SHAPING THE SEMINAR IN LOCAL HISTORY1
by HARVEY WISH
Associate Professor of History,
Western Reserve University
History-writing has no prouder tradition
than the pretentious
"seminar" for graduate
students, and yet in far too many cases it
has no rival for stuffiness and
ineptitude. That the seminar has
survived and is in no immediate danger
of extinction is not due to
the guiding principles of Ranke or
Herbert B. Adams, but rather
because it serves as a convenient center
for the dissemination of
bibliographical information, superficial
literary mechanics, and the
proper format for dissertations. Student
reports, in the absence of
really meaningful criteria, tend to be
painfully dull and unen-
lightening. Many professors, gifted with
a flair for "human inter-
est" stories, may avoid complete
boredom, but unfortunately they
are not always equally successful in
escaping sterility. Graduate
professors enjoy the immortality that
comes with the publishing
successes of able students, but it is
not at all clear that these books
stem from the scientific methods learned
in the seminar room. The
writer is too aware of the perplexities
involved in the seminar
method for him to approach this subject
with anything but a humble
spirit.
One important step toward revitalizing
the seminar is to make
the seminar problems real and free from
any suggestion of mere
antiquarianism. The writer recalls one
seminar, which was given
by a well-known professor, which gave
successive generations the
same problems: "Did Patrick Henry
really say 'Give me liberty or
give me death'?" and "Who
burnt Columbia, South Carolina?" A
colleague in European history echoed
this technique in "Who burnt
Magdeburg?" and "Did Napoleon
burn Moscow?" The answer had
become stereotyped, and one could
scarcely hope as a graduate
student to add anything to a fresh
consideration of the subject. The
1 This paper is written largely in
response to a gracious letter from the editor
of the Quarterly; after noting
the various articles accepted from my seminar students at
Western Reserve, he has requested that I discuss my
seminar methods-a suggestion
that my vanity could not withstand.
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
student was left with the impression
that all the worthwhile prob-
lems had been solved and one could not
hope to do more than offer
a minor footnote to history.
If it is true-and I believe it is-that
every generation asks
new questions of history and expects its
guidance, then the ques-
tions are likely to have contemporary
bearings. For example, a
war generation is curious to know the
problems of demobilization
in previous eras, war plant
reconversion, and post-war settlements
and techniques; the details of the
Wilson-Hoover experience in
using food relief as a solution to
Communist penetration; the his-
tory of the "Red Hunt"; and
the role of government in business.
Socially-minded novelists, aside from
their skill or lack of it
have shown discernment in recognizing
the contemporary bear-
ings of race in the Reconstruction era,
or of ideologies in the role
of Tom Paine or Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Jr. Such contemporary
issues of course are but a part of the
possibilities offered. There
are few worthwhile research problems
which lack broad social im-
plications if pursued far enough. Arthur
M. Schlesinger, Jr., has
shown the amazing variety of really
contemporary problems im-
plicit in the age of Jackson. His
father's Colonial Merchants and
the American Revolution raises the most fundamental questions re-
garding the economic motive in history
as did Charles Beard in his
famous Economic Interpretation of the
Constitution. Richard Hof-
stadter's dissertation, Social
Darwinism in America, owes much of
its well-merited reputation to the fact
that its central problem is
basically a contemporary analysis of
economic motivations.
On the local level, where seminar
studies are most effective,
the contemporary approach has many
advantages. Very good re-
sults were obtained by the writer in a
seminar on Progressivism
which centered on Cleveland in the
1890's and early 1900's. One
student, for example, studied the
Cleveland press and other con-
temporary papers for evidence of
attitudes during the depression of
1893. His paper revealed the cultural
lag between laissez-faire
ideals and the new reformist conscience
as reflected in the issues
of relief and unemployment. Rich local
materials were used to
study the municipal government aspects
of the Progressive move-
ment. Above all, fresh topics are
essential. Worn topics are merely
SEMINAR IN LOCAL HISTORY 181
simulated research and lack the
challenge of genuine exploration.
One promising student, Mary Land, whose
paper, "John Brown in
the Western Reserve," appeared in
the January issue of the Quar-
terly, found such a challenge in a study of the motivations of
John
Brown from a reformist point of view.
Her research led her to re-
ject the common thesis that Brown was
mad; by making an inti-
mate study of John Brown's early Ohio
background, particularly
the aggressive abolitionism in Cleveland
and the Reserve area, she
demonstrated that Brown's Harper's Ferry
insurrection was quite
understandable among his militant
neighbors.
Unless a separate graduate course on
methodology is offered,
the seminar offers valuable
opportunities to inculcate an abiding
consciousness of scientific methods. A
concrete discussion of meth-
odological analogies between history and
the other social sciences
and between the social sciences and the
natural sciences is a basic
approach. Numerous essays in this field
are available for seminar
students. What could the collective
might of all historians achieve
for world betterment if the government
had allocated over two
billion dollars to them instead of to
the atomic scientists? Nothing
at all if our aims are merely
antiquarian or literary alone. Pro-
fessor William Ogburn of the University
of Chicago is confident
that the sociologists could show a good
deal for such a sum. Such
a question would offer an interesting
preliminary discussion for a
seminar group in method.
