Emilius Oviatt Randall. 93
Mr. Williams, in presenting Gov. James
E. Campbell, said:
Conspicuous as Mr. Randall was in many
different and va-
ried activities, there is one field in
particular, where he stood
pre-eminent, and that was the field of
archaeology. Fine as he
was in literary ability, he there had
his rivals; happy as he was
as an after-dinner speaker and
toastmaster, others there ventured
to challenge his superiority, but in
knowledge of the early history
of Ohio, and of its earliest
inhabitants, he was universally recog-
nized as having no equal. His writings
on the Mound Builders
and their works, concerning Indians and
Indian life and charac-
ter, are and will continue to be
accepted as authority.
Mr. Randall was a trustee for many years
of The Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Society.
For the last twenty-five
years, he has been its Secretary.
During much of Mr. Randall's connection
with the Society,
Governor Campbell has been a conspicuous
and helpful member,
and is now its President. He knows much
of Mr. Randall's con-
tributions to its literature and its
records, and will speak.
RANDALL, ARCHAEOLOGIST AND HISTORIAN.
BY HON. JAMES E. CAMPBELL.
It is especially fitting that these
impressive services in mem-
ory of Emilius Oviatt Randall should be
feelingly participated
in by The Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society; for,
of the many eminent and useful citizens
associated with that
organization in its long career, his
name leads all the rest.
In February, 1893, the society was in an
unsatisfactory con-
dition generally, and three thousand
dollars behind financially.
Governor McKinley, having a full
appreciation of the work for
which the society had been founded,
repeatedly urged Mr. Ran-
dall to accept a trusteeship and,
although a very busy man, he
finally consented. Having assumed the
responsibility, however,
he took hold of his duties with his
customary intelligence and
vigor, and a few months later, became
Secretary of the Society
which position he held continuously
until his death - having been
successively appointed as trustee by
Governors Bushnell, Nash,
Herrick, Harris, Harmon and Cox. In
addition to his work as
94 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
secretary, he has been all of that time
editor of the Society's
many and valuable publications.
One of Mr. Randall's services to The
Ohio Archaeologica
and Historical Society was to assist
largely in procuring an ap-
propriation of ten thousand dollars from
the General Assembly
for the purpose of holding, under the
auspices of the society, the
centennial celebration of Ohio's
admission into the Union. He
was secretary of the commission having
charge of that celebra-
tion, labored unceasingly to make it a
success and was universally
conceded to be its protagonist. Another
service, and an almost
invaluable one, was to procure an
appropriation of one hundred
thousand dollars to erect the artistic
and well adapted building
which now houses the collections of the
society. That beautiful
structure with its priceless treasures,
may well be called a monu-
ment to Emilius Oviatt Randall.
Mr. Randall was known far and wide as
the leading author-
ity upon the Mound Builders who created
a very large proportion
of the archaeological remains of the
country. These remains are
especially numerous and interesting in
the State of Ohio. To
the various locations where relics of
Mound Builders have been
found and which have become the property
of the society, such
as the Serpent Mound and Fort Ancient,
and the historical spots
which are memorials of the Indian
occupation of the State, such
as the Logan Elm, also the property of
the society, Mr. Randall
gave much personal attention. The scientific exploration of
archaeological locations he was content
to leave to such of his
associates as specialized thereon. He
found time, nevertheless,
for frequent speeches and lectures on
the subject, for numerous
articles, and for several pretentious
archaeological papers and
monographs. In his own words, he had,
through contact with
the archaeological specialists and their
explorations, "acquired an
irresistible interest in the subject - a
subject fraught with fas-
cination because of its uniqueness and
mystery." Mr. Randall's
more important writings on archaeology
include The Serpent
Mound, Adams County, Ohio, published in 1905; Masterpieces
of the Mound Builders, published in 1908; and the very interest-
ing resume of Ohio archaeology in the
introductory chapters of
the History of Ohio - The Rise and
Progress of an American
Emilius Oviatt Randall. 95
State. This last named work, in five volumes, is an immensely
valuable contribution to history in
general and is a permanent
testimonial to the accuracy,
impartiality, exhaustive research
and fine descriptive writing on the part
of Mr. Randall and his
co-author, Daniel J. Ryan.
