Ohio Valley Hist. Ass'n, Fifth Annual
Meeting. 111
believe, unique in receiving an annual
appropriation ($5,000) from the
city government, to aid in its
educational propaganda.
In truth, there is no reason whatever
why this example should not
generally be followed by large American
cities. Exactly the same argu-
ment used in behalf of the school system
can and should be urged for
the historical society. But such a
society, state or local, can lay slight
claim to official aid if it be not
popular in its organization and methods.
It must perpetually demonstrate its
reason for being, by proving its
usefulness to the public. Its directors
must heartily believe in the enter-
prise, and be willing to spend freely of
their time and effort. Its sal-
aried staff must be headed by some one
holding office for the good to
be done-an historical expert, yet at the
same time possessed of a knowl-
edge of men and a capacity to influence
public opinion in a good cause.
He must be not a mere dry-as-dust
antiquarian, living in the world but
not of it, but be imbued with modern
ideas and familiar with modern
business management-an earnest,
practical man, in whom both scholars
and men of affairs may sefely repose
confidence.
It is gratifying to learn that there is
a project for the establish-
ment here in Pittsburgh of an
institution such as I have described-a
logical fruit of this remarkably
successful centennial celebration. Most
sincerely do I trust that the enterprise
may from the beginning be well
assured of its financial future. To many
of our municipal societies are
weakly and struggling, with means
insufficient for virile public service.
Either well endow your society and its
proposed historical building, or
make it an acknowledged part of your
general educational system, and
place it in keen rivalry with similar
institutions elsewhere.
Given such a society, adequately housed,
properly supported, and
Pittsburgh may in this matter easily
take first rank among the cities
of America. Her rich dowry of local
history will then become the com-
mon possession of her people. Every boy
and girl within her limits
will be proud to have sprung from such
historic soil. Every foreigner
will rejoice to dwell within the gates
of a city whose story, known of
all men, can kindle his affection.
WHAT AN HISTORICAL BUILDING SHOULD DO
FOR PITTS-
BURGH.
BY CLARENCE S. BRIGHAM,
Librarian American Antiquarian
Society.
"Among the singular advantages
which are enjoyed by the people
of the United States none is more
conspicuous than the facility of
tracing the origin and progress of our
several plantations. * * With
112 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
such advantages in our hands, we are
wholly inexcusable if we neglect
to preserve authentic monuments of every
memorable occurrence." Thus
began the "Introductory
Address" of the Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety, organized in 1791 and the eldest
of the great family of historical
associations which are now scattered
throughout almost every portion of
the national domain. Admitting, as these
founders did, the responsi-
bility which they considered placed upon
them, it is to be regretted that
a similar thought had not occurred to a
similar body of men a century
or so previous. Why did it take 184
years after the settlement at James-
town before any society was formed with
the object of preserving the
records of the country?
The founders of these infant colonies
and provinces knew that
they were making history in the Western
World. Often in their writings,
we find them emphasizing the importance
of political happenings, ex-
pressing a curiosity as to the judgment
of posterity on certain actions,
or, Mother Shipton-wise, prophesying
into the distant future. Many of
them, like John Winthrop, kept journals
which were intended for far
more than private view; others, too
numerous to mention, wrote his-
torical accounts and entertaining
narratives; still others, like Thomas
Prince, made collections of valuable
material bearing upon the history of
the country.
And yet, in spite of all these promising
suggestions, nowhere in
the colonies was there established an
institution destined to serve as a
depository of the record of achievement.
It is true that there was no
central government or all-powerful
colony to administer a neutral control
of such a depository. The colonists were
subjects of England, and if
historical records were to be placed
anywhere, they would presumably
be sent across the water. It is true,
moreover, that there were few, if
any, prototypes of such record
depositories in the country from which
the colonists came. The Society of
Antiquaries of London, although
originated in 1572, was suppressed by
James I and was not revived until
1717. The Society of the Antiquaries of
Scotland was not founded until
1780. The Bodleian Library was chiefly
scholastic in character, and the
British Museum was not created until
1753.
We can find sufficient excuse for this
apparent lack of foresight
on the part of our ancestors, but this
does not prevent us from bemoan-
ing the fact that they did not encourage
the preservation of the materials
of history, and that as a result much of
the highest importance has been
irretrievably lost.
Since 1791, this year of beginnings, the
conditions have changed.
