126 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
during the past year (Mr. Johnson,
President; Mr. Eagleson, First Vice-
President; Mr. Lindley, Secretary; and
Mr. Miller, Treasurer) be re-
elected for the coming year and that the
secretary be instructed to cast
the ballot for their re-election. This
motion, seconded by Mr. Spetnagel,
was unanimously approved. Mr. Johnson
asked that the secretary draft
letters to the two retiring members of the
Board of Trustees, Mr. Gold-
man and Mr. Goodman, thanking them for
their services in behalf of the
Society. This suggestion was approved.
The secretary spoke briefly of the
sessions of the Ohio History Con-
ference already held and of those yet to
come.
Mr. Smith kindly offered to present to
the Library of the Society
a special edition, autographed copy of
Charlotte Reeve Conover's Builders
in New Fields, which bears directly on the history of Dayton.
Apprecia-
tion of this generous gift was spoken by
the secretary.
On motion of Mr. Miller and second of
Mr. Wolfe, the meeting
was adjourned.
ARTHUR C. JOHNSON, SR., President.
HARLOW LINDLEY, Secretary.
Ohio Academy of History Sessions,
April 7, 12:30 P. M., Deshler-
Wallick Hotel; 2:30 P. M., Ohio State
Museum
Auditorium, A. Sellew Roberts,
Presiding
The Ohio Academy of History, one of the
sponsors of the
Ohio History Conference, met in two
sessions April 7th. The
noon luncheon meeting was held as usual
in connection with the
Ohio College Teachers' Association at
the Deshler-Wallick Hotel
in Columbus. Dr. Arthur C. Cole, Western
Reserve University,
read a paper on "Some Aspects of
the Early Attack upon Amer-
ican Puritanism."
The afternoon session, a joint meeting
with the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
was held in the Auditorium
of the Ohio State Museum on the
university campus. The follow-
ing papers were read: Blake C. Cook,
"Judge John Tyler--
Pioneer Jurist"; Curtis W.
Garrison, "A President's Library";
and A. T. Volwiler, "Harrison,
Blaine, and American Foreign
Policy, 1889-1893."
Professor A. T. Volwiler, Ohio
University, Athens, was
elected president of the academy for the
coming year and Dr.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE: PROCEEDINGS 127
William D. Overman, Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Society, was elected secretary.
Mr. Cook's paper on "Judge John
Tyler--Pioneer Jurist"
will be published in the QUARTERLY later if
not published other-
wise.
Professor A. T. Volwiler's paper on "Harrison, Blaine
and American Foreign Policy,
1889-1893" will be published in
the Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society, Vol. 79,
no. 4. Mr. Garrison's paper follows.
A PRESIDENT'S LIBRARY
By CURTIS W. GARRISON
Private libraries, like figures, often
lie. It is hazardous to judge a
man by the contents of his library. Thus
the possession of Herodotus by
Grant, and the possession of Gibbon by
Lincoln arouses contrary feelings.
And yet, we should study the
circumstances which led to the acquisition of
these volumes and the evidences of their
use, before we pass judgment.
To those interested in such matters I
commend a paper read before
the American Antiquarian Society in 1934
by Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach,
in the preparation of which he was
assisted by Dr. Clarence S. "Brigham,
entitled "The Libraries of the
Presidents of the United States" (Wor-
cester, 1935). I felt sad as I read
therein of the dispersal of Presidential
collections. Dr. Rosenbach can see some
good in it, for note his last word:
"It is a pity that the great
institutions of the United States do not contain
more books that at one time belonged to our
Presidents, for it is possible
to obtain volumes from the private
libraries of all of them." Thus,
you
have the opposite point of view of
collector and librarian, and I am not
sure but that Dr. Rosenbach is right.
Three Presidential libraries, of all
those from Washington through
Grant, were handed down intact:
Jefferson's, John Quincy Adams', and
Grant's. Jefferson's, numbering over
7,000 volumes, was two-thirds de-
stroyed in the Capitol fire of 1851;
John Quincy Adams', numbering about
6,500 volumes, is still preserved in the
structure adjoining the Adams House
in Quincy, Massachusetts, together with
some 750 titles in the Boston
Athenaeum; and the small and unimportant
Grant collection is in the Cali-
fornia Building in Balboa Park. We may
deduct from this that the Hayes
Library at Spiegel Grove, Fremont,
together with the John Quincy Adams
Library, stand out as the two most
important collections still intact and
still open to the student public.
Strange to say, all the important collec-
tions after Hayes' time are closed to
the public. Those which would ir