Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting 407
various mounds and parks. He
congratulated the Society on
its work, and stated this meeting will
give him renewed en-
thusiasm.
Mr. Randall stated that the Historical
Commission of Ohio,
was appointed without legal authority, a
year ago last January
or February, by Governor Cox; it is
simply a committee acting
voluntarily. The purpose is to gather at
once the material and
data of the activities of Ohio in
connection with the Great War.
This includes Y. M. C. A., Red Cross,
Knights of Columbus,
enlistments, war chests and similar
activities. The committee
consisted of nineteen, mostly the
professors of history in the
different colleges. That committee has
acted as an adjunct, so
to speak, to this Society, owing to the
fact that I, being secretary
of this Society, was made ex officio a
member. We furnished
them with quarters in this building.
Prof. A. M. Schlesinger
was made chairman of the commission. He
has resigned and
now lives in another state. He acted
also as secretary of the
commission. The officers of the commission requested Mr.
Felch to come and take his place here.
He will now read his
report.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY TO THE OHIO
HISTORICAL COMMISSION.
The writer of this statement of the
condition of the archives
of the Historical Commission of Ohio,
has been in the office as
executive secretary of the Commission
for only two short
months, and can not, therefore, give
anything more than a cur-
sory and insufficient report of the
work.
Owing to the retirement of Dr. Arthur M.
Schlesinger, the
duties thereof have devolved upon the
Acting Chairman, Dr.
E. O. Randall, from whom a full report
can be expected at the
end of the year.
The Historical Commission was appointed
by Governor
James M. Cox in February, 1918. The members
designated to
conduct its work were, in the main, the
leading historical pro-
fessors of all the colleges and
universities of the State. This
Commission has since been augmented by the
appointment of a
series of County Chairmen, acting under
the instructions of
the State Chairman, to gather all
available material in the coun-
ties that might otherwise be thrown
away.
The only complete and satisfactory
history of any county's
participation in the war can be printed,
after it has been edited
or largely compiled from the archives of
the State Commission.
408 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
That was my first impression, and Dr.
Schlesinger's, that
the Archaeological Museum will become in
time the mecca for
county historians, or as he phrased it,
a "laboratory" for
scientific historical research,
experiment, synthesis, and ex-
ploitation, - forever !"
We are still receiving papers from 67 of
the 88 Ohio coun-
ties, in many cases two or three papers
from a county, making
about 150 papers in all; scrap-books are
being formed steadily,
by daily accretion. Ten are on the
shelves; sixteen are ready
for the bindery, and ten more partially
filled out to the requisite
average of 200 pages to a volume. We
receive a goodly num-
ber of German newspapers, which are read
and edited for our
scrap-book collection by Prof. Wittke,
of the Historical De-
partment of the University, who is also
the representative in
the business of accumulating the data
for this Commission in
Franklin county. We have also a number
of Slavonic news-
papers, Roumanian, Bohemian, Polish, and
other languages, pub-
lished in Ohio-at Cleveland, Cincinnati
and Youngstown prin-
cipally-and we are still receiving,
also, all forms of blanks,
press-releases, printed and regulated
forms, from the United
States Government and State bureaus of
governmental activity,
which are still in use.
(Signed) W. FARRAND FELCH,
[On account of lack of space we have
abbreviated in this printed
report the very able and elaborate
report made by Mr. Felch. The full
report will be found in the Secretary's
Minute book. -EDITOR.]
REPORT OF CIVIL WAR HISTORIAN.
Along other lines I have had
correspondence with many
officers surviving, who served in Ohio
organizations, regarding
certain campaigns and battles, and have
copied reports and
orders issued by commanders of brigades,
division corps and
army commanders, to fortify statements
in the general history.
For instance, referring to the battle of
Chickamauga, the second
greatest battle of the war, Ohio had 55
regiments and batteries
in that battle--a greater number of
troops than from any
other state, and the army was commanded
by an Ohio general.
This is only one instance of many that
can be cited, and it is
the purpose to give Ohio troops full
credit for their devoted
service on every great battlefield of
the war, fortified by official
orders and reports. I have also secured
through the navy de-
partment at Washington, a roster of Ohio
men who served in
the navy, numbering 5,400.
I have also secured during the past
year, a file of Cincin-