The very point noted in the
"Introductory Address" above referred to,
that of the facility enjoyed by the
people of the United States of tracing
the origin and progress of the several
plantations, has aided in the be-
getting of a numerous progeny of
historical societies scattered the country
over. Any sins of omission committed by
the fathers have been more
Ohio Valley Hist. Ass'n, Fifth Annual
Meeting. 113
than atoned for by the activity of their
descendants. Today there are
in the United States nearly 250
historical associations, each collecting
materials for the history of their
respective localities and inspiring an
interest in the study of the past. The
addition of another historical
society to this group-and here I speak
of the Historical Society of
Western Pennsylvania as experiencing a
renaissance rather than a new
creation-needs no apology, especially
when that Society is so well
equipped with what is occasionally
termed "this world's goods" to carry
on its work. I am thoroughly convinced
that the good which a Histor-
ical Society can do is in direct
proportion to the size of its income. An
early historical missionary who was
pleading nearly one hundred years
for the Society which I represent,
remarked, "It may be thought super-
fluous to observe, that a Society of
this kind cannot be supported with-
out some permanent funds. Bodies of this
cast, however well formed
and fashioned their structure, require
some inherent stamina, or self
renovating power, as the spring of
perpetual life and action." The His-
torical Society of Western Pennsylvania
will not enter upon its career
unprepared. Its success is guaranteed
from the start.
What is the peculiar province of a local
Historical Society, as dis-
tinct from the numerous libraries and
museums upon whose territory
it must never seek to encroach? Along what lines should it try to
acquire material and in what fields
should it endeavor to make its
activities felt? There are many things
which it should not do reference
to which would seem needless in an
elementary treatment of the subject,
were it not for the fact that even in
these latter days of specialization
so many libraries are frequent
transgressors. So ambitious a program
as that mapped out by the Massachusetts
Historical Society in 1791 "to
collect, preserve and communicate
materials for a complete history of
the country," might be excusable in
a day when there was no similar
Society elsewhere in America. But today
it would be an unwise, if not
an impossible proposition. And yet I
recently visited a Historical So-
ciety where a change of officers had
nearly brought about the complete
submerging of a remarkable State and
local collection into a general
collection of Americana, where its value
would have been greatly less-
ened and its light quite dimmed. There
are many libraries that I could
mention which, through the whim of
officers in charge, are journeying
into strange and wonderful fields. I
knew the custodian of a theological
collection who was spending no
inconsiderable portion of his library's
income in purchasing books on the drama,
perhaps because he desired
to follow in the steps of the learned
author of the "Ecclesiastical History
of Great Britain" by writing a
modern "Short View of the Profane-
ness of the Stage." Another gentleman, the unsalaried guardian
of a
small local collection, was so
interested in Egyptian antiquities that he
could not refrain from endeavoring to
make his library supreme in this
Vol. XXII- 8.
114 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
particular field. Such cases seem
exaggerated, but it is a fact that
unless a code of restrictions limits the
ambitions of an occasional blun-
derer, or unless the policy of the
institution is a settled one, a library
often finds itself facing the problem of
how to make up for the ground
which has been lost.
What not to do, I suppose, is
merely the correlative of the proposi-
tion of what should be done. The
proper scope of a Historical Society
has been well portrayed by many writers
from Isaiah Thomas to Reuben
G. Thwaites. A brief reference to some
of these lines of activity, with
an occasional excursion into other
fields which the allusion may suggest,
may not be amiss.
The cardinal principle underlying the
collecting of every local his-
torical society should be the
preservation of every book and pamphlet
printed in the territory which the
society represents. The more limited
the territory, the less unsurmountable
is the task. Only in this way can
the full history of a particular
region-the story of its political, social,
economic, educational and scientific
achievement-be traced and written.
In such a comprehensive scheme of collecting,
nothing is worthless.
There has been an outcry from many
quarters in late years against the
excessive accumulation in libraries of
printed literature. It was only
a short while ago that President Eliot
aroused the comment of the
library world by proposing that a fair
share of the books in the Har-
vard University Library should be
relegated to a separate collection or
cemetery of "dead" books,
where the investigator whose researches led
him into fields beyond the ordinary
academic scope, would be forced to
exercise much extra patience and effort
in order to catch a glimpse of
his material. But who would be the
chosen one to consign this "dead"
literature to such a limbo? The
historian would doubtless be willing to
do without a large proportion of
scientific books, the scientist without
the theological books, the theologian
without the "profane" books as
they were once called, and the litterateur
without the historical books.
