Ohio History Journal

Notes and Queries

 

 

The Spring Meeting of the Ohio Academy of History will be held Friday and

Saturday, 23-24 April 1993, at Wittenberg University.

 

The Oral History Association will hold its 1993 Annual Meeting on November 4-7,

1993, at the Birmingham Raddison Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama. For more informa-

tion write to Kim Lacy Rogers, Department of History, Dickinson College, Carlisle,

Pennsylvania 17013-2896.

 

The Forest History Society announces the availability of Alfred D. Bell, Jr., travel

grants for 1993. Those wishing to study in the society's library and archives may receive

up to $750 in support of travel and lodging expenses. Five grants were awarded during

1992. For information on the society's holdings and application procedures, write to

Bell Travel Grants, Forest History Society, 701 Vickers Avenue, Durham, North

Carolina 27701, or call (919) 682-9319.

 

Ohio University's Swallow Press has recently issued Log Construction in the Ohio

Country, 1750-1850, an abridged version of Donald A. Hutslar's The Architecture of

Migration: Log Construction in the Ohio Country, 1750-1850, in an affordable paper-

back edition. Hutslar's work won The Ohioana Book Award of 1986 and has been

hailed as "a fine addition to the scant literature on American log building." The new

paperback version contains over fifty excellent-quality photographs, drawings, and

illustrations and is an invaluable resource on log construction. For further information

about Log Construction in the Ohio Country, 1750-1805, contact the Ohio University's

Swallow Press, Scott Quadrangle, Athens, Ohio 45701.

 

The Ohio Historic Preservation Office, a division of the Ohio Historical Society, has

recently published How to Complete the Ohio Historic Inventory, by Stephen C.

Gordon. The new historic inventory manual provides detailed information on how to

conduct historic property surveys and record properties on Ohio Historic Inventory

forms. The 224-page, generously-illustrated manual includes sections on using archi-

tectural and structural terminology, identifying Ohio architectural styles and Ohio

building types, recording engineering and industrial structures, and completing the

Ohio Historic Landscapes Survey. Also included are sample inventory forms, a

detailed bibliography, and an index. How to Complete the Ohio Historic Inventory is

available for $14.95 (plus $2.50 for shipping and handling) from the Ohio Historical

Center Museum Shop. For further information write to 1982 Velma Avenue,

Columbus, Ohio 43211-2497, or phone (614) 297-2414.

 

Professor John I. Kolehmainen has recently published his memoirs, Remembering

Bygone Days. A teacher at Heidelberg College for forty-two years, Kolehmainen

details his early days in the Finnish settlement at Conneaut, his experiences as a

Fulbright scholar in Finland, as well as his years at Heidelberg. The book sells for

$11.00 per copy (which includes shipping and handling). To order a copy, write to

John I. Kolehmainen, 192 St. Francis Avenue, No. 28, Tiffin, Ohio 44883.

 

The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, has been awarded a

Federal Institute of Museum Services grant for $75,000 to support general operations.

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36                                                          OHIO HISTORY

 

This grant marks the ninth consecutive year that the institute has been recognized by

this Federal agency. Although applications were received from 1,428 museums of all

types from around the country, only 443 museums received support.

 

Other grants and awards around the state include: The Great Lakes Historical

Society received $55,000 for a Handicap Access Program at their Inland Seas Maritime

Museum and $35,000 for educational programs at their William G. Mather Museum

from various foundations; the Lawrence County Historical Society's Gray House

Museum received grants of $3,000 from the Lawrence County Commissioners, $500

from the Star Bank N.A., and $350 from the Co-Operative Club; the King Library of

Miami University has been chosen to be a test site for the American Memory Project of

the Library of Congress; the Mt. Pleasant Historical Society recently received a

Preservation and Restoration grant from the Ohio State Questers for use in the renova-

tion of the kitchen at the Elizabeth House mansion museum; the Pickaway County

Historical Society's Genealogical Library received a 1991 Bank One grant; the Summit

County Historical Society has received OAHSM Awards for its publications Housing

with Dignity (Local Historical publication), "What We Wore" (promotional publica-

tion), and "Old Portage Trail Review" (newsletter publication); the Warren County

