HISTORICAL NEWS
Historical Societies
DELAWARE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Delaware
Wilbur Main, President
The society has been holding regular
monthly meetings on the
third Monday of each month. At the
meeting in February R. B.
Powers gave a paper on genealogy. Mrs.
John J. Swickheimer
spoke at the March meeting on the early
history of Radnor
Township.
In April the first number of a
mimeographed bulletin was
published for the purpose of publicizing
the society by describing
its aims and early programs.
HAYES MEMORIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM, Fremont
Watt P. Marchman, Director of
Research
Certain physical improvements at the
Hayes Memorial Library
and Museum, long needed and very much
welcomed, include instal-
lation of asphalt-tile covering on two
main floors in the building,
and the installation of five modern
museum cases. The new cases
contain displays pertaining to the life
and times of President and
Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes.
Accessions to the museum and library
during the past three
months include the following: an iron
spur and a small mallet from
the Civil War period, presented to the
museum by Sidney Miller,
Fremont; a file of the Chicago Daily
Times, August 1876-January
1877; a file of the New York Weekly
Tribune, January 1880-
December 1882; the records of the
Matinee Musical Club of
Fremont, 1903-35, 5 vols., deposited in
our library by Harriet
Billau, Fremont; 99 original letters
from various correspondents
addressed to George William Curtis,
editor of Harper's Weekly,
1877-84, and 26 miscellaneous pamphlets
on the election of 1884,
and 40 newspaper clippings from his
library; an original letter
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HISTORICAL NEWS 315
written by Lucy Webb Hayes to Laura P.
Mitchell, June 25, 1881;
and a holograph letter of R. B. Hayes to
J. R. Hawley, November
28, 1876.
Photostat and microfilm copies of source
materials added to
our library manuscript collections
include photocopies of 24 letters
and several notes written by R. B.
Hayes, Lucy Webb Hayes, and
Webb C. Hayes, I, 1865-89, to General
and Mrs. James M. Comly,
from the Comly Collection in the library
of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society;
microfilm copy of the R. B.
Hayes and Sardis Birchard letters,
1850-92, in the Guy M. Bryan
Collection, Archives Collections of the
University of Texas Library;
photostat copies of a letter by R. B.
Hayes to B. F. Jackson, May
16, 1889, and a warranty deed, R. B.
Hayes to W. B. Kridler, Jr.,
March 28, 1890, courtesy of the Clyde
Public Library, Clyde;
photostat copies of letters from R. B.
Hayes to Salmon P. Chase,
March 21, April 11, and June 29, 1861,
from the Salmon P. Chase
Papers, Library of Congress; photostat
copies of 3 Hayes letters to
Dr. Charles F. Thwing, April 3, May 22,
1891, and to Dr. E.
Bushnell, April 8, 1891, in the library
of Western Reserve Univer-
sity, Cleveland; and a microfilm copy of
the rare book by John
Wallace, entitled The Carpet Bag Rule
in Florida (Jacksonville,
Fla., 1888), courtesy of Mrs. Alberta
Johnson, Librarian, Florida
Historical Society.
HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, Cincinnati
Virginius C. Hall, Director-Librarian
This organization celebrated its annual
spring meeting with a
special exhibit on the Ohio River at the
Taft Museum. The exhibit
was opened on April 29 with an evening
meeting of the society and
friends at the Taft Museum. Display
materials for the exhibit from
the collections of the society were
supplemented by contributions
from citizens of Cincinnati and boat
models from the River Museum
in Campus Martius Museum, Marietta.
These models were shown
through the courtesy of the Sons and
Daughters of Pioneer River
Men and the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society.
[The editor of this Quarterly would
like to call to the attention
of its readers the new Bulletin of
the Historical and Philosophical
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Society. Edited by Lee Shepard, it has
been enlarged and presents
a new format. The April issue of 64
pages is devoted to the
history of the Ohio River and its
tributaries and contains sixteen
plates of river scenes and related
subjects.]
HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF OHIO
H. B. Diefenbach, State President and
Chaplain General
The society held its midyear social
meeting in Akron on April
5. The meeting was well attended. The
annual meeting will be
held September 18 in Mansfield.
KNOX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Mt. Vernon
Charles V. Critchfield, President
Robert C. Wheeler, newspaper librarian
of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
gave an address before the
society on March 23 on the subject,
"Old Firearms." A display
of his own collection and of other
firearms brought from the Ohio
State Museum was supplemented by the
collections of H. F. Hitch-
cock, J. B. Blackburn, D. W. Horn, and
Carl Barcus, all of Knox
County.
LOGAN COUNTY ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Bellefontaine
Guy W. Furbay, Secretary
Present officers of the society are
Herman C. Marmon, presi-
dent; Raymond LeVan, vice president; Guy
W. Furbay, secretary;
Guy Inskeep, secretary.
It is planned to enlarge the monthly
bulletin and publish it
annually.
MAHONING VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Youngstown
Donald J. Lynn, President
The officers of the society for the
present year are the following:
Donald J. Lynn, president; Mrs. Henry A.
