Ohio History Journal

REPORT OF THE FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING

OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND

HISTORICAL SOCIETY HELD

APRIL 1-2, 1938.

Business Session, 10:00 A. M., Friday, April 1, Ohio State

Museum

Meeting called to order by Mr. Arthur C. Johnson, Sr., presi-

dent.

MR. JOHNSON: This is the Annual Business Meeting of the

Society and the small attendance this morning might be regarded

as disappointing, excepting for the fact that it indicates to me that

the Society must be pretty well satisfied with the manner in which

the staff and the Executive Board and the Trustees are doing busi-

ness.

Calling attention to the fact that this is the twenty-fifth anniver-

sary of Mr. Shetrone's connection with the Society--he has come

from the position of assistant curator through the various steps to

the position of director--I wish to ask Mr. Shetrone to speak to

us later.

I think you present appreciate what the staff and the Executive

Board have done during the past year, and the fine cooperation

given by the staff to the Board of Trustees. The business of the

Society has been accomplished in a very businesslike manner.

The attendance of the Board of Trustees has been very satisfac-

tory. I think if there is anything of a very critical nature that

the Board has overlooked, that the Board is not aware of it.

I know you all want to attend some of the meetings of the various

additional groups today.

The first item of the program is your action on the Minutes of

the last Annual Meeting. The Minutes were published in the

QUARTERLY, in full, and every member has had opportunity to

read those Minutes. If there is anything anyone wishes to bring

up, I suggest that any discussion may be had and waive the read-

ing of the Minutes themselves, which are very voluminous.

197

198     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Mr. Spetnagle moved that the Minutes be approved; Mr.

Goodwin seconded the motion; the motion carried.

MR. JOHNSON: Mr. Zepp is prepared to present the report

of the treasurer, Mr. O. F. Miller, who found it impossible to be

present at this session. It necessarily must be meticulous in detail

but you should hear this report It is always important.

REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE OHIO STATE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

FOR THE YEAR ENDING, DECEMBER 31, 1937.

Cash  Balance, January  1, 1937...............................  $1,688.77

Society Cash Receipts:

Memberships--Annual ..........                                               $702.87

--Life .............                                               100.00

--Subscriptions ....                                          28.72

Special Subscription for the print-

ing of the "Life of Giles Rich-

ards" ........................                                                              438.00

Photographic Work.............                                                     62.55

Field Engineering ...............                                                  290.00

Founders of Columbus Club .....                      56.38

Sale of Books..................                            393.40

Interest on--Permanent Fund....                                           375.00

--Current Fund.......                                       105.98

-Klippart Memorial

Fund .............        30.00

Rent from Golf Course on Octa-

gon State Memorial..........                                                 750.00

Sale of truck at Octagon ........                                                 25.00

Klippart Memorial Fund........                                               2,000.00

Refund on Cash Advances ....                                              1,049.63

1936 Travel Expense Check Can-

celled .......................      25.00  $6,432.53

State Appropriations:

Amended Senate Bill No. 369... $116.415.00

Amended Senate Bill No. 71....                                           5.500.00

Amended Senate Bill No. 315...                                          500.00

Amended Senate Bill No. 201...                   16,500.00

Additional Allotment from Sec-

tion 11, Am. S. B. No. 369....     427.25

$139,342.25

LESS Balance December 31, 1937     8,157.37

$131,184.88

TOTAL RECEIPTS .............................. $137,617.41

TOTAL    CASH   ................................. $139,306.18

PROCEEDINGS                            199

Disbursements:

Museum and Library........... $62,267.29

Administration of State Memorials                              7,219.06

Big Bottom State Memorial.....                                               468.99

Buffington Island State Memorial                                         211.11

Campbell State Memorial .......                                                84.00

Campus Martius State Memorial                                   4,052.34

Clark State Memorial...........                                                     86.80

Custer State Memorial..........                                                    354.71

Dunbar State Memorial.........                                           4,940.61

Fallen Timbers State Memorial..                                            921.49

Fort Amanda State Memorial...                                               599.76

Fort Ancient State Memorial....                                      4,394.55

Fort Hill State Memorial.......                                          2,170.00

Fort Jefferson State Memorial...                                              110.00

Fort Laurens State Memorial...                                       1,525.64

Fort Recovery State Memorial..                                     1,510.67

Fort St. Clair State Memorial...                                       3,828.20

Gnadenhutten State Memorial...                                            167.68

Grant State Memorial..........                                             1,609.73

Harrison State Memorial.......                                          1,148.58

Hayes Memorial ...............                                                 6,225.48

Inscription Rock State Memorial                                         99.93

Logan Elm State Memorial.....                                                650.00

