LAYING CORNER STONE
OF
THE SOCIETY'S
BUILDING.
On the afternoon of September 12, 1912, the Trustees and
officers of the Society laid the Corner
Stone of the building
of the Society, located on the Campus of
the Ohio State Uni-
versity.
The ground was first broken for the
excavation on June 25th.
The weather on the day of the corner
stone laying was ideal
and a goodly audience of the friends of
the Society, including
many professors of the University,
assembled to witness the
ceremonies. There were present, Prof. J.
N. Bradford, the archi-
tect, and Messrs. L. V., W. B., and
George Dawson of the
Dawson Construction Company, the
contractors. The following
Trustees of the Society were in
attendance: Prof. G. Frederick
Wright, Hon. D. J. Ryan, Col. John W.
Harper, Prof.
B. F. Prince, Dr. H. A. Thompson,
Treasurer E. F. Wood,
Curator W. C. Mills and Secretary E. O.
Randall. Mr. Randall
acted as chairman of the occasion, the
exercises of which were
as follows:
INVOCATION.
BY REV. H. A. THOMPSON.
Oh, King of kings and Lord of lords. we
come reverently
into Thy presence this afternoon to
implore Thy blessing upon
us and Thy presence with us in the
exercise of this hour. We
confess our sins before thee, but at the
same time we would re-
member that as a father pitieth his
children so the Lord pitieth
those who fear him. We thank thee for
thy loving kindness
which has followed each one of us all
along the journey of life.
So also we thank thee for the great
nation which thou hast
established on this western hemisphere.
We rejoice in the dis-
covery of this land and especially in
its settlement, many years
(416)
Laying Corner Stone of the Society's
Building. 417
ago, by God-fearing men and women who
left the old world,
to seek a new home where they could have
freedom to worship
God. On reaching this continent, before
they began to build
homes for themselves, they first of all
on bended knees, dedi-
cated this land to God-to civil and
religious liberty. Here they
sought to found a nation that should
become a home for the op-
pressed of all lands; where men should
have opportunity to de-
velop their God given powers under such
benign influences as
should make them efficient servants of
thine. We believe thou art
the builder and preserver of nations;
"The powers that be are
ordained of God." Thou dost build
up and preserve as seemeth
good in thy sight; and thou dost pull
down and when men per-
sist in going contrary to thy teachings
as is shown in the history
of the nations of antiquity which kept
not thy Commandments
and so have been destroyed. They learned
as all nations sooner
or later will learn that
"righteousness exalteth a nation while sin
is a reproach to any people."
We confess with sorrow that we have not
always lived up
to this high ideal of our forefathers,
nor kept thy teachings as
revealed in thy holy word. At times we
have oppressed the
poor; we have not dealt justly with the
hireling; we have broken
thy Sabbath; we have given ourselves to
the getting of unjust
gains, forgetting for the time that for
all these thy God would
bring us unto judgment. Even when thou
didn't chastise us,
thou didn't turn away in anger. In the
dark hours of Revolu-
tion when at times men's hearts were
almost ready to fail them,
thy eye was there upon us in mercy and
we were kept from de-
struction. During the late Civil War
when our very existence at
times seemed to hang in the balance,
thou didn't chastise us in
mercy, and if the life of the Nation was
preserved, in order as we
believe, that thy American people might
become a beacon light to
the struggling nations of the earth;
that here God would save us
a people who would deal justly with
their fellow men.
So also we desire to thank thee for this
goodly common-
wealth of Ohio under whose auspices and
by whose authority we
are assembled here, on the 12th day of
September, 1912; we
bless thee for our public schools and
colleges and all our higher
Vol. XXI -27.
418 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
institutions of learning; for the church
and its living ministry
helping to point men to the highest
spiritual life; for our courts
of justice and all the legal means we
have for encouragement of
virtue and the discouragement of vice;
for the law-making and
law executing powers of the land insofar
as these instruments are
trying to follow the Master's ideals;
for the force which leads
us away from the grosser things of life,
keeps before us the high-
est ideals of manhood and womanhood and
helps us to imitate
them for the great and good men who have
been called from our
midst to serve the nation in various
fields of usefulness, a ma-
jority of whom we believe have done
honor to the Common-
wealth of Ohio.
And now we are about to lay the corner
stone of a build-
ing which is to be the home for years to
come of the Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Society.
We are grateful that
more than a quarter of a century ago
thou didst put it into the
heads and hearts of a number of
patriotic citizens to organize
this Society, whose main purpose was to
promote a better knowl-
edge of the history and resources of the
State of Ohio. In faith
and hope they labored and today they are
beginning to see the
realization of their hopes; we are
grateful for the appropriations
of money on the part of the Governor and
the Legislature of the
State, which provides for the
construction of this building. When
citizens of the State shall come to know
more definitely of the
work they have done, we believe they
will all do them honor.
We ask the blessing of God upon the
workmen who shall be im-
mediately concerned in the construction
of the building, that not
a single life shall be lost in its
erection. May these men have
continually in mind the thought that
they are not simply earning
wages to supply their daily wants, but
are also doing that which
we hope shall honor God and bless the
people of this goodly
commonwealth.
And when this building is completed, as
we hope it may be,
honestly and faithfully and without the
loss of a single life, in
the not distant future, then into its
spacious quarters shall be
gathered a large number of the
archaeological remains of our
own and other states, on which tables of
stone, as did Moses of
old, we shall read the record which God
has thus made of him-
Laying Corner Stone of the Society's
Building. 419
self and ascertain the laws in
accordance with which God con-
structed this physical universe. On its
library shelves shall be
placed we hope thousands of volumes of
books and manuscripts
in which skilled men have written of the
people of our own and
other states, indeed of all nations,
showing in unmistakable
terms how God has led the nations of the
earth, and how men
in the olden times came to Jerusalem to
see God's wonderful
work so in the years to come may not
scholars and students, not
only from our own and other states, but
indeed from the nations
afar off, gather here at this Mecca to
read "God almighty's
thoughts after him." Thus life
shall be made brighter, men
be made better because of this building
and the things it repre-
sents, God be better known and loved by
the children of men.
Bless this Society under whose auspices
we are met; bless
the great Commonwealth of Ohio, whose
people we here repre-
sent today; bless the American Nation
which thus far has had
a wonderful history and which we believe
God will preserve if
we are deserving for greater good in the
world and keep us
ever obedient to thy righteous Law,
until time shall be no more.
Amen.
MR RANDALL: We are assembled here to-day
to observe
an occasion of supreme satisfaction and
great rejoicing to the
members of our Society.
During the year 1875 a State
Archaeological Society was
formed at the home of General Roeliff
Brinkerhoff, Mansfield,
Ohio. The Society, through the efforts
of General Brinker-
hoff, who was made president, received,
from the Legislature, an
appropriation of $2,500, to be expended
in making an Ohio arch-
aeological exhibit at the Centennial
Exposition at Philadelphia.
Prof. John T. Short of the Ohio State
University, was made Sec-
retary of the Society, and it flourished
under his secretaryship
until his death, November 11,
1883, when the Society became
practically inoperative.
Governor Hoadly during his
administration suggested a
revival of the Society, and a meeting
for that purpose was called
to convene at the office of the
Secretary of State, on February
12, 1885. On that date a number of
prominent gentlemen, in-
cluding scholars and professors from
various parts of the State,