While Mr. Randall's surprising
historical activities and the
executive duties of his office as
Secretary of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society
precluded a greater output
of archaeological literature on his
part, nevertheless he had at-
tained a position before the public
unique in its relations to the
Ohio Mound Builders and prehistoric
Indian tribes. He was the
interpreter of things archaeological as
between the scientific in-
vestigator and the public. His
remarkable gift of oratory, his
happy facility of expressing the most
complicated ideas in terms
intelligible to the average audience,
together with his rare humor
and pleasing personality, assured to his
hearers a treat so unusual
that few could forego subsequent
opportunities to come under
the spell of his oratory.
With respect to the Indian period of
Ohio history--the
direct connecting link between the
semi-historic and the pre-
historic and belonging almost equally to
each - Mr. Randall was
at once the master of fact and
eloquence. His striking descrip-
tions of the stirring events of Indian
warfare in Ohio, of the
Ohio tribes and their great chieftains,
are word pictures so
strongly and beautifully drawn as to
hold the mind of the reader
transfixed. His Life of Tecumseh, "the
finest flower of the
American aboriginal race" (1906)
pays a tribute to the great
Shawnee chief only equalled in its force
and beauty by that of
the classic Parkman and his eulogy of
Pontiac. His Life of
Logan, published in 1911, is a forceful monograph; and his
handling of the Indian in the History
of Ohio is unsurpassed in
literary excellence.
Mr. Randall's activities as a writer
were numerous and va-
ried. As a boy of sixteen he edited and
published for one
year a paper known as the Whip-poor-will.
This paper was
the outcome of a debating society of
which he was the president
at fifteen, and which attracted so much
attention that it was
written up in the newspapers by a young
reporter named George
96 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
Kilbon Nash-later Governor of Ohio. The Whip-poor-will
was so successful that out of the
proceeds of its short existence
young Randall was enabled to pay his
expenses to Europe and
the Holy Land as a companion to his
father, a famous Baptist
minister. Later, while a student at
Cornell University he edited
the Cornell Era. In spite of the
loss of time devoted to editing
this latter publication, he was able to
become the orator at com-
mencement-his subject being The
Spectator and the Tribune;
and, on class day, was historian of the
class of 1874 to which he
belonged.
In addition to the archaeological
publications hereinbefore
mentioned and the History of Ohio, the
following works were
written by him: The Zoar Society, a
sociological study of that
communistic society in Ohio, for which
purpose he spent several
weeks in that community as its guest; Blennerhassett,
a tale of
the Aaron Burr conspiracy, as well as a
biography of Harmon
Blennerhassett with all its romantic
details. He was also author
of Negotiable Acts Bills of Ohio,
Cases in Ohio Agency, and con-
tributor to Cyclopedia of Law and
Procedure, and associate
editor of Bench and Bar of Ohio. His
high standing as a his-
torian is attested by the many
historical societies which elected
him to membership.
Mr. Williams then introduced Mr. John J.
Pugh, as follows:
We are all proud of the splendid
building that stands at the
head of State street, as the home of the
Columbus Public Library.
It bears over its door the name of
Andrew Carnegie. When
the complete story is told of the
securing of that building for
Columbus, it will be seen that in all
fairness there should be
chiseled by the side of the name of the
donor, the name of
Emilius O. Randall. To him more than to
any other man are
we indebted for the Carnegie Library
Building. He was a trus-
tee of the Library for thirty-five
years, serving at the time of his
death. He had its advancement always at
heart. During all the
time that Mr. Randall was a member of
the board, there was one
other who equalled him, not only in
point of length of service,
but also in devoted allegiance to the
library and its interests. Mr.
Pugh, the present City Librarian, spent
with Mr. Randall the
span of a generation in this common and
delightful service.