490 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
DR. JACOB ALBRIGHT SHAWAN.
Dr. Jacob A. Shawan, for many years
recognized as
one who had attained high place among
educators of
Ohio, died at his home near DeGraff,
Logan County,
Ohio, May 4, 1927. He was born in
Wapakoneta, June
15, 1850; was reared on a farm;
educated in the public
schools of Urbana, Ohio; and was
graduated from
Oberlin College in 1880. He received
his M. A. degree
from Oberlin College in 1883, and the
honorary degree
of Ph. D. from Muskingum College in
1894.
Dr. Shawan taught in the Pretty Prairie
District,
Urbana Township, before entering
Oberlin College, and
in Mad River Township in Champaign
County. In
1880, he was appointed superintendent
of the schools at
St. Marys, Ohio. In 1833, he became
superintendent of
schools in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. In 1889,
he was called to
the superintendency of the schools of
Columbus, Ohio,
a position which he held for
twenty-seven years and
from which he retired at his own
request in 1916.
Dr. Shawan's long service as
superintendent of the
Columbus schools forms an era in the
educational prog-
ress of the capital city of Ohio. When
this service
began the schools of the city were
conducted in twenty-
three buildings and the pupils numbered
11,000. When
he retired, there were fifty-six
schools with 29,000 pupils
attending.
In the schools of Columbus, Dr. Shawan
inaugu-
rated manual training, domestic
science, the kinder-
garten schools, and the open air
school. The latter was
established in cooperation with the
Columbus Society
for the Prevention and Cure of
Tuberculosis. He was
Reviews, Notes and Comments 491
a strong advocate of health inspection
in the public
schools which was introduced in his
administration.
In his twenty-seven years' service in
Columbus he
became widely acquainted and his memory
is cherished
for his kindly manner and brief but
helpful addresses
on his visits to the various school
rooms. Every pupil
in Columbus regarded Dr. Shawan as his
friend and
felt free to speak to him when meeting
him on the
street.
On retiring from the superintendency of
the Colum-
bus schools, Dr. Shawan and his wife
resided in De-
Graff, Ohio. Later they moved to his
farm, "The Mead-
ows," where he died. He is
survived by three sons:
Dr. H. K. Shawan, surgeon, of Detroit,
Michigan; R. F.
Shawan, of Columbus, Ohio, and J. A.
Shawan, Jr., of
DeGraff. Mrs. Shawan was Miss Jennie K.
Holmes,
prior to her marriage to Mr. Shawan, in
1881. She died
in 1925.
Dr. Shawan was a Methodist and a Mason.
He was
a member of state and national
educational associations
and a life-member of the Ohio State
Archaeological and
Historical Society.
SARCOPHAGUS OR MUMMY CASE
Professor G. Foucart, Director of the
French Insti-
tute of Archaeology, at Cairo, Egypt, was one of the
few
honored by being permitted to witness
the official open-
ing of the marble sarcophagus of King
Tut-Ankh-
Amen, near Luxor, Egypt, on February
12, 1924. He
made the translations of the
inscriptions on the coffin
enclosing the mummy presented by Dr.
Howell. Such
a coffin is usually called a mummy
case, but Professor
Foucart calls this one a
"sarcophagus," with the added
phrase, "properly so called."