Miamisburg Mound State Memorial                            1,699.99

Mound Builders State Memorial.                                 3,197.41

Mound City State Memorial....                                      3,633.42

Renick State Memorial..........                                                   25.00

Schoenbrunn State Memorial....                                    17,755.90

Seip Mound State Memorial....                                              399.86

Serpent Mound State Memorial.                                   3,264.83

Williamson Mound State Memorial                                     50.00

Octagon State Memorial........                                                 963.64

$135,636.67

ADD Cash Advanced-Refunded

by State ....................      913.00

TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS.......... $136,549.67

BALANCE, December 31, 1937 ...................      $2,756.51

To Prove:

Klippart Memorial Fund........    $2,030.00

Current Fund Savings..........                                                   60.98

Cash Balance ..................                                                           665.53

Total  As  Above ....................................  $2,756.51

Respectfully submitted,

OSCAR F. MILLER, Treasurer.

Note: For a more complete and detailed report see Report

of the Auditor made December 31, 1937, by Walter D. Wall, Cer-

tified Public Accountant.

200     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you very much. Is there anything

about the finances of the Society concerning which anyone wishes

to make inquiry? Details are rather complicated and voluminous.

We shall be very glad to give any information if anyone cares to

ask questions.

Mr. Carlisle moved that the report of the Treasurer be ac-

cepted and approved; Mr. Adolphus Williams seconded the

motion; the motion carried.

The report of the Secretary was called for by Mr. Johnson.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE

OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1938

To the trustees and members of the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society:

The secretary submits his fifth annual report for the year ending

March 31, 1938, it being the annual report for the fifty-second year of the

Society:

I. Secretarial Duties.

Since the last Annual Meeting the Trustees have held three regular

meetings.

The regular July, 1937, meeting was postponed until August 2, 1937,

in order that the members of the Board might take advantage of the gen-

erous invitation of Mr. H. Preston Wolfe and President Arthur C. Johnson,

Sr., to meet with them at their Wigwam country place. Most of the busi-

ness considered was of a routine nature. The Board authorized the sponsor-

ship, by the Society, of the Ohio State Guide prepared by the Writers'

Project in Ohio. Mr. Johnson, who had recently returned from a trip

to Europe, made some comparisons concerning the work of certain Scandi-

navian archaeological and historical institutions and the work of our own

Society.

Mr. Shetrone gave a report concerning his investigations in France and

England during the early summer in connection with plans for the new

Lithic Laboratory of the Department of Archaeology.

At the October meeting a report was made and approved concerning

a more definite policy for the development of State parks and memorials.

The Board approved a proposal made by a group interested in the

organization of a Medical Section of the Society whose purpose would be

the discovery and preservation of material bearing upon the medical history

of the State.

Dr. Jonathan Forman is chairman of this new section and Harlow

Lindley, secretary. During the year a number of Ohio physicians have

joined the Society as a result of this move.

At this time the resignation of Dr. William D. Overman as curator

of history was reported and the appointment of Mr. John O. Marsh as

acting curator was approved, with the understanding that Dr. Overman

be granted a leave of absence.

At the January meeting the Committee to Consider Possible Changes

in the Constitution gave a report which was approved and the Secretary

PROCEEDINGS                           201

was authorized to proceed according to the plan for amendments as laid

down by the Constitution. As a result both amendments were submitted

to each member of the Society by mail and 163 ballots were returned with

the following vote:

For changing the time of the Annual Meeting from Tuesday of the

last full week in April to "The annual meeting shall be held in Columbus

during the month of April at the option of the President and Secretary

of the Society. Due notice of the meeting shall be mailed by the Secretary

to all members of the Society at least two weeks before such annual meeting

is held."

Affirmative, 159--Negative, 2.

For omitting from the Constitution Article II Section 4, concerning

"An amount not to exceed $7,000 in any one year, and subject to repeal

by the Board of Trustees, shall be available from the Society's permanent

fund for establishing and conducting an intensive campaign for member-

ship and for augmenting said fund."

Approving the amendment, 161--Opposed, 1.

The Board voted to change the time of holding its regularly quarterly

meetings from Tuesday of the last full week in July, October and January

to Friday.

The Board received a delegation of citizens from Ripley, Ohio, in-

terested in the preservation of the John Rankin property, and approved

plans for securing the property for one of the Society's historical memorials

on certain conditions.

The resignation of Mr. Wayne McDermott as assistant reference

librarian was accepted and the librarian was authorized to proceed in se-

curing a successor.

The secretary gave a report concerning the progress being made on

the six-volume History of Ohio sponsored by the Society, and the Board

authorized the publication of a Prospectus for publicity purposes.

The Board approved a recommendation of the Society's Membership

Committee that a committee be appointed to recommend a re-defined purpose

and an integrated program of activities for the Society.