Butler, first vice presi-
dent; Joseph G. Butler, III, second vice
president and assistant
treasurer; Mrs. Franklin B. Powers,
third vice president; Mrs.
HISTORICAL NEWS 317
Ernest A. Goodman, recording secretary;
Ada M. Rogers, corre-
sponding secretary; James L. Wick, Jr.,
treasurer.
The membership of the board of trustees
was recently increased
from nine to twenty four.
The Mahoning Valley Historical Society
was organized Sep-
tember 10, 1875, and was incorporated
under the laws of Ohio,
November 19, 1909. Its museum is located
in the Reuban McMillan
Library, Youngstown.
THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Columbus
Erwin C. Zepp, Director
At the annual meeting of the society,
April 16, Dr. Carl Wittke,
dean of the graduate school, Western
Reserve University, and
Captain Frederick Way, authority on the
history of America's
rivers, were honored with life
membership for their respective con-
tributions toward the preservation of
Ohio's history. Dr. Francis
P. Weisenburger of the department of
history, the Ohio State Uni-
versity, presented Dr. Wittke for the
honor with the following
testimonial:
Carl Wittke is a native of Columbus and
a graduate of the Ohio State
University. He received his master's and
doctor's degrees from Harvard
University. His academic career has been
one of notable service to the state
of his birth. Beginning as an instructor
in history at the Ohio State Univer-
sity in 1916, he rose rapidly to become
professor and chairman of the
department from 1927 to 1937. Since then
he has been professor of history
and dean at Oberlin College, and on May
1 he will become dean of the
graduate school of Western Reserve
University, Cleveland.
He is the author of seven historical
volumes, including a History of
Canada which has been issued in various editions both in Canada
and the
United States; the standard history of
the minstrel stage in the United States,
Tambo and Bones; and the best history of immigrant groups in this
country,
We Who Built America. He is also the editor of Essays in History and
Political Theory, contributed in honor of Professor Charles H. McIlwain
of
Harvard.
A leader of the historical profession,
he has served as an editor of
various historical journals and as
president of the Mississippi Valley Historical
Association. By appointment of Governor
John Bricker he became chairman
of the Ohio War History Commission.
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
He has also given unreservedly of his
time and abilities for the advance-
ment of this society, which published
his German-Americans and the World
War. Under the auspices of the society he was editor of the
six-volume
History of the State of Ohio which is widely acclaimed as a model for
American state histories. He has
contributed five articles and numerous book
reviews to the Quarterly. As a
member of the board of editors and of the
board of trustees of the society he was
ever alert to the responsibilities of his
position.
Hence on this occasion honor is paid to
one who as an inspiring teacher,
a distinguished author, and a gifted
administrator has added luster to his
alma mater, to his profession, and to
the society which tonight pays him
homage.
Dr. William H. Hildreth of the English
department, the Ohio
State University, presented Captain Way,
reading the following
statement:
Captain Frederick Way, a Pennsylvanian,
is in the highest sense a
citizen of the Ohio Valley. He has made
history on its rivers and has written
history on their shores. He attended
college at the University of Cincinnati
and at Carnegie Institute of Technology.
But the school was too near the
river; he could still hear the
steam-boat whistles. Soon he was steersman
on the Eugene Dana Smith. Since
then he has always been on or near the
river. He has owned the Betsy Ann and
the General Wood. He has piloted
tow boats on all the western waters.
Recently he brought the stern-wheeler
Delta Queen up the Mississippi and up the Ohio to take her place in
the river
traffic and he has been in charge of her
outfitting and testing.
He has written three popular books which
record life on the western
waters: The Log of the Betsy Ann; The
Allegheny, of the Rivers of America
Series; and Pilotin' Comes Natural. Both river men and
historians know
and respect his directories of river
transportation: Way's Steamboat Directory;
Western Rivers Towboat Directory; and the Inland River Record.
He has been a leader in the preservation
of the great valley's history.
He is a founder of the Sons and
Daughters of Pioneer River Men and of the
River Museum, a part of Campus Martius
Museum at Marietta. He was
technical advisor in the setting up of
the river museum. Much of the
material preserved therein was collected
or donated by Captain Way, including
photographs from his great collection
and models which he has built of
historic boats.
This society, therefore, tonight makes
manifest its gratitude and respect
for the work of Captain Frederick Way.
Mr. E. Y. Wolford, a member of the
historical society now
living in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, calls
our attention to the hoax
HISTORICAL NEWS 319
of the Horn Papers. In 1945 the
Greene County Historical Society,
Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, published the Horn
Papers: Early
Westward Movement on the Monongahela
and Upper Ohio, 1765-
1795, three volumes. The first volume purports to have come
from
the diaries of Jacob Horn and his son
Christopher and other
important original documents of the
third quarter of the eighteenth
century. The second contains more than 500 histories and
genealogical records of early families
in the region.
Like many other publications, this Quarterly
carried a review
recommending the Horn Papers (LV[1946],
307-308). Dr. Julian
P. Boyd, librarian of Princeton
University, however, questioned the
authenticity of the documents. An
investigation was urged by him
and Dr. A. P. James of the University of
Pittsburgh. Thereupon,
a committee was organized under the
sponsorship of the Institute
of Early American History and Culture at
Williamsburg, Virginia.
