Ohio History Journal




Historical News

Historical News

 

 

 

The University of Chicago and the University of Virginia are sponsoring

the publication of a new and complete edition of the papers of James

Madison. The editors will appreciate information about the location of

letters by or to James Madison or his wife, especially letters in private

possession or among uncalendared manuscripts in the collections of public

or private institutions. Information should be addressed to The Papers of

James Madison, 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago 37, Illinois.

 

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the

Pennsylvania State University are undertaking a series of annual institutes

on Pennsylvania life and culture. This summer's institute, to be held at the

university August 12-17, will be devoted to Pennsylvania folklore and

music. The staff includes Samuel P. Bayard, Walter E. Boyer, and Albert

F. Buffington, all of Pennsylvania State University, and Sylvester K. Stevens

and Earle W. Newton of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum

Commission.

Registrants with the necessary prerequisites may schedule the course for

one semester hour of credit; auditors are admitted with no prerequisites.

Further information may be secured from S. K. Stevens, Executive Director,

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, P. O. Box 232, Harris-

burg, Pennsylvania.

 

The American Association for State and Local History is urging state

and local historical societies to take advantage of the current interest in

Civil War history, stimulated by the approaching Civil War centennial, to

collect significant historical materials pertaining to the war. Persons having

soldiers' letters, diaries, field equipment, or other war materials are re-

quested to write to the state historical society of their own state describing

their holdings. Materials collected now, it is thought, can be preserved or

restored to be used for later study or exhibit.

 

"Historic-House Keeping: A Short Course" is being offered for the third

year under the joint auspices of the National Trust for Historic Preserva-



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HISTORICAL NEWS           309

 

tion and the New York State Historical Association at Cooperstown, New

York, September 15-21, 1957. Faculty and speakers are well-known author-

ities in their various fields. The course is open to anyone concerned in

historic preservation. Morning sessions will be of general interest. Two con-

current classes will be offered in the afternoon, one on administrative aspects

and the other on technical phases of historic-house keeping.

Details concerning the program, fees, and accommodations may be ob-

tained by writing Historic-House Keeping, New York State Historical As-

sociation, Cooperstown, New York.

 

Lester J. Cappon, director of the Institute of Early American History

and Culture, recently announced a grant of sixty thousand dollars from the

Lilly Endowment of Indianapolis. This grant, which is to be distributed

over a three-year period, is intended to aid the institute in its publication

program. The institute, sponsored jointly by the College of William and

Mary and Colonial Williamsburg, is devoted to research and publication in

the colonial, Revolutionary, and early national periods of American history.

 

The American Council of Learned Societies is making available a total

of three hundred thousand dollars for the year 1958-59 for three programs

to aid scholarly research in the humanities, including the field of history.

Fellowship grants, up to seven thousand dollars each, will be made to

younger scholars (with a doctorate or equivalent) mainly to provide free

time to complete research projects or to continue intensive study in their

fields of special interest. Grants-in-aid, not to exceed three thousand dollars

each, will be awarded to scholars to support projects in progress. Applica-

tions from individual scholars for fellowships will be received until October

15, 1957; those for grants-in-aid, until September 15, 1957, January 15,

1958, and March 15, 1958. Special awards of ten thousand dollars each will

be made to mature scholars for completion of works of research, of interpre-

tation, or of original thought. Nominations for the special awards must be

made by academic institutions, professional societies, or similar organizations.

 

Several manuscript prizes have recently been inaugurated to encourage

scholarly publication. The Institute of Early American History and Culture

has replaced its book prize with a prize for the best manuscript in the field

of early American history submitted to the institute. The award will be

five hundred dollars and publication of the manuscript. To be eligible for

the 1958 award, manuscripts should be sent by December 31, 1957, to the

Editor of Publications, Box 1298, Williamsburg, Virginia.



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310     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

The New England Quarterly and Houghton Mifflin Company have estab-

lished the New England Quarterly Literary Fellowship Award of $2,400 to

encourage the writing of books of general interest in American history,

literature, and the social sciences. Information and application blanks may

be obtained from the Editor, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2 Park Street,

Boston 7, Massachusetts.

The American Historical Association has established the Moses Coit Tyler

Prize of $1,500 (plus publication by Cornell University Press) for the best

manuscript in intellectual history or biography. Manuscripts will be received

until September 1, 1957. More detailed information may be secured from

the association office, 400 A Street, Washington 3, D. C.

The Mississippi Valley Historical Association has announced the inaugura-

tion of an annual award of one thousand dollars for an outstanding study

of American history. The first award will be made in April 1959, and the

manuscript selected will be published by the University of Kentucky Press.

The competition will be conducted by a committee composed of Chase C.

Mooney, Indiana University, chairman; Richard W. Leopold, Northwestern

University; Edward C. Kirkland, Bowdoin College; J. Merton England,

University of Kentucky; and Fletcher M. Green, University of North

Carolina. Dates for submission of manuscripts for the first judging are June 1

through August 31, 1958.

To be eligible for the award, manuscripts must not be more than 100,000

words. Persons interested in having manuscripts considered for the award

should write to Dr. Chase C. Mooney, History Department, Indiana

University, Bloomington.