Approval was given to plans for a joint conference with the Ohio

Academy of History, with the hope that this would eventually develop

into a state-wide history conference under the supervision of the Society

which might represent all the various historical interests in the State.

The terms of Dr. George W. Rightmire, Harold T. Clark and Webb

C. Hayes, II, as Trustees elected by the Society's members, expire this year.

During the year the Secretary has been called upon to address a

variety of meetings in the interests of the Society and has participated

in a number of professional meetings.

During the year he managed the preparation of a book on The Ordi-

nance of 1787 and the Old Northwest Territory for the Federal North-

west Territory Celebration Commission to be used in the schools as a

basis for a nation-wide essay contest on some phase of Old Northwest

history. An edition of 250,000 copies was issued by the Federal Com-

mission.

Since the last Annual Meeting there have been added to the member-

ship a net gain of 47 persons.

The total membership of the Society is now 749, distributed as follows:

Patron 1, Life Members 415, Sustaining Members 4, Contributing Members

11, Junior Members 2, and Annual Members 316.

202     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

II. Editorial Duties.

Although the Society was granted the smallest appropriation in years

for publication purposes by the last General Assembly, yet we have been

able to issue regularly each month Museum Echoes and the four regular

QUARTERLY issues. A   general index for Volume 46 was compiled and

printed in connection with the January, 1938, issue. One volume of the

Collections series, Chief Justice Taft, by Allen E. Ragan, is in press, soon

to be released. Besides the usual editing of copy and proofreading, the

General Index for this book was compiled. Another volume of this series

is nearly ready for the printer. It is entitled The Genesis of Western Cul-

ture, by James M. Miller.

The technical details concerned with the Society's various publications

have been handled largely by Mr. Clarence L. Weaver, who, in addition to

his duties as head cataloguer, serves as editorial assistant for publications.

The Society's editor wishes to emphasize the importance of the develop-

ment of a broader publication program. With our facilities for the prepara-

tion of archaeological, historical and scientific material, the Society can ren-

der one of its greatest services to the membership, the state, and the world

through this channel. The only obstacle at present is insufficient appropria-

tions of funds for actual printing and binding.

III. The Library.

During the year, 1739 volumes have been added to the Library, of which

number 891 were gifts, 430 were secured on exchange account, and 415 were

purchased.

The Library has received during the year 306 periodicals, of which 62

were gifts, 41 subscriptions and 203 on exchange account.

At the present time the record of the Library shows a total of 41,145

catalogued volumes.  Several hundred volumes have accumulated during

past years in a variety of ways, which it has been impossible, because of

limited trained help, to get catalogued, but plans have already been made to

get this done at an early date.

Reference Department.

Demands upon the Reference Department are constantly increasing as

the resources of the Library become better known. In addition to directing

school children, university students, persons interested in genealogical re-

search, historians, feature writers and others, the requests for information

received by mail are sufficient to occupy the attention of one staff member

if handled properly.

Cataloging Department.

The Cataloguing Department, consisted during the past year of the

cataloguer and three W. P. A. assistants, with the addition of a fourth

W. P. A. assistant within the past month. One of these assistants does all

filing of cards; the second assists in assembling bibliographical detail, mak-

ing cross references, etc.; the third types the cards and the fourth types

indexes, book-lists, etc., and assists in typing cards. All this work was

supervised by Mr. Clarence L. Weaver, head of this department.

A great deal of the cataloguing was done by Mr. Wayne McDermott,

former assistant reference librarian, and at present much help is rendered

by Mr. Jay Beswick, assistant to the editors of the Ohio History project,

at such times when he is not occupied in his regular capacity.

The major portion of the year was spent in recataloguing the Library.

Progress to date: a complete recataloguing of all books in Classes 000

and 100, and approximately half the books in Class 200; or, about 2600

volumes.

PROCEEDINGS                           203

In addition to the recataloguing, the 1739 new accessions have been

catalogued and prepared for use.

A card index to material in the Ohio Magazine was compiled by an

N. Y. A. student, and the cataloguing staff prepared an index to the

Kiefer Collection of thirteen bound volumes of pamphlets and speeches.

Manuscript Department.

During the past year the work of classifying manuscript material

which had been merely stored in the Society's building, was completed and

it is now possible to keep up with the classification of new accessions as

they arrive. During the next year it is hoped that substantial progress

can be made toward a complete catalogue of the Society's manuscript hold-

ings.

Among the accessions to the Manuscript Department in the past year

were the following items:

Several letters by William  R. Day, John Sherman, and others,

presented by Dean Zimmerman of Cleveland, Ohio.

Ten volumes of mounted letters and four scrap books of Judge J. H.