After having been subjected to such a
discarding process, there would
be scarcely sufficient books remaining
to fill a "five-foot shelf."
Charles Francis Adams in an address
delivered at the laying of the
corner-stone of the new building of the
American Antiquarian Society
in 1909, said that he in a way heartily
endorsed the suggestion once
made by Hawthorne who after wearisomely
plodding through a great
European collection remarked that it
would be a most desirable con-
summation if each generation could cart
its rubbish off with it. "The
world of scholarship," said Mr.
Adams, "would be in no wise appreciably
poorer if one-half, and that the larger
half, of the printed matter now
accumulated in our public libraries
could tomorrow be obliterated-swept
clean out of existence."
Only within the past month, the London
newspaper reports have
contained the startling announcement
that Edmund Gosse, the well known
Ohio Valley Hist. Ass'n, Fifth Annual
Meeting. 115
author and critic, had declared that the
time has come to regulate the
accumulation of books by some public
system of destroying the worth-
less. "Why should not a printed
book," he is reported to have said,
"enjoy its hour, and then
disappear?"
Such statements as these, although
apparently revolutionary in tone,
are justifiable outcries against the
appalling increase in the production
of printed books. They concern, however,
chiefly the general libraries
which have to exercise to the last
degree the policy of selection, or else
be crushed under a pressure that
augments with each succeeding year.
One solution of the problem is to have a
library, state, sectional or local,
collect in toto all the printed
literature of its own territory, thereby
dividing the labor of collecting, and
relieving the general libraries of
their responsibility of preserving
everything for posterity. Here most
assuredly is one of the most important
fields to be covered by the his-
torical society. For many years many of
the larger historical libraries
have been following this plan and have
amassed collections of local
material that could not be equalled by a
combination of all other exist-
ing collections.
Another leading feature of a local
collection is a comprehensive
showing of works written by local
residents. This should comprise, first,
all the publications of persons born in
the territory covered, the native
authors, so to speak; secondly, the
publications written by those who
have resided for a reasonable length of
time in the locality. This later
class is open to considerable latitude.
The rule at the Rhode Island
Historical Society was to preserve
everything written by an author dur-
ing the time of his residence in the
State, but the earlier and later
writings of the transient visitor only
in case his residence was of suffici-
ent length or importance to identify his
name closely with that of his
adopted home. Such a collection is of
prime consequence in the forma-
tion of a state or local bibliography.
In fact nearly every such biblio-
graphy has been based upon the contents
of a large State historical
collection, and no State has yet
produced a good bibliography where
such a collection had not been gathered.
It goes without saying that every
published work dealing with the
territory in which a Historical Society
is interested should be acquired.
All books referring to the region and
its people-the journals of early
travelers, the impressions of visiting
critics, the histories and statistical
accounts which cover a larger area but
refer specifically to the smaller
locality, the biographies of its
residents, and the genealogies of its fam-
ilies-all these would come under this
category. So far as concerns
printed genealogies, their importance
has been often exaggerated in local
historical collections. It is true that
families become so scattered that
a comprehensive family history touches almost
every State in the Union.
Charles B. Tillinghast, the late
librarian of the Massachusetts State
Library, once said to me as he pointed
to one of the largest genealogical
116 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
collections in the country, "There
is the best cyclopedia of Massachusetts
biography existing." Such a
voluminous scheme of collecting might not
be unwise for a large library where the
wealth of books in other classes
of history made genealogy really a
side-issue, but for a local historical
society, it has often proved an
ever-increasing burden. Of course every
genealogical volume which specifically
concerns the locality should be
obtained, but those expensive
publications which primarily treat of the
families of other States can well be
left for Societies which make a
specialty of this class of literature. I
know of a certain local historical
library where over half of the work done
consists of the search for
ancestry in other states, thus losing to
sight the chief object for which
that particular Society was formed.
Genealogical research is not to be
scoffed at, for it brings the student
into contact with much historical
source-material which would otherwise
remain untouched, and often in-
cites the curious climber of a family
tree to look into historical matters
that concern others than those of his
particular blood. The tracing of
ancestry, per se, is of
considerable value, but it should not hold an
exaggerated place in the work of a
Historical Society.
A tedious, yet important, feature in the
amassing of a comprehen-
sive local collection is the effort to
complete sets of the reports of in-
stitutions and societies. Tedious, I say, and yet fascinating, for the
true collector rejoices more to obtain
the final and long-sought for early
report of some struggling Bible Society
than to possess the latest one
thousand page volume, criticism of which
may be filling the reviews.