 

The American Jewish Archives has recently acquired 350 government

documents relating to American Jews, 1820-1900, and also correspondence

of David Levy Yulee, Benjamin Jonas, Lewis C. Levin, and other outstanding

nineteenth-century Jews active in civic, political, and military affairs.

 

Herbert F. Koch, acting professor of business administration at the

University of Cincinnati, has become co-editor of the quarterly Bulletin

of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio with Lee Shepard, who

has been editor for the past thirteen years.

Under the sponsorship of the society, George Rosenthal is making an

architectural and historical survey of the Kenyon-Barr area in Cincinnati,

soon to be cleared for redevelopment. Photographic studies are being made

of all suitable sites, buildings, architectural details, and vistas for deposit

in the society's library.



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HISTORICAL NEWS          311

 

Jack R. Armstrong is now curator of the Wakefield Marine Museum of

the Great Lakes Historical Society at Vermilion, Ohio.

 

Recent acquisitions of the Rutherford B. Hayes Library include a large

scrapbook of original teletype news releases issued during the Spanish-

American War, and some 3,000 items in a personal collection of Robinson

Locke ("Rodney Lee"), editor of the Toledo Blade. Robinson Locke was

the eldest son of David Ross Locke ("Petroleum V. Nasby"), and in the

collection are numerous "Nasby" items.

Dr. Edwin H. Cady of Syracuse University has contributed to the William

Dean Howells Collection in the Hayes Library his original manuscript and

notes for his recent book, The Road to Realism: The Early Years, 1837-1885,

of William Dean Howells.

 

Louis Filler, acting chairman of the department of history at Antioch

College, delivered the annual University Lecture in the History of Education

at the University of Michigan on March 20, on the theme, "Main Currents

in American Progressive Education." The lecture is sponsored jointly by

the school of education and the department of history of the university.

 

Wayne Shafter Huffman, associate professor of history at Bowling Green

State University, received the honorary degree of doctor of social science

from Findlay College at the commencement ceremonies on June 9. He is a

graduate of Findlay College.

 

Paul McStallworth, chairman of the department of history, political

science, and geography at Central State College, served as acting director of

student personnel services from March 1, 1957, to June 30, 1957. Professor

McStallworth had an article, "The Impact of West African Political Re-

surgence," published in two parts in the January and February 1957 issues

of the Negro History Bulletin.

An endowment fund of one thousand dollars was bequeathed to the

history department of Central State College through the will of the late

Keith Churchman, a member of the department for a number of years.

 

Robert Boehm has been promoted to associate professor of history at

Defiance College.

 

Paul I. Miller, chairman of the department of history at Hiram College,

has been granted a Fulbright lectureship in American history at the University



312 THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

312     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

of Ceylon for 1957-58. C. H. Moore will be visiting professor of history at

Hiram for the year. Dr. Moore was formerly at Ripon College.

 

Robert S. Fletcher was on sabbatical leave from Oberlin College for the

second semester of 1956-57 and Frederick B. Artz will be on sabbatical leave

for the second semester of the year 1957-58. The chairmanship of the

history department has now rotated from Dr. Artz to Dr. Fletcher.

 

Richard Thompson, who has his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin,

has been added to the history faculty at Ohio University. His appointment

will be effective at the beginning of the next academic year.

Charles Mayes has an article, "The Sale of Peerages in Early Stuart

England," in the Journal of Modern History for March 1957.

Frederick D. Kershner delivered a paper entitled "The Role of the Small

Town in Midwestern Urbanization" at a session of the Mississippi Valley

Historical Association on May 3.

 

At the University of Toledo, Willard A. Smith has been promoted to the

rank of professor of history.

Cecil E. Cody has been granted a leave of absence for the year 1957-58.

He will lecture in the Philippine Women's University at Manila under a

Fulbright grant.

 

Donald Grove Barnes returns to the history department at Western

Reserve University in September 1957 after a year's leave of absence spent

in England and on the continent.

Marvin Becker, who has been on leave from Baldwin-Wallace College

during 1956-57 while doing research in Italy on a Guggenheim fellowship,

will join the history faculty at Western Reserve.

Marion Siney has been granted a leave of absence for the winter term,

1957-58, and plans to spend the time in Sweden continuing her researches

on international relations in World War I.

Willis Thornton has been appointed as a lecturer in history for 1957-58.

 

Karol Marcinkowski, chairman of the history department at Wilberforce

University, recently published an 84-page treatise in Polish, Cien Zlotego

Cielca nad walczaca Rzeczpospolita, 1655 ("The Shadow of the Golden Idol

Over the Struggling Republic, Year 1655"). The study is based on original

sources found by the author in the archives of the Vatican and deals with



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HISTORICAL NEWS           313

 

papal policy towards Poland and the attitude of the Polish clergy during

the first period of the Polish-Swedish War, 1655-60.

 

Benjamin H. Pershing, professor and head of the history department at

Wittenberg College, retired at the dose of the academic year, 1956-57. Dr.

Pershing's ministerial and teaching career has spanned a period of forty-four

years.

 

The Rev. Thomas P. Conry, S.J., formerly of the history department at

Xavier University, is now at John Carroll University.

John J. Whealen, assistant professor at Xavier, has an essay titled

"American Liberalism: Its Meaning and Consistency," in Mid-America for

April 1957.