Historical Society has received the 1991 Award of Achievement presented by the Ohio

Association of Historical Societies and Museums for their Union Village Seminar on

Shaker Studies; Doris L. Page of the Trenton Historical Society Museum received a

"First" Award in the Annual Competition of Ohio Association of Historical Societies

and Museums, Local History category, for her work, Where Was Busenhark?; Richard

Smith, a volunteer at the Wayne County Public Library and member of the Wayne

County Chapter OGS, received the McCafferty Award at the Ohio Genealogical con-

vention in April 1992; the Western Reserve Historical Society Museum received five

Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums Outstanding Achievement

Awards for "Showplace of America."

 

The Kentucky Historical Society has presented its annual Richard H. Collins Award

to Dr. Peter B. Knupfer, professor of history at Kansas State University. The award,

designed to recognized outstanding research and writing, was given for Knupfer's arti-

cle, "Henry Clay's Constitutional Unionism," which appeared in the Winter 1992 issue

of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society.

 

Recent retirements, appointments, leaves, research projects and other activities with-

in the academic community include: Ralph E. Luker of Antioch College spoke on the

topic, "Authority and Creativity in Religion: The Case of Martin Luther King, Jr.," for

the Annual Lecture of the University of Kansas's Religious Studies Department;

Barbara Beckerman Davis of Antioch College participated in the summer 1991 NEH

Institute, reading "Marguerite of Navarre and the Tiers Livre of Rabelais," at Duke

University; Cleveland State University has appointed Luis Corteguera as Assistant

Professor and Joyce Thomas as Visiting Instructor; Jim Borchert and Robert Wheeler

of Cleveland State University will be on leave the winter and spring quarters; David

Robson has been promoted to the rank of Professor at John Carroll University;

Franscesco Ceasare and Roger Purdy, of John Carroll University, have been promoted

to Associate Professor with tenure; John Carroll University's Russell Duncan will be

on research leave for fall semester 1993; Timothy J. Runyan of Cleveland State

University has been named editor of The American Neptune, a quarterly journal of

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Notes and Queries                                                      37

 

maritime history published by the Peabody Museum; Jon E. Scharf, Assistant at the

Smith Library of Regional History (Oxford, Ohio), has accepted the new part-time

position of Director of Historical Programs and Properties for the Oxford Museum

Association and will serve in both positions concurrently; after forty years in the class-

room, thirty of them at Wilmington College, Larry Gara retired in May 1992; Vinton

M. Prince has been appointed Department Chair at Wilmington College; Albert E.

Misenko, Chief Historian of Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air

Force Base since 1968, retired in September 1992 after almost 33 years of service.

 

Recent publications within the community of Ohio historians include: The Social

Gospel in Black and White: American Racial Reform, 1885-1912, by Ralph E. Luker of

Antioch College; "Poverty and Poor Relief in Sixteenth-Century Toulouse," by

Barbara Beckerman Davis of Antioch College, in Historical Reflections/Reflexions his-

toriques 17 (1991); One Hundred Years of Magic by the Barberton Public Library; the

Erie County Historical Society has published Treasures by the Bay: The Historic

Architecture of Sandusky, Ohio, by Ellie Damm, and From the Widow's Walk, by

Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann; Master of the Inland Seas, by Alexander C.

Meakin of The Great Lakes Historical Society; Pigmy Zep, a children's book written

and illustrated by Charles Jacobs, Curator-Director of the Hardin County Historical

Museum; Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould

Shaw, by Russell Duncan of John Carroll University; Emma Goldman and the

American Left, by Marian Morton of John Carroll University; a reprint of Ohio's

Western Reserve: A Regional Reader, by Harry Lupold of John Carroll University and

Gladys Haddad of Lake Erie College; Lawrence County History 1990 (family histories)

and 1882 Hardesty 1881 Lake Atlas (a reprint) by the Lawrence County Historical

Society's Gray House Museum; Young Nietzsche: Becoming a Genius, by Carl Pletsch

of Miami University's King Library; Housing with Dignity: Fifty Years and Over of the

Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority and The Only Home They Ever Knew, by the

Summit County Historical Society; The Amish Mennonite Settlement in Butler County,

Ohio, by Doris L. Page and Marie Johns of the Trenton Historical Society Museum;

Miltonville's Story and Where Was Busenbark?, by Doris L. Page of the Trenton

Historical Society Museum; Trenton People, Trenton Places-175 Years, by Doris L.