No library ever made a good collection
of incunabula or school-books,
Indian narratives or temperance reports,
by merely preserving. Collect-
ing, not preserving, gives a library
reputation. As Dr. Jeremy Belknap
wrote Ebenezer Hazard in 1791, in regard
to the Massachusetts His-
torical Society, "We intend to be
an active, not a passive, literary body;
not to lie waiting, like a bed of
oysters, for the tide of communication to
flow in upon us, but to seek and find,
to preserve and communicate,
literary intelligence, especially in the
historical way."
The more librarians have of the zeal and
enthusiasm of private
collectors, the better invariably are
the collections of which they have
charge. Scarcely anywhere can there be
found a more illustrious example
of this type of librarian than in the
person of Christopher Columbus
Baldwin, who more than eighty years ago
was chosen to the official
position which I now hold. His diary,
recently printed, reads as enter-
tainingly as the pages of Stevens' Recollections
of James Lenox. In
one place, he writes, "There is no
book so poor that it may not some-
time be called for, and no book which is
wanted for any purpose, can
be regarded as useless. I have adopted a
broad rule, and am so im-
partial I can give no offence. One day I
am visited by a collector of
ordination sermons: the next, by a
collector of 4th of July orations:
then comes a collector of geography:
another wants religious newspapers:
Ohio Valley Hist. Ass'n, Fifth Annual
Meeting. 117
another wants books printed in New York
before 1700. I accommodate
myself to all; for I want everything,
and collect everything, and I have
more zeal than the whole of them: and in
this way I am kept very busy.
Many things I obtain are of small value,
but the course adopted will be
most useful to the society."
Again he writes, in referring to his
endeavors to acquire files of
early newspapers, "I suffer no
traveler to visit me, without enlisting
him in my cause, and giving him
directions how to find (newspapers)
and how to send them to me. Though I may
fail of getting as many
as I wish, I am sure I shall entitle
myself to the gratitude of future
antiquarians." We can gain a
glimpse of his zeal in this record: "The
happiest moments of my life are those
employed in opening packages
of books presented to the library of the
Antiquarian Society. It gives
me real, unadulterated satisfaction. It
is then, that, like Tam O'Shanter,
I am, 'O'er all the ills of life
victorious.'"
As a last pen-picture of this
indefatigable collector, we find re-
corded in his Diary under date of August
2, 1834, the story of his
visit to Boston to examine the Wallcut
collection of early Americana,
one of the most notable of libraries and
one which today would bring
a fortune. He says, "I called on
Mr. Wallcut this morning, and he
went with me to India Street, where the
pamphlets, etc., of his uncle
were deposited. They were in the fourth
story of an oil store, where
they had been placed about four months
ago. They were put in ancient
trunks, bureaus, and chests, baskets,
tea chests and old drawers, and
presented a very odd appearance. The
extent of them was altogether
beyond my expectations. I went
immediately to work putting them in
order for transporting to
Worcester. Everything was covered with
venerable dust, and as I was under a
slated roof and the thermometer
at ninety-three, I had a pretty hot time
of it. Nothing but a love of
such work could inspire any man to labor
in such a place. The value
of the rarities I found, however, soon
made me forget the heat and I
have never seen such happy moments.
Everything I opened discovered
to my eyes some unexpected treasure.
Great numbers of the produc-
tions of our early authors were turned
up at every turn. I could hardly
persuade myself that it was not all a
dream, and I applied myself with
all industry to packing, lest capricious
fortune should snatch something
from my hands. I worked from eight in
the morning until half past
two in a heat and dust and stench of oil
that would have been intolerable
in any other circumstances. When I came
out to go to dinner I could
but just crawl. Yet at three o'clock, I
returned to it again and labored
until night."
The brilliant labors of this young
librarian were cut short almost
at the beginning of his career of
usefulness. In 1835, in behalf of the
Society, he set out upon a trip to Ohio,
to investigate various historical
and archaeological matters. In traveling
from Wheeling to Zanesville,
118 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the stage in which he was riding was
suddenly overturned and he was
instantly killed. His short, but
studious life, so crowded with energy
and accomplishment, is an inspiration
for all followers of his profession
today.