During the early weeks of a seminar when
reports are not yet
due, there are excellent opportunities
for real discussions of the
method of the New History and the
implications of James Harvey
Robinson's famous essay proposing to
make history a science by
allying it with the other relevant
social studies as effective auxil-
iaries. What is usable in the key
concepts of history and the other
social sciences: diffusion and social
evolution, class conflict and
imitation, dialectic materialism in
Marxism, Turnerism, and other
viewpoints? In recent years, the writer
has encouraged seminar
students to study techniques of
urban-history research such as those
done by the University of Chicago
ecological school. What are the
significant questions for the urban
historian? The city can be
studied, for example, as a microcosm of
a larger regional or na-
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
tional setting. In Cleveland we are
studying the impact of the canal,
the new oil refining industry, and the
auto industry in changing
social and economic patterns. This is
the city of the Rockefellers,
the Van Swearingens, the Hannas, as well
as the Tom Johnsons and
the Newton Bakers. Other areas have
their distinctive role in a
wider pattern that could be explored
through seminar papers. The
student should be introduced to the
literature of urbanism, espe-
cially the work of Lewis Mumford or
Professor Schlesinger, Sr., and
his students Bessie L. Pierce, Fred A.
Shannon, Aaron I. Abell,
and others. Among recent seminar papers
published on some phase
of Cleveland's history was Andor
Leffler's "Louis Kossuth Comes to
Cleveland," which is intended as
part of a larger study of Hungar-
ian-American relations.
Inevitably, the problem of adequate
sources for genuine sem-
inar research is best solved by studies
in local history. At Western
Reserve University, the institution's
name itself suggests the rich
tradition of regionalism here. The late
Professor Robert C. Bink-
ley did much in connection with his W.
P. A. newspaper indexes
and sponsorship of regional studies to
stimulate many in this field.
Professor Arthur C. Cole, formerly of
this university, had an inval-
uable instrument for the publication of
the highest type of regional
studies in the Mississippi Valley
Historical Review, which he so
ably edited for years. Today, an
interdepartmental Graduate Com-
mittee in American Culture is very
active in sponsoring worth-
while regional studies as M. A. and Ph.
D. theses.2 Its seminar
studies are, however, done through the
department of history under
the chairmanship of Dr. Donald Grove Barnes.
The role of the library in seminar work
is of course funda-
mental. In this area, the students not
only draw from the ex-
tensive University libraries, but also
from the Cleveland Public
Library and, above all, for American
history in its regional as-
pects, the Western Reserve Historical
Society and its library and
museum. Students are now at work on the
huge Shaker Collection
there, which comprises journals,
letters, newspapers, broadsides,
and other materials. Most recently, the
society acquired the com-
plete microfilmed version of the Robert
Todd Lincoln Papers and
2 An article on "Western Reserve's Graduate Degrees in American
Culture,"
prepared by the writer will appear shortly in the Journal
of Higher Education.
SEMINAR IN LOCAL HISTORY 183
an index to them. Dr. Russell Anderson,
director of the Western
Reserve Historical Society, because of
his own training and writ-
ings in the American field, offers
invaluable assistance to seminar
students. The writer is attempting to
encourage more students to
utilize the possibilities of acquiring
books through interlibrary
loan for seminar papers as well as for
dissertations. Finally, this
area offers many opportunities for
first-hand studies through such
communities as Kirtland (for the Mormons
particularly), North
Union (the former Shaker community of
Cleveland) and historic
spots associated with Moses Cleaveland
and other New England
pioneers.
As for the everyday mechanics of the
university seminar, this
writer begins with the circulation among
his students of a mimeo-
graphed pamphlet on seminar aids, which
lists the chief collections
at the local society, describes the
chief bibliographical aids in
American history, including an analysis
of the Congressional Rec-
ord and its predecessors, the court sources, journals
broadly cover-
ing the American field, the union
catalog, and others. A list of rel-
atively fresh topics for research is
made available for the seminar,
although students are encouraged to
concentrate on any promising
phase of the topic which attracts them.
Numerous private consul-
tations between student and instructor
are held at prearranged
times, often as a substitute for early
class meetings. The reports,
beginning with a brief student progress
statement, afford an excel-
lent opportunity for a discussion of
bibliographical sources as well
as results and tentative conclusions. By
making each seminar an
integrated whole, so that every student
is fairly familiar with the
subject matter dealt with by the others,
the discussion is more
effective. Thus in concentrating on a
unit such as "Ohio Progres-
sivism" or "The Relation
between the Southern 'demagogue' and
the Progressive Movement," all can
contribute to the task of testing
a hypothesis. In the case of the
Southern demagogues, each stu-
dent chose a figure for analysis; for
the Ohio Progressive movement,
each analyzed the underlying assumptions
and principles of one
facet of the Progressive movement. No
examination is given, the
entire burden of proving achievement and
good workmanship rest-
ing on the final written product, the
"Masterpiece" in the me.
dieval sense.
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Any consideration of the seminar in its
use for local history
must meet the question of the proper
role of regional studies. The
writer rejects the notion, often
expressed, that their purpose is
primarily to develop local pride; this
is wholly unscientific and
open to the danger of unhealthy
chauvinism. This phase, if it has
any utility, must be relegated to the
eager amateurs anxious to
satisfy a desire for a hobby. Local
history research must be kept
in a sound framework of scientific
method, a workable philosophy,
and a keen realization of the totality
of which local history is a
part. One cannot tell the whole story
without its constituent sec-
tions; neither should one limit one's
study to a narrow facet of life
without seeing the complete picture or
ideology, which alone gives
it meaning. Otherwise, history must
surrender its aspirations as
a social science.