Page, Marie Johns, JoAnn Howell, Robert D. McIntyre, and Myra Garrett of the

Trenton Historical Society Museum; Warren County Revisited, by Elva Adams, of the

Warren County Historical Society; the Warren County Historical Society has recently

issued "Beers" History of Warren County Ohio, Indexed, Combined Atlases of Warren

County Ohio 1875-1891-1903; and Marcus Mote and Eli Harvey, Two Quaker Artists

From Southwest Ohio; Checklist of Marcus Mote's Works, by Mary Klei and John

Zimkus of the Warren County Historical Society; Warren County's Involvement in the

Civil War and Early Transportation in Warren County, by Dallas Bogan of the Warren

County Historical Society; The Presidency of Franklin Pierce and a reprint of The

Baby Dodds Story as Told to Larry Gara, by Larry Gara of Wilmington College; The

Foulois House: Its Place in the History of the Miami Valley and American Aviation

and Remarkable Journey: The Wright Field Heritage in Photographs, by Diana G.

Cornelisse of the Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base;

History of the Peace Pearl Program, by Bruce R. Wolf of the Aeronautical Systems

Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

 

Lillie, by Jacob C. Williams, Sr., is available through the Martins Ferry Area

Historical Society. Williams's book is about his mother-the daughter of slaves who

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38                                                          OHIO HISTORY

 

moved her family north to escape southern brutality-and is an account of what life

was like for a young black family in Martins Ferry during the period between the two

World Wars. The 528-page book may be purchased by sending $15.00 to the Martins

Ferry Area Historical Society, 627 Hanover Street, Box 422, Martins Ferry, OH 43935.

 

The Firelands Historical Society has issued volume ten in the third series of The

Firelands Pioneer. Containing pioneer, Civil War, and World War I diaries and letters,

as well as old school records from the Firelands, the new volume can be purchased for

$15.00 plus $1.50 for post and shipping (make checks payable to "The Firelands

Historical Society"). To order a copy, contact Mrs. John Stewart, 45 N. Pleasant St.,

Norwalk, Ohio 44857.

 

The King Library of Miami University and the Greater Cincinnati Library

Consortium has formed a History and Archives Group. Recent publications are bibli-

ographies and holdings for libraries in southwest Ohio on African-Americans and

Columbus. For more information, contact, Martha McDonald, c/o GCLC, 3333 Vine

Street, Suite 605, Cincinnati, Ohio, or phone (513) 751-4422.

 

Important Ohio library accessions and holdings include: the collection of early 20th

century social critic and novelist James T. Farrell by the King Library of Miami

University; the Logan County District Library has the Bellefontaine Examiner (January

6, 1873-present) on microfilm; the Medina County District Library holds microfilm of

the Medina County Gazette (1860-present), the Medina Sentinel (1899-1950), an obitu-

ary index to the Gazette, census for Medina County (1820-1910), and has recently

acquired local county records on marriage, death, wills, deeds, and land records; Olive

Branch newspaper, Circleville Herald, Circleville Union Herald, and the Williamsport

News on microfilm for the years 1826 to 1969 at the Pickaway County Historical

Society's Genealogical Library ; the Schiappa Library, Branch of the Public Library of

Steubenville and Jefferson Counties, has Sanborn Maps (Jefferson County),

Steubenville Newspapers (1806-present), Jefferson County Deed Records 1795-1991

and indexes for 1800-1941, Jefferson County Common Please Records 1804-1851,

Ohio Tax Records for 1801-1838, Jefferson County Federal Censuses for 1820-1910,

and Ohio Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, and 1880; the Smith Library of

Regional History (Oxford, Ohio), recently acquired manuscripts to a Record Book of

the Hamilton and Rossville Female Academy (1847-1895), a Day Book of George

Shellhouse (1829-1833), and a Township Book of Morgan Township (1820-1871); the

Stow Public Library holds records of school district #3 (Stow Corners) from 1835 to