Anderson, covering the period 1861-1864 during which time Judge Ander-

son was American Minister to Hamburg, Germany, presented by Mrs.

Edward Orton, Jr.

The records of St. Mathews Lutheran Church of Shawnee Township,

Allen County, Ohio, from 1836 to 1936, presented by Mr. F. A. Burkhardt.

Joseph Vance letters covering the period 1802-1816, together with

several plats, deeds and mortgages to Franklin County, Ohio, real estate,

which had been in the possession of the Brown Brothers Abstracting Com-

pany, presented by George L. Converse.

Twenty letters written by a sixteen-year-old Ohio boy in the Northern

Army during the Civil War, 1862-1863.

Several early Antioch College diplomas, notebooks and photographs

presented by Mrs. M. A. Ballard of Richmond, Indiana.

The records of Madison Furnace, consisting of one hundred and nine-

teen ledgers and journals, nine file boxes of correspondence, thirty notebooks,

hundreds of receipts, checks and miscellaneous documents, obtained for the

Society by Mr. J. C. Miller, of Ashland, Kentucky.

The log of a whaling vessel, 1828-1831, presented by the estate of

Mary Anderson Orton of Columbus, Ohio.

Records of the Founders Society of Columbus, 1920-1926, presented

by the surviving members of the organization.

Records of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Chesterville, Morrow

County, Ohio, 1836-1868.

Letters by Joseph Vance (1837), Benjamin F. Wade, Murat Hal-

stead, Thomas Corwin, Benjamin Tappan (1812), Elijah Wadsworth

(1813), George Tod (1813), Allen Trimble (1813), Nicholas Longworth

(1824), Calvin Pease (1823), Samuel Sullivan Cox (1865).

Two Civil War letters from James Ogden to Edward Ogden, Chilli-

cothe, Ohio, 1863.

Letter by "E. Hurney" to Oren Bryant, Alexandria, Ohio, November

22, 1850, concerning slavery and secession, cotton and corn prices.

Account book of Leopold Horst, 1856-1857, presented by Mr. John

R. Horst of Columbus, Ohio.

The William Hall Phipps Papers, consisting of two hundred and fifty-

eight file boxes of letters and forty-two letter-books, loaned by Miss Helen

Phipps.

204     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Newspaper Department.

This year, as in 1937, a great deal of credit should and must be given

to the W.P.A. workers who have aided in completing the collation of the

newspaper collection and preparation and installation of a chronological and

alphabetical card index. Anyone familiar with library work knows that

such a job would be almost impossible without a large staff--a possibility

which is rather remote in our particular case.

The most important project undertaken this past year in the Newspaper

Department was the preparation of a record of the title histories for all

of the Ohio papers. By this we mean giving all the name changes of a

paper, together with all the consolidations and mergers. In addition to

this we are listing all of the editors and publishers, showing the period

that each served, thereby giving a complete history of each Ohio paper that

we have. This will prove of value, not only to those people interested in

the history of a particular paper, but also to the research student who is

interested in following certain political, social and economic trends through

the complete file of a paper, regardless of name changes.

In addition to the above, we have been able to rebind over 1,000

volumes and repair about twice that number--a job which has been done

separate from, and without the aid of our regular bindery.   We hope

within the next year, to add one and possibly two men to the binding divi-

sion, thereby enabling us to repair many more of the badly deteriorated

volumes.

The number of papers received by the Library from   April 1, 1937,

to March 26, 1938, is as follows:

Bound Unbound                    Gifts               Loans Purchases

Current Ohio .............. 92                                                         624                 672                 44                      0

Current Non-Ohio .........     4                                                  227                      0                 231                   0

Non-Current Ohio ......... 77                                                    131                 126                 44                      38

Non-Current Non-Ohio ..... 10                                              13                         11                                         0                                   12

General Miscellaneous ......   0                                               277                 277                      0                   0

183                 1272              1086               319                   50

This table is given in number of volumes. By volume may be meant

any size from one month to two years or more. This list does not include

any volumes which have not yet been placed on our records.

The Library is now receiving regularly 138 Ohio papers and thirteen

non-Ohio papers. The Library possesses 18,503 bound volumes and 15,316

unbound volumes, making a total of 32,819 volumes. It is also interesting

to note that, from April 1, 1937, to March 26, 1938, the Library received

3,625 calls for papers. This number is high, considering the fact that we

limit the use of the Library to research students only. By thus keeping

a careful record of those using the Library, and the purposes for which

it is used, we hope, in the near future, to draw some interesting conclusions

as to the value of the newspaper collection, not only to the student of re-

search, but also to the public in general.

State Archives

As custodian of the State Archives, the curator of history has super-

vised the labelling and arranging of such materials, so that they will be

more accessible to students and to the public. Executive Documents have

been classified, numbered, and filed in modern slip cases.  The curator

has continued the work of compiling a calendar of Executive Documents.