After a full examination this committee
reported as follows:
In view of the fact that intensive
investigation failed to discover a shred
of evidence to substantiate the
authenticity of the documents and, on the
contrary, found convincing evidence of
their spuriousness, it is our opinion that
the primary material in The Horn
Papers is a fabrication and therefore that
historians and genealogists ought not to
rely on any data in Volumes I and II.
The interesting story of the exposure of
this fraud in American
historiography is told in an article by
Arthur Pierce Middleton and
Douglass Adair, "The Mystery of the
Horn Papers," in the William
and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., IV, No. 4 (October 1947), 409-445.
STARK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Canton
E. T. Heald, Secretary-Treasurer
The Second Annual Report, January
1948, was published
recently by the society. It reviews the
program for the past year.
The chief research project was the
examination of records on the
laying out and incorporation of the
various cities, towns, and
villages of Stark County. The historical
committee has continued
to emphasize the collecting of family
and church histories. Twelve
family histories, fifteen biographical
sketches, and forty-one church
histories were received. Other
historical records and items donated
to the society during 1947 totaled 940.
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
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Three quarterly publications were
issued. The society also
published E. T. Heald's Bezaleel
Wells, Founder of Canton and
Steubenville, Ohio, and assisted in the publication of Mary Jane
Richeimer's
A Century in Education, the story of Massillon's public
schools.
The society gave a series of broadcasts
over radio station
WHBC on the history of Stark County
cities, towns, and villages.
This series will continue in
1948.
As of January 1, 1948, the society had
358 members, a gain
of 163 through the year.
WARREN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Lebanon
Gardner Townsley, President
The annual Historic Pilgrimage to old
homes of Warren
County will be held on June 19 and 20. A
special historical section
will be printed in the Western Star of
Lebanon in connection with
the pilgrimage.
Meetings of the society are being held
on the fourth Monday
of each month with speakers on subjects
of historical interest.
WOMAN'S CENTENNIAL ASSOCIATION, Marietta
Mrs. Nelle Greene, President
Officers of the association are Mrs.
Nelle Greene, president, and
Mrs. Frank K. Schafer, vice president.
Meetings are held on the
first Monday of the month, October
through April.
About Historians
Dr. Freeland K. Abbott of the department
of history of Miami
University will teach at Tufts College
during the summer session.
Dr. William E. Smith will do research
work in Philadelphia
and Washington, D. C., in the summer.
Dr. Louis Filler of Antioch College has
accepted an invitation
from the department of history of the
College of the City of New
HISTORICAL NEWS 321
York to teach at its summer session. He
will also engage in research
while in New York.
Dr. George A. Washburne, chairman of the
department of
history of the Ohio State University,
died suddenly May 11. He
joined the department in 1918 as
associate professor and became
chairman in 1938.
Dr. Harold J. Grimm was named acting
chairman to serve the
remainder of the quarter.
Members of the department who have
summer appointments
at other schools are: Dr. Grimm, University
of Texas; Dr. Earl J.
Beck, University of Kentucky; Dr. Paul
A. Varg, Colgate Univer-
sity; and Dr. Everett Walters, Ohio
University.
Three members of the history staff at
Wilberforce College of
Education and Industrial Arts
contributed historical articles during
the first quarter of the year: President
Charles H. Wesley, "Inter-
racial Aspects of the Negro's status in
the United States," in Negro
History Bulletin, XI, No. 5 (February 1948), 108, 113-118; John
C. Alston, "Atlanta," in Ebony,
III, No. 3 (January 1948), 19-24;
Reid E. Jackson, "The 'New'
Wilberforce," in The Crisis, LV, No. 3
(March 1948), 74-77, 92-93.
Mrs. Annette Fitch Nelson of Jefferson
was given special honor
and recognition at the Ohio State
Conference of the Daughters of
the American Revolution, held recently
at Toledo. Mrs. Nelson
was honored for her weekly broadcasts on
historical subjects which
she has been giving over radio station
WIVA, Ashtabula, for the
past ten years.
Dr. Albert T. Volwiler, chairman of the
department of history,
reports that "Ohio University and
the state department of education
will again sponsor next October a
statewide contest among high
school students in the field of Ohio
history, government, and citizen-
ship. Such an educational program yields
returns which are difficult
to measure. Last year more than 5,000
high school youths took
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the preliminary elimination test, and,
of these, 105 took the final
essay examination. All did some thinking
and reading about this
subject. Teachers in this field were
also benefited. Books brought
home to read were frequently discussed
and read by members of
the family of a contestant. If we assume
that on an average each
student read two books in this field and
that often his close asso-
ciates read all or parts of them, then
the equivalent of approxi-
mately 15,000 readings in Ohio history,
government, and citizen-
ship resulted. Such reading cannot help
but leave some deposit
in the form of a greater interest and
activity in behalf of good
government and an appreciation of the
heritage left to our citizens."