1853, records of the school districts in Stow Township (1835-1850), records of Road

Districts in Stow Township (1835), and records of the proceedings of the Township

Trustees (March 1884-1961); the Tuscarawas County Public Library in New

Philadelphia now has a complete run of the Times-Reporter newspapers, and its ances-

tral newspapers, on microfilm; the Warren County Historical Society has acquired

microfilm, for the years 1807 to 1992, of the Warren County newspaper, Western Star,

as well as for other old local papers; the Wayne County Public Library now

has the 1920 census for Wayne, Holmes, Ashland, Medina, Stark, and Summit coun-

ties; the Wood County District Public Library has the Wood County Sentinel (1867-

1906), the Daily Sentinel-Tribune (1890-present), the Pemberville Leader (1887-1976),

the Unique Weekly (1907-1948), the Unique-Derrick (1948-1958), Wood County

Census (1830-1920), and Indexes for the Wood County Census (1820-1880) on

microfilm.

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Notes and Queries                                                    39

 

The Great Lakes Historical Society has installed and restored the 1905 pilot house

from the steamer Canopus; erected a full-size, operational replica of the 1877

Vermilion Harbor lighthouse on the grounds of the Inland Seas Maritime Museum;

opened additional areas to the public, improved the entry, and installed added educa-

tional exhibits in the steamship William G. Mather Museum; and obtained a 5-inch

deck gun for installation on the U.S.S. Cod which the Navy considers to be the most

authentic of WWII fleet submarines on display.

 

Other items of interest at state and local museums around Ohio include: the

Barberton Public Library holds a history workshop once a month and volunteers are

daily working on a project to index the library's holdings of the Barberton Herald; the

Belpre Area Historical Society holds meetings at the Belpre (Farmer's) Branch of the

Washington County Library every second Monday of the month; the Hardin County

Historical Museums in Kenton, Ohio, sponsored a living history program entitled

"Goodness Gracious Grady's Magical History Tour," as well as recently campaigning

for the successful passage of a tax levy to support and maintain the museums; The

Lakewood Historical Society recently celebrated its 40th Anniversary with the grand

opening of the Nicholson House, an 1835 house restored by the society; the Lawrence

County Historical Society's Gray House Museum is nearing completion of the John

Rankin Rooms (he lived at the Gray House with his Granddaughter, Eliza Humphreys

Gray until his death), is renovating their clothing rooms for display of antique clothing,

is conducting oral history interviews with videotape recordings of the local population,

and has reproduced an 1800s Burlington, Ohio, plat map; the Medina County District

Library opened its local history/genealogy room, the Franklin Sylvester Room, in the

fall of 1992; the Pickaway County Historical Society's Genealogical Library answers

free genealogical queries in their "Pickaway Quarterly" and has monthly meetings on

the last Friday of each month which are open to the public; the Stow Public Library,

3512 Darrow Road, Stow, Ohio, is seeking several dedicated volunteers to help do

some preservation and indexing of materials in their local history archives; a Summit

County Historical Society oral history program, entitled "World War II: The

Homefront," made for Warner Cable TV; the Wayne County Public Library has begin-

ning genealogy classes in the fall of each year, is working on an ongoing project to

record as much as possible about each of the one-room schoolhouses in Wayne

County, and is indexing all the obituaries found in Wayne county newspapers (1950-

1991 are complete); the Western Reserve Historical Society broke ground in June 1992

for a $3 million building expansion project to include two additions to the East

Boulevard Complex and adding over 26,000 square feet to the museum.

 

Published by the Ohio Historical Society since 1887, Ohio History hopes to serve as

a clearinghouse for information about Ohio historians, departments of history, profes-

sional meetings, research activities, historical societies, museums, and libraries. Such

an undertaking depends, however, upon the cooperation of the many individuals and

institutions we endeavor to serve. If you or your organization are interested in placing

an announcement in "Notes and Queries," please write to: Ohio History, Ohio

Historical Society, 1982 Velma Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43211-2497. Production

deadlines dictate that all dated materials (contests, meetings, requests for papers) be in

our office five months prior to publication.

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