HISTORICAL NEWS
Historical Societies
AMERICAN JEWISH ARCHIVES, Cincinnati
Jacob Marcus, Director
The growing collections of
congregational minute books, genealogies,
and personal papers of notable Jewish
personalities are being cataloged
and made available for researchers.
Dr. Stern-Taeubler's book The Court
Jew has recently been published.
BRECKSVILLE EARLY SETTLERS HISTORICAL
ASSOCIATION, Brecksville
Ernest Green, President
The association is at present furnishing
a room at the museum as a
memorial to Mrs. Fred Green.
CENTRAL OHIO RAILFANS' ASSOCIATION,
Worthington
Kenneth Agee, President
The association published last fall an
illustrated pamphlet entitled
The Return of the Interurban, written by George Silcott and others. The
text describes the efforts of the group
to recondition an old Columbus,
Delaware, and Marion car as the Ohio
Railroad Museum.
CLINTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Wilmington
Claire K. Hague, Secretary
The society now has a membership of 162.
Election of officers will be
held on January 22, 1951.
CRESTLINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Crestline
Ernest G. Hesser, President
A meeting of the officers and board
members was held on October 3,
1950. Plans for aiding the Crestline
Centennial Committee were discussed.
The centennial will be observed in June
1951.
The society sponsored two performances
of an operetta given by pupils
at the high school on November 1 and 2.
The funds from the sale of
tickets were turned over to the finance
committee of the Crestline Centennial.
A historical society Bulletin will
be issued in January 1951 dedicated
to the observance of the centennial.
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Historical News 91
FEDERATION OF OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETIES
At a meeting at the Ohio State Museum on
October 11, representatives
of thirty-three county and local
historical societies voted to establish a new
organization to emphasize the need for
promotion of local history in every
community and to take an active part in
the Ohio Sesquicentennial in 1953.
A committee of nine was appointed to
study plans for the federation
and to fix a time and place for the next
meeting.
FIRELANDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Norwalk
James E. Dixon, Curator
The museum maintained by the society in
the basement of the library
building is open to the public on Friday
from 1:30 to 4:30 and on Saturday
from 1:30 to 4:30 and 6:30 to 8:30.
FORT RECOVERY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Fort
Recovery
Iris Longley, President
The fourth annual meeting of the society
was held on November 2,
with a large number of members and
guests in attendance. Raymond S.
Baby, curator of archaeology of the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society, presented an illustrated
lecture on the excavation of the Dunlap
Mound in Ross County.
Mrs. Leona McAlexander, Mrs. Mildred R.
Stevenson, and O. B.
Vonder Haar were reelected to the board
of trustees, and Charles Jetter and
George Zehringer were elected as new
members, all for three-year terms.
FRANKLIN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Columbus
Charles A. Jones, President
The second annual meeting of the society
was held on October 27.
Dr. Carl Wittke, dean of the graduate
school of Western Reserve Uni-
versity, spoke on "Political
Refugees of a Century Ago." He discussed the
impact of the German revolution of 1848
on the United States, with special
reference to the German element in
Columbus in the 1850's. A techni-
color film "Lincoln in the White
House" was shown also.
The first anniversary Bulletin was
devoted to the history of thirty early
homes in Franklin County, with an
illustration of each one. The interest
in early homes was indicated by a large
attendance on November 16 at
the homestead seminar at the home of
Miss Anna B. Florence, a house
built by Samuel Davis in 1815. Dr. W. C.
Ronan, chairman of the depart-
ment of architecture and landscape
architecture of Ohio State University,
described the architecture of the house.
Miss Florence and members of the
Davis family recounted some incidents
connected with its history.
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Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
GARFIELD HOME, Mentor
Frederic M. Wood, Executive Secretary
Eight thousand visitors were shown
through the home during the 1950
season, May 1 through October 31. A
sixteen-page booklet by Frederic M.
Wood, The Garfield Home, has been
published recently.
GEAUGA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Burton
B. J. Shanower, President
The women's auxiliary of the society
sponsored the annual autumn
"open house" at the museum on
October 14 and 15. Hundreds visited the
exhibits in the museum and in the barn,
where antique farm implements are
displayed. A century-old hearse, early
fire equipment, and an old cab were
exhibited in the yard, where the women
of the auxiliary also made apple
butter in the pioneer method. The apple
butter and stenciled buckeyes were
sold to increase the funds of the
society.
HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF
OHIO, Cincinnati
Virginius C. Hall, Director-Librarian
The annual meeting of the society was
held in the Laws Memorial
Auditorium of the University of
Cincinnati on December 4. After the
business session Dr. R. Carlyle Buley,
professor of history at Indiana Uni-
versity, spoke on "Pioneer Ills,
Cures, and Doctors." Tea and sociability
followed.
Oliver M. Spencer, hero of the famous
"captivity," is the subject of a
biographical account in the October Bulletin.
The account was prepared
by the director from unpublished
manuscripts, contemporary newspapers,
and personal interviews with descendants
and others.
LORAIN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Elyria
Mrs. James B. Thomas, President
During the summer, members of the
society were guests of members in
Wellington, Huntington, and Lorain. In
each instance local speakers gave
historical accounts of their own
communities. The October meeting at
Lorain, which was addressed by J. B.
Nichols, was attended by over one
hundred persons.
OHIO ACADEMY OF HISTORY, Columbus
William J. McNiff, President
The custom of a fall social meeting of
the academy was revived with a
meeting at Otterbein College on October
27 and 28. The meeting began
with dinner on Friday. Rooms were
provided by the college and meals
served again on Saturday morning and
noon. About fifty members attended
Historical News 93
OHIO FOLKLORE SOCIETY, Granville
Francis Lee Utley, President
The Ohio Folklore Society was organized
on April 21, 1950, at a
meeting in Columbus in connection with
the Ohio College Association.
A fall meeting of the society was held
on November 4 at Denison
University. Those participating in the
afternoon program were Edward T.
Price, University of Cincinnati; William
T. Utter, Denison University;
Samuel P. Bayard, Pennsylvania State
College; Erwin C. Zepp, Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society;
and W. Edson Richmond, Indiana
University. At the dinner meeting
William Hugh Jansen, University of
Kentucky, spoke on "Some
Experiences While Collecting Folklore."
OHIO HISTORY DAY ASSOCIATION, Circleville
Lloyd Jones, President
The thirty-eighth annual celebration of
the association was held on
October 1 at Logan Elm State Park. Chet
Long, radio news commentator
of Columbus, spoke on the topic
"Logan Elm As Radio Would Have Re-
corded It." The program was
arranged by a committee composed of M. E.
Nogle, chairman, Mrs. Anna Chandler, and
Roy Sampson.
SENECA COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM,
Tiffin
A. C. Shuman, Curator
The Kilikilik, the student newspaper of Heidelberg College, recently
carried a two-column article describing
the collection of the museum.
SHAKER HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Shaker Heights
Mrs. Harry D. Piercy, Secretary
The society recently marked an avenue of
trees on Fontenay Road,
Shaker Heights, planted by the Shakers
in 1830. The occasion was followed
by a tea and a talk by Mrs. Piercy on
the East family of North Union.
STARK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Canton
E. T. Heald, Secretary-Treasurer
Volume II of The Stark County Story by
E. T. Heald entitled The
McKinley Era of Stark County,
1875-1901, came off the press November
8.
The book contains over 700 pages, 200
maps and illustrations, a 32-page
index with 4,800 names, references and
footnotes for each chapter, and 10
pages of bibliography. It was printed by
the Stoneman Press of Columbus.
SUMMIT COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Akron
Carl H. Pockrandt, President
The September meeting of the society
took the form of a capsule-
94 Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
burying ceremony. A copper capsule
containing current newspapers and
letters of public officials and
industrial and civic leaders to their successors
in the year 2000, was buried in the
floor of the portico of the Perkins
Mansion.
At the October meeting H. Lloyd Williams
gave a motion picture
travelog, and in November Mrs. W. G.
Kerney exhibited and discussed her
large collection of bells.
The society recently erected a stone
monument on the site of the public
square of Middlebury, the oldest part of
the present city of Akron. It was
dedicated and presented to the city on
November 5. Mr. Pockrandt spoke
on the history of Middlebury and made
the presentation of the monument.
UNION COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Marysville
Mrs. Matthew Kennedy, President
The annual meeting of the society was
held on October 4. Incumbent
officers were retained for another year,
and Mrs. Clair Thompson was
named to fill a vacancy on the board of
trustees. Dr. William T. Utter of
Denison University spoke on "The
Ohio Our Grandparents Knew."
UPPER OHIO VALLEY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY, Wheeling, W. Va.
John A. Moore, Secretary-Treasurer
John S. Campbell, Jr., of Cadiz, Ohio,
was the speaker at the November
meeting of the society. He gave an
informal talk on his collection of diaries
and early letters dealing with the
history of the Wheeling community.
WELLSVILLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Wellsville
Edwin V. Pugh, President
The September issue of Wellsville
Echoes, the mimeographed publica-
tion of the society, contains seven
episodes of the 155th anniversary pageant
"Gateway to the West."
WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
Cleveland
Russell H. Anderson, Director
Recent special exhibits have included
the following: Annual Show
of the Needlecraft Guild of Cleveland;
playing cards and fall fashions;
World Series badges; South Korea, Past
and Present; early school days; and
a Christmas scene. One special exhibit,
continuing to the end of the year,
is The Shakers in Ceramic Sculpturing.
It was prepared by some sixty
adult students in the Shaker Heights
recreational program and consists of
five groups with forty-five figures
about eight inches high, and furniture
to scale showing the Shakers in the
kitchen, the sewing room, the herb
Historical News 95
room, the dance, and the farm yard. The
society staff cooperated in supply-
ing information and advice.
Five new trustees were elected at the
meeting of the board on October
31, 1950. They are Frank E. Taplin,
attorney-at-law; Gilbert W. Humphrey
and James N. Sherwin of the M. A. Hanna
Company; Arnold C. Saunders,
Jr., of the Lorain Coal and Dock
Company; and Edward W. Garfield of
the Sherwin-Williams Company.
President Laurence H. Norton has
presented a bound volume of the
records of the Virginia Military Land
District covering entries from 1787
to 1802. One of the interesting items in
this volume is the record of three
parcels of land surveyed for General
George Washington in 1787-88. This is
an important addition to previous
accessions, which included six volumes and
five packages of surveys, entries, and
so forth.
Recently framed for exhibition is a
certificate of membership of
General Arthur St. Clair in the Society
of the Cincinnati, signed by G.
Washington, October 31, 1785.
The genealogical data in the records of
the Church of Aurora (Con-
gregational, Baptist, Disciples)
1809-1909, have been transcribed onto
cards for public use.
The society has received a nearly
complete file of the Bohemian news-
paper Svet-American from 1911 to
its discontinuance this year.
WYANDOT COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Upper Sandusky
Charles P. Artz, President
The society has recently issued a
four-page leaflet as a guide to points
of historical interest in the county.
About Historians
Louis Filler of Antioch College was on
the program of the Bristol
Branch of the English Historical
Association for December 7. His topic
was "The Study of American
Civilization." Dr. Filler is teaching at the
University of Bristol on a Fulbright
grant.
David Lindsey, assistant professor of
history at Baldwin-Wallace
College, published an article,
"Sunset Cox, the Letter Carriers' Friend,"
in the Postal Record, 1950.
At Bowling Green State University Henry
Grosshans is filling a
temporary vacancy on the history staff
while Michael Ellis is on leave of
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Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
absence at Columbia University, where he
is working toward his doctor's
degree. Mr. Grosshans has just returned
from Oxford University, where he
was a Rhodes scholar.
Erving E. Beauregard has been promoted
to the rank of assistant
professor of history at the University
of Dayton. Mr. Beauregard spent the
summer traveling in Europe.
Edward J. Goodman, formerly at the
United States Naval Academy,
Annapolis, became assistant professor of
European history at Xavier Uni-
versity in September. Mr. Goodman is
completing his research on the
Cortes of Cadiz, 1810-1813.
Fr. Thomas P. Conry is making a study of
Ohio churches in the
abolition movement.
Ohio University conducted last fall its
fourth annual awards compe-
tition in Ohio history, government, and
citizenship for junior and senior
high school students in Ohio. This year
5,141 students, as compared with
2,233 last year, took the preliminary
examinations. The final examination
was given on November 17 and 18, when
the county winners were guests
of the university. Professor Carl
Roberts was chairman of the local com-
mittee for the contest.
Harvey Goldberg and Clifford Morrison
have been appointed instruc-
tors in history at Ohio State
University. Everett Walters, assistant professor
of history, is on leave of absence,
having been recalled to active duty in the
navy.
Recent writings of members of the
history department include a
series of articles on countries of the
Near East for Collier's Encyclopedia
by Sydney N. Fisher, and an article by
Harold M. Helfman, "The Con-
tested Confirmation of Stanley Matthews
to the United States Supreme
Court," published in the July 1950 Bulletin
of the Historical and Philo-
sophical Society of Ohio. Robert H. Bremner's "Turnabout on 'Something
for Nothing,'" which first appeared
in the February 1950 issue of the
Survey, has been reprinted in The Welfare State, published
by the H. W.
Wilson Co.