PROCEEDINGS                           205

This calendar will render the Executive Documents more useful for

reference purposes. Furthermore, as State director of the Historical Rec-

ords Survey, the curator is directing the compilation of a guide to State

Archives, which, when completed, will be of the greatest value to Ohio

students and historians.

W. P. A. Contributions to the Work of the Society

W.P.A. projects sponsored directly by the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society, or working in its building in Columbus, have used

approximately 366,000 man hours and $212,665 during the past year. These

figures are exclusive of the several projects sponsored on the park properties

of the Society. Over half of this time and money was spent on projects

on which all of the work was done in the Museum and Library building

in Columbus. Two of the projects employed a large number of field

workers over the State, namely, the Historical Records Survey and the

Federal Archives Survey. These projects have cost the Society only part

of the time of eight of its regular employees, about seven hundred and fifty

dollars for materials, and the natural inconvenience caused by the addition

of about one hundred and twenty-five extra workers in the Museum and

Library Building.

The Historical Records Survey, in branching out to take in two or

three additional projects and a large project for the indexing of Ohio

newspapers, is expected to start operations at an early date. The Society

will see even greater activity in the coming year through its co-operation

with W.P.A. William McKinley, assistant to the secretary-librarian, has

borne a large part of the responsibility of organizing and supervising the

W.P.A. activities.

Conclusion

This survey of the Library's activities of the year shows that under

abnormal circumstances, both as to lack of a trained staff of sufficient

number, and the congestion naturally resulting from a shifting, large W.P.A.

force, a great deal of constructive work has been accomplished, some of

which probably never would have been accomplished under normal condi-

tions.

For the general attitude shown by these workers and for the faith-

ful service rendered by the regular official members of the staff, involving

responsibilities beyond their regular duties, an expression of thanks and a

word of appreciation are due.

Respectfully submitted,

HARLOW LINDLEY, Secretary, Editor and Librarian.

It was moved and carried that the report of the secretary

be accepted and approved.

MR. JOHNSON:      That is one of the most interesting reports

from the secretary of this Society I have ever had the pleasure

of hearing. You will understand now what I meant in expressing

appreciation for the work done by the staff in the past year. It

seems that days are too short and that there are not enough hours

for all the work they are trying to do. They have attempted a

tremendous amount of work for the Society, and for the State. I

am really very proud; personally, I am more than proud. I think

206     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

it is a job well done. It is really only in its beginning. The op-

portunity for service to the State of Ohio has been multiplied

many times beyond that we ever hoped for in years gone by.

As I remarked at the opening of the meeting this is a sort of

birthday for the director. He is today joining the quarter cen-

tury group in service. In lieu of the report of the director I am

going to ask him to say something about the Society and the staff,

feelings he may have about his hopes for the future. Imme-

diately following Dr. Shetrone's address I will ask a committee

to retire for a moment to make nominations for three members of

the Board of Trustees to succeed Dr. Rightmire, Mr. Clark of

Cleveland, and Commander Hayes, whose terms expire this year.

I will appoint Mr. Carlisle, Mrs. Dryer and Curator Thomas.

The director needs no introduction, and for this tough citizen who

grows better with age, we wish another twenty-five years of very

active service in behalf of the Society. If the Nominating Com-

mittee will now slip out, we will ask the director for his report.

THE SOCIETY--A QUARTER CENTURY OF PROGRESS

By H. C. SHETRONE

After the disastrous flood of 1913 had subsided and the debris was

partly cleared away, this speaker found himself lodged on the threshold

of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Museum, as assistant to

the then curator. Which is but a round-about way of saying that just

now he is observing the twenty-fifth anniversary of his connection with

this organization.

Presumably a quarter-century of service entitles the servitor to lay

aside inhibitions and modesty and to make free use of the personal pro-

noun "I". With your permission, then, I shall attempt a brief evaluation

of the twenty-five-year period corresponding to my incumbency, with per-

haps a word of comment as to the future of the Society.

Without doubt, time is an important factor in human activities, since

conditions obtaining in any given time-period definitely influence the careers

both of individuals and organizations. The period under consideration--1913

to 1938--in many respects has been the most remarkable quarter-century

on record. It has witnessed the greatest era of peace and prosperity that

humans have known; the most widespread and destructive war in history;

the most poignant period of depression that society has had to endure; and,

finally a social revolution which finds us now living in a new social, in-

dustrial and economic world.   Had conditions remained favorable the

Society by now might be well on the way toward realizing its ideals. Since

they have not so remained, we may inquire as to just how the changes have

been met.