This picture of an old-time librarian I
have drawn somewhat at
length with the purpose of making a plea
for increased collecting on
the part of every historical
society. To search in every conceivable
hiding-place for material desired, to
pore through countless book-lists
and catalogues, to corner every visitor
to induce him to add to your col-
lections, to attract needed treasures
away from the shelves and museums
of private collectors-these things are
what make a historical society
strong and build it for the future. The
holding of lectures, the issuing
of proceedings, the enlisting of popular
interest all have an important
place, but the basis of continued
prosperity rests upon the upkeep of the
collections.
The many other lines of acquisition
appropriate to the scope of
a historical society, can receive but
passing mention in a paper of this
length. The collecting of early newspapers,
always beset with difficulty,
becomes doubly so as time goes on. The
collectors of a century ago
possessed the opportunities in this
direction, and today many of the best
files of western newspapers are in
eastern libraries. Maps of a specified
region, although often uncommon if
thought of as separate publications,
run into large number if considered as
pages of atlases and compre-
hensive works. Engravings, views and
portraits are an interesting feature
of every local collection. Manuscripts
are among the most important
of desiderata and a discussion of their
acquisition and care could well
form
the material for a separate discourse. The publishing of trans-
actions, reminiscences, historical
documents, biographies and the legion
of subjects which go to make up the
pages of a historical publication,
places upon record valuable facts for
all time. The museum of a society,
especially if arranged to show the
growth and development of aboriginal
and colonial life, and not in the haphazard
method so common to the
old-fashioned exhibition cases, is a
feature greatly prized by visitors.
The holding of lectures, the marking of
historical sites, the arranging
of exhibits, the preparation of material
for the school children all are
part of the historical society's field
of activity, and enlarge the sphere
of its usefulness.
The work of a historical society can be
performed by no other
institution which holds the cause of
history merely as a side-issue. The
founders of the Massachusetts Historical
Society realized this in 1791,
and in the first paragraph of their
constitution, after outlining the pur-
poses of the Society, concluded: "Such a plan can be best executed
by a Society whose sole and special care
shall be confined to the above
objects." The prosperity of a
historical society rests upon two things-
first, a sufficient supply of funds, and
secondly, an interest on the part
Ohio Valley Hist.
Ass'n, Fifth Annual Meeting. 119
of its officers which
is confined to matters purely historical I
con-
gratulate the
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania upon its won-
derful opportunities.
It has a fertile field of operations, hitherto but
little cultivated; it
has enlisted an interest in its reorganization which is
almost national; it is
surely destined to a prosperous and brilliant future.
THE RELATION OF NEW
ENGLAND TO THE OHIO VALLEY.
BY CARL RUSSELL FISH,
PH. D.,
University of
Wisconsin.
A year ago I delivered
an address at Indianapolis on the "Decision
of the Ohio Valley in
1861," in which I spoke of the New England
element as one of the
minor factors which contributed to the result.
No sooner had I
descended from the platform then I was attacked by
three local students
who denied that New England had part or parcel
in the history of the
Valley. When, therefore, I was asked to read a
paper on New England's
influence, at this meeting, which is an embodi-
ment of the feeling of
unity and distinctiveness in the Ohio country, I
realized that my
subject was not a popular one. Moreover, I soon con-
vinced myself that
this was no new sentiment. On examining a list
of six or seven
hundred steamboats plying on the Ohio, between 1829
and 1836, I discovreed
only four names calculated to appeal to New
England pride: Boston,
Bunker Hill, Vermont, and John Hancock.
While every other
president, and most presidents' wives, received recogni-
tion, there was no
Adams; and although nearly all other statesmen
braved their way
through the rapids and the currents, together with Na-
poleon, Josephine,
Science, Jack Downing, and so on, there was no
Webster. A somewhat larger proportion of the owners
and masters
were from the six
states; but it was obvious that the names to conjure
with, the names and
episodes which made history vivid to the mass of
the population, were
drawn from the South and from the old mountain
frontier.
Yet New England
contributed no small share to the peopling of
this fertile region
which began about 1750 to spread its enticements be-
fore the inhabitants
of the older settlements. First came scattered New
England families
dissatisfied with the regulated life of the New England
towns and beckoned
onwards by the greater economic opportunities of
what was then the
West. Such a family was that of the
Lincolns,
moving in successive
generations from England to Massachusetts, then
to New Jersey, on the
Pennsylvania, through West Virginia to Ken-
tucky, and finally
early in the nineteenth century crossing over to the
north bank. Before the
Revolution, John Adams wrote: "The colonies
south of Pennsylvania
have no men to spare, we are told. But we know
better; we know that
all the colonies have a back country, which is