BOOK REVIEWS
Illinois Census Returns, 180-1818. Edited by Margaret Cross
Norton. Illinois State Historical
Library Collections, XXIV:
Statistical Series, II (Springfield, Illinois, Illinois State
Historical Library, 1935. 329p.); Illinois Census Returns,
1820. Edited by Margaret Cross Norton. Illinois State His-
torical Library Collections, XXVI:
Statistical Series, III
(Springfield, Illinois, Illinois State
Historical Library, I934.
466p.).
The first volume of the Statistical
Series, Illinois Election
Returns, 1818-1848, edited by Professor Theodore Calvin Pease,
was published as volume XVIII of the Collections,
in I923. The
publication of these two volumes affords
additional statistical data
for the student of history. The editor
writes:
Although disappointing in that
biographical and genealogical data
concerning the early settlers are not
given in these census records, they
are valuable not only for the
sentimental reason that they preserve the
names of hundreds of pioneers otherwise
forgotten, but also as providing
the basis for studies in population
movement in the United States.
Miss Norton reprints, in the
introduction to volume II of
this series, the censuses for 1732 and
1752, which were made
under the French regime. Under the
British regime an enumera-
tion was made, in 1767, apparently for
military purposes, but the
first census listing names of the heads
of families was prepared
about 1787 for use in a petition to
Congress for lands. These
censuses were published in volumes II
and V of the Illinois His-
torical Collections. The earliest American censuses were those
taken by the Federal Government in 1800,
while Illinois was still1
a part of Indiana Territory, and in
1810, one year after Illinois
became a separate territory. In addition
to these two enumera-
tions, of which only summaries were
published, the Territorial
Legislature of Indiana provided for two
enumerations. One in
1805 ordered the sheriffs to
take a count of all free male inhabit-
ants at the same time that they took the
list of taxable property,
but they failed in many instances. At
the session in 1806 the
(89)
90 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
sheriffs were warned, by a joint
legislative resolution, to return
such a census by June, 1807.
From 1816 on the population in Illinois
grew rapidly. For
the period 1818-1865, the federal census
records are supplemented
by those taken by the territorial and
state governments. The
first of these was that of 1818, made to
substantiate the claim that
Illinois had sufficient population to be
admitted as a state.
Until the publication of the present
volumes there has been
no compilation of early census schedules
for Illinois. Early tax
lists, poll books, marriage and probate
records in various county
archives will eventually yield much
additional data in Illinois.
This is true of other states as well.
The trend toward surveys of
local archives will afford information
looking toward the better
care and preservation of these valuable
records until such time
as the best may be published and the
remainder safely stored and
made available for use. These volumes
have good indices of
proper names of the early settlers but
no footnotes giving sup-
plementary biographical data concerning
them. Such a presenta-
tion, Miss Norton states, "was
found impracticable for this
volume, partly because of space
limitations but largely because
such data as is at present available is
sketchy and unreliable,
based largely on commercial county
histories and not on research
in state and county records." It is
the intention of the Illinois
Historical Society and Archives Division
to collect such data
which they promise to incorporate in a
later volume.
W. D. O.
The Journal of Jay Cooke, or the
Gibraltar Records, 1865-1905.
By James E. Pollard. (Columbus, Ohio,
The Ohio State
University Press, 1935. 347P.)
This appreciative report of the Ohio
activities of the famous
financier and banker of Philadelphia and
Washington is the
result of much industry on the part of
James E. Pollard, asso-
ciate professor of journalism at the
Ohio State University, ex-
tended through a number of years as he
could find leisure from
his professional duties.
BOOK REVIEWS 91
Jay Cooke's great claim to the gratitude
of the nation was
that he supplied the Government with
millions of money, swiftly
and at critical times, in the financing
of the Civil War.
During that conflict he acquired the
small island of Gib-
raltar in Lake Erie, off Sandusky, near
the scene of Perry's
victory over the British squadron in the
War of 1812. On it he
built a large, handsome mansion. To this
retreat Cooke came
often for relaxation and recreation for
almost forty years. On
his first visit he provided there a
volume in which were to be
entered items which might be of
interest, and as the years went
by this Journal grew to consist of seven
large books. All guests
were welcome to make notes in the
Journal which most of them did.
It is to these manuscript entries that
the author has chiefly
addressed himself, but before doing so
he compiled a rather
comprehensive history of the Erie
Archipelago, of which Gi-
braltar is one of the smallest islands.
He writes of the first dis-
coveries by French explorers from 1640 to 1670; of the
hos-
tilities of the Iroquois Indians; of the
making of the early maps
of "Lac Herie"; of the
transfer of the region by treaty from
France to Great Britain; of the slow
development of the section
for many years and its rapid progress
after the discovery of the
wonderful utility of the soil for the
production of grapes. He
tells in some detail the exciting story
of the enterprise of Con-
federate raiders who operated largely
from the islands in an
attempt to liberate the Confederate
prisoners from Johnson's
Island. And he has much of interest to
tell about the abortive
plans, through many years, to establish
on some one of the islands
(among them Gibraltar itself) a fitting
monument to Perry's
Victory, never realized until 1915, when
the splendid shaft was
raised on Put-in-Bay Island.
Pollard, primarily a newspaper man,
looked very largely
to files of early Ohio
newspapers--principally of Sandusky--and
he found great stores of information in
the Library of the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society, for which he makes
graceful acknowledgment in his
Introduction.
H. G. S.
92
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
A Manual for History Museums. By Arthur C. Parker. New
York State Historical Association
Series, III. (Columbia
University Press, New York, 1935. 204p.
$3.00.)
This manual affords the profession of
museum workers with
another tool. Lawrence Vail Coleman's, Manual
for Small Mu-
seums and this volume are within reach of even the smallest
pri-
vate museum director so that there is no
longer any excuse for
the museum of the "curiosity
shop" type. Parker has solicited
the opinions of the foremost museists in
this country and in Eng-
land and has brought together in one
place the most advanced ideas
and practical suggestions of procedure.
Parker defines the purpose of the
history museum as "an in-
stitution housing exhibits so selected
and correlated that there
is a clear illustration of the culture
history, the social organiza-
tion, the achievements and the ideals of
our region, at the same
time making this knowledge available in
objective form both
within and without our walls." He
points out that there is no
honest virtue in merely preserving
things, and that there is a
danger of making the museum of history
"a memorial to certain
individuals whose promiscuous gifts are
proffered as the basis
of the exhibition. Let us remember that
tombstones should not
be insinuated into museums nor epitaphs
elaborated into institu-
tional policies."
The book is designed as a practical aid
to those who would
establish museums and it is stimulating
to the experienced cur-
ator. Such chapters as: "Organizing
the Museum of History,"
"Housing the Museum,"
"Financial Support," "The Problem of
Specimen Records," "Museum
Publications," as well as the appen-
dices on: "How to Make Membership
Attractive," "How to Ex-
cavate an Indian Site" and
"Notes on Habitat Groups or Dio-
ramas," afford practical
suggestions and a safe guide of procedure.
Parker does not pretend to handle the
subjects exhaustively but
names the specialists upon whom the
museum worker may call
for expert advice. His many references
to the excellent mu-
seums in New York State should stimulate
museum workers in
other states to emulate them. W. D. O.