This twenty-five-year period, in so far as the present discussion is

concerned, separates into two distinct sub-periods; the first fifteen years

were a time of prosperity and the last ten years a time of depression.

PROCEEDINGS                           207

Coincidentally, these correspond precisely to the administrations of Director

Mills and your speaker, respectively.

By way of reminiscence and as a standard for comparison, the status

of the Society in 1913 was somewhat as follows: Dr. George Frederick

Wright, president; Emilius O. Randall, secretary; Edwin F. Wood, treasurer,

and Dr. William C. Mills, curator. Among the trustees were such illustrious

personages as Dr. W. O. Thompson, Gov. James E. Campbell, Hon. Myron

T. Herrick, Col. Webb C. Hayes, Mr. George F. Bareis, and Hon. Daniel

J. Ryan. Incidentally, none of the then seventeen trustees, and only two

of the members present at the 1913 Annual Meeting (Mrs. Howard Jones

and Mr. J. S. Roof) survive today. The Society occupied modest quarters

in Page Hall. Curator Mills, assisted by Starling L. Eaton, our present

efficient superintendent of maintenance, and a part-time stenographer, com-

prised the staff. Twenty-one volumes of the Publications had made their

appearance.  Several seasons of archaeological explorations had yielded

gratifying results. A number of private archaeological collections and a

corresponding amount of historical material had been secured. The begin-

nings of our present great Library were accommodated on shelves at the

rear of the office room. The Society held title to Serpent Mound, Fort

Ancient, and two or three lesser properties.

But these modest possessions and accomplishments were by no means

a true index to the status of the organization. Officers, trustees and mem-

bers, taking advantage of the nascent era of prosperity, were alert and

active.  A  period of expansion was at hand.   Public approval of the

Society's activities was finding expression in State recognition and increased

appropriations. The Museum and Library building even then was in process

of erection, and all concerned looked to the time when the Society would

occupy a home of its own and assume place as the official repository for

Ohio's historical and archaeological treasures.  The pioneering had been

done.

It was at this time and as a part of this broader program that your

speaker came into the picture. These first ten years or more were years

of action, without watching the clock, and oftener than not without vaca-

ions; years of intensive training in archaeological and museum methods,

under an exacting but just disciplinarian, for which I always have felt

grateful and appreciative.

The succeeding fifteen years under the energetic administration of

Dr. Mills were years of progress, placing the institution at their close

in pretty much its present form. There were accomplished the addition of

the North Wing; construction of the South Wing, which Dr. Mills was

not to see completed; acquisition of Campus Martius, Hayes Memorial,

Mound City and Ft. Laurens; exploration of the Tremper Mound, the

Feurt site, the Hopewell Group and the Seip Mound, with publication of

results; accumulation of historical materials; growth of the Library under

Secretary Galbreath; and establishment of a Department of Natural History,

Prof. James S. Hine, curator.

The decade and a half witnessed the passing of a number of the men

who had made this growth possible. Dr. Wright passed to his reward in

1919 and was succeeded as president by Gov. James E. Campbell: in the

following year the secretaryship, left vacant by the death of Mr. Randall,

was assumed by Charles B. Galbreath. Governor Campbell was called to

his fathers in 1925, and was succeeded by Mr. Arthur C. Johnson. Finally,

to close this remarkable era, Director Mills was called to a higher estate

on January 17, 1928, leaving for his successor a standard of conduct and

achievement difficult to attain.

208     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Without further detail, we turn to the recent decade--1928-1938, and

to the incumbency of the present director.   Never had any individual

entered a new field of work under more auspicious circumstances. The

South Wing was nearing completion. Appropriations for the biennium

were adequate, with no inkling that they might not so continue.

As successor to Director Mills, I had no revolutionary program in

mind; rather, a continuation of the program which he had devised, with

such modifications as developments might indicate. Among the more im-

portant items which I had set for myself, were these: A program for

membership, bequests and endowments; a broader service to the remoter

districts of the State; a means for supplying growing demands on the part

of the Columbus Public Schools; closer cooperation with Ohio State Uni-

versity; more effective use and interpretation of archaeological and his-

torical materials within the Museum, and a wider recognition of the Society

and its Museum.

Partly owing to a set of unfortunate circumstances but mainly be-

cause of the depression, which came as a bolt from the blue, efforts in

the interest of membership, grants, bequests and endowments were nothing

short of a failure. I had been conscious for some years of the generosity

of citizens of wealth in aiding educational institutions, and believed it to

be logical and possible for our institution to share in this. But we had

begun too late; that source of financial support disappeared from sight,

temporarily only, let us hope.

