.E., Cleveland.

The architectural firm of Charles Bacon

Rowley & Associates, Inc., which designed

the Norton addition to the historical so-

ciety's property several years ago, has

been engaged to prepare plans for a sepa-

rate building to house the auto album.

The automobile museum was started

in 1937 by Thompson Products, Inc., the

predecessor of Thompson Ramo Wool-

dridge, Inc., under the leadership of the

firm's president, Frederick C. Crawford.

EUROPEAN backgrounds of western civili-

zation are to be stressed in a fifty-five

day, twelve-country, group study-tour of

66 OHIO HISTORY

Europe this summer, sponsored by Case

Institute of Technology, Cleveland. The

tour will leave New York by non-stop

jet on June 30 and arrive in Amsterdam

on July 1. From there it will visit his-

toric and contemporary sites and cities

in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ger-

many, Switzerland, the principality of

Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Greece,

France, Monaco, and England.

The tour instructor and supervisor will

be Dr. Stanton Ling Davis, associate pro-

fessor of history at Case Institute, who

has directed summer study-tours in

Europe for ten years. Case Institute will

grant six semester hours of credit to

those who wish it and meet the customary

academic requirements. Teachers may use

the tour and Professor Davis' accom-

panying course in the European Back-

ground of Western Civilization to meet

in-service credit requirements.

For further information write to Pro-

fessor Stanton L. Davis, Department of

Humanities and Social Studies, Case In-

stitute of Technology, Cleveland 6, Ohio.

THE Presbyterian Historical Society, lo-

cated in Philadelphia, announces that it

will microfilm any paper or thesis which

the society "considers to have sufficient

interest for the study of the history of

Presbyterianism or material relating to

Presbyterianism." The microfilming of

any item will be done at no expense to

the author.

"This service," the society states, "is

intended primarily for the reproduction

of graduate theses, seminar papers, re-

search projects, scholarly manuscripts,

and other results of original research."

The society proposes to make the micro-

film available to any interested persons

and institutions.

Authors are urged to correspond with

the society at 520 Witherspoon Building,

Philadelphia 7, Pennsylvania, before send-

ing manuscripts.

THE American Association for State and

Local History, which has had its offices

at the State Historical Society of Wis-

consin, has moved to new quarters at 151

East Gorham Street, Madison 3, Wis-

consin. The association will occupy the

second floor of a brick building in a sec-

tion of fine old houses, many of which

have been converted to business use. It

was formerly the residence of a prominent

Madison family.

The association, which was organized

to promote interest and work in state

and local history and to serve as a clear-

ing house of information for historical

societies and agencies, has greatly ex-

panded its activities under its present di-

rector, Dr. Clement M. Silvestro. The

association issues a monthly magazine

entitled History News and also Bulletins

that are generally aimed at assisting local

societies in organization, administration,

and operations. Among the latest Bulle-

tins are A Guide to the Care and Admin-

istration of Manuscripts, by Lucile M.

Kane, and The Management of Small His-

tory Museums, by Carl E. Guthe.

Membership in the association is open

to all interested persons. It particularly

welcomes local historical societies and

their officers.

THE National Archives is issuing a series

of small pamphlets to describe its various

collections and explain its services to the

American people. Of several that have

particular interest for Ohioans are three

entitled as follows: Pension and Bounty-

Land Warrant Files in the National

Archives; Genealogical Records in the

National Archives; and Age and Citizen-

ship Records in the National Archives.

For copies of these and other pamphlets,

write to The National Archives, Wash-

ington 25, D.C.