Greater success attended our efforts to serve outlying districts of

the State. Despite curtailed appropriations subsequent to 1928, we have

been able to prepare and furnish free of cost to the outlying schools portable

loan collections in archaeology, history and natural history. This modest

service has done much to take the museum to the people, and the demand

for the collections is limited only by our inability to finance additional

sets. This initial effort to serve equally the citizens of the state should

lead eventually to realization of our ultimate aim--branch museums in the

several counties to act as clearing-houses for the parent institution.

For some years past the Columbus Public Schools, because of their

proximity to the Museum and Library, have evinced a desire to make

specific use of the collections and facilities. The temptation to discriminate

in their favor was averted by inviting them to place trained teachers in the

Museum, in order that they might help themselves. This suggestion was

accepted and has been effective for several years, thus affording the local

schools the equivalent of municipal museum service without unduly taxing

our personnel and funds. The suggestion is offered that the Columbus

Public Schools might make even greater use of the Museum and Library

facilities, and that they might conceivably contribute financially to the

supplying of a more detailed service.

A most satisfactory and mutually advantageous working relationship

with Ohio State University has been effected, as evidenced by the fact

that the president of the university is one of our most interested and

active trustees. The addition to the university faculty recently of a highly

competent anthropologist, who regards the Museum's archaeological col-

lections as an invaluable source of study and instructional material, assures

an even greater degree of cooperation, and justifies the prediction that

in the not distant future the two institutions will be recognized as outstand-

ing in the field of anthropology and archaeology.

While the result of years of exploration had disclosed the material

culture of the Ohio aborigines, at least from the technical point of view,

PROCEEDINGS                           209

there remained the need of clarifying these concepts for the average lay

individual. Relics alone, displayed in cases, were not enough. As a be-

ginning, we devised two displays--the "Story of Stone" and the "Story

of Flint," illustrating the sequential use of these basic materials. While

the scientist readily pictured the physical aborigine from his skeletal

remains, the general public continued to wonder as to what manner of

man he may have been. To gratify this interest, and with funds furnished

by our late lamented trustee, Gen. Edward Orton, the figure of a male

Moundbuilder, accurately reproduced through scientific methods and with

an actual mound skeleton as its base, now graces the Museum's Hall of

Ohio Prehistory. A little later, on the assumption that "it is not good

for man to live alone," our ever-generous President Johnson financed

"The Basket Maker," as a mate to the "Prehistoric Sculptor." Historical

material is being treated in a similar manner. Through the able efforts of

Dr. Harlow Lindley, the then curator of history, a Hall of Ohio History

was installed. To illustrate adequately the use of relics of pioneer days,

an actual log cabin was brought into the Museum and completely equipped

with actual furnishings of the period of 1850. This is supplemented by

period rooms from early Ohio homes.

At this point I desire to comment on a phase of the Society's activities

which in later years has assumed undreamed-of proportions. From the

first the preservation of outstanding archaeological and historic sites has

been recognized as a proper function of the Society. Prior to 1932 the

Society assumed sponsorship of such areas as the need for so doing arose,

and in an orderly manner. Since then, however, a combination of circum-

stances has resulted in inordinate growth of the park movement, as a

result of which the Society now holds a total of forty State Parks or,

more properly, State Memorials. Since park procedure is something of

an innovation without adequate precedent for its control, those concerned

therewith virtually have had to proceed along the lines of trial and error.

With the coming of federal relief activities, to which park development

is particularly suited, demand on the part of communities adjacent to exist-

ing parks for relief projects has been frequent and persistent. Further,

the general public has become definitely park-minded, one might say

competitively so--to the point where legislators, yielding to pressure from

their constituencies, have secured appropriations for purchase of areas ill-

suited for park purposes. On the whole, a situation was precipitated wherein

the Society could not exercise full control, and it is doubtful if any or-

ganization could have dealt with the complex without some attendant com-

plications. The situation as regards State Memorials is now fully under

control, and will so remain. There can be no question that the future will

justify the Society's sponsorship of archaeological and historical areas, in

which it is the pioneer in the State, and that the recent untoward features

will be looked upon as inevitable details, insignificant in comparison with

the importance of the development itself.

As to wider recognition of the Society: Through the years of its

existence the organization rightly has concentrated on the state of Ohio;

in other words, we have been intentionally provincial. This attitude, or

policy, latterly has given an impression of aloofness and self-sufficiency in

outside quarters. Feeling that the time had come when the Society might

take its place in the broader museum picture, the director sought ways and

means of effecting this. Publication of The Mound Builders helped; affiil-

iation with the various scientific organizations and associations, in most

of which we have held office, were further aids. Bringing of the American

210     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Anthropological Association to Columbus convinced its members that

Ohio has something worth considering. The finishing touch, however, came

with the establishment, through funds provided by Trustee H. Preston

Wolfe and President Johnson, of the Lithic Laboratory for the Eastern

United States. This innovation, while primarily serving our own institu-

tion, accords a service to other museums in the area. It has been widely

publicized and has met with a surprisingly enthusiastic reception. Highest

recognition of the Museum as a whole came just recently, with the naming

of the director to the Council of the American Association of Museums,

an honor which, of course, is shared by those functions of the institution

directly in charge of Dr. Lindley.

This brief review does not admit of details. There are countless

things which we should like to say, but which we must leave unsaid. We

shall, however, make mention of some of those who have contributed so

largely to the success of the organization.  Among the individuals and

organizations which have supplied funds may be mentioned the Columbus

Dispatch, which came to our rescue substantially when important explora-

tion work otherwise would have had to cease; President Johnson and

Trustee Wolfe, Mr. Frank C. Long, Mr. Charles F. Kettering, Dr. W. K.

Moorehead, and others. Numerous members and friends have presented

specimens and collections, without which the Society would be far less

developed than at present.

Loss by death during this ten-year period, while not great in numbers,

includes several of the Society's most ardent supporters. The list includes

Claude Meeker, Myron T. Herrick, George F. Bareis, Edward Orton,

William  O. Thompson and Webb C. Hayes, trustees; James S. Hine,

curator of natural history; Edwin F. Wood, treasurer; Charles B. Gal-

breath, secretary. Our only consolation in their loss is that their successors

in every instance are men best qualified to continue their work--Edward S.

Thomas, for Prof. Hine; Oscar F. Miller, for Treasurer Wood; and Dr.

Harlow Lindley for Mr. Galbreath.

With the appointment of the present director, Dr. E. F. Greenman was

elected to succeed him as archaeologist; Dr. Greenman resigned in 1936, and

his place was filled by our present curator of archaeology, Dr. Richard G.

Morgan.

The much-needed and long-delayed Department of History was

established in 1929, with Dr. Harlow Lindley as curator: when Dr. Lind-

ley succeeded to the secretaryship, Dr. William D. Overman became

head of the Department of History; Dr. Overman, now on leave of

absence, is being ably represented by Dr. John O. Marsh.

On March 1 of this year, Mr. H. R. McPherson resigned as curator

of State Memorials, and was succeeded by Mr. Erwin C. Zepp, erstwhile

assistant curator in the division.

What of the future? Frankly, in this time of unsettlement and un-

certainty, museumists are somewhat at a loss as to just how museums should

Steer their courses. They are marking time. At the convention of the

American Association of Museums, to be held in Philadelphia in mid-May,

the matter will be discussed. As chairman of the History Section, I have

scheduled a symposium on the subject: "History Museums; Present and

Prospective Programs."

The program of our own institution is based on recognized good

museum practice and is modeled to fit our particular situation. Under it,

we have traveled a goodly distance. I have no doubt that continuance along

the same lines, with such modifications as conditions may require, will

PROCEEDINGS                          211

carry us still further and assure us comparable achievement. We shall

continue, I believe, to avoid overstepping the limitations within which we

are authorized and equipped to act; we shall make no attempt to be all

things to all men. The task which you have set the members of your

Museum and Library staff is, as I interpret it, just this: to discover, secure,

preserve, interpret, publish and make available for study purposes mate-

rials relating to Ohio history and prehistory. In this direction lies success;

to yield to suggestions not infrequently made by some of our well-meaning

friends and attempt more would be to duplicate what already is being done

elsewhere, and to weaken our cause correspondingly.

May I offer this brief paper as an accounting of my twenty-five years'

stewardship? For my failures, I accept the responsibility; for the success

that I have enjoyed, I have to thank the officers and trustees of this

Society for the confidence and support accorded me, and the members of

my staff, who have borne the burden of the battle.

Although not given at the meeting the Directors' Annual Re-

port with a List of Accessions appended is inserted here as a

matter of record.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR FOR THE YEAR ENDING

MARCH 31, 1938

The past year has been a notable one for the director. A trip to

Europe, during June and July of 1938 afforded an opportunity to study

methods of the so-called flint knappers at Brandon, England, and experi-

ments in flint-chipping techniques by several individuals in Paris.  The

trip was made preparatory to establishing the Lithic Laboratory for the

Eastern United States, within the Ohio State Museum, which was effected

on January 1, 1938. The Laboratory, with Mr. H. H. Ellis as Technical

Associate, has made excellent progress in assembling a bibliography on

flint-working methods and in carrying out initial experiments looking to

a solution of the aboriginal flint chipping arts.

The director, with the curators of the several departments, attended

the Convention of the American Association of Museums at New Orleans

in May, 1938, and read a paper on "State Museums." He was elected

chairman of the History Section of the American Association of Museums

and, later, a member of the Association's Council.

The several departments of the Museum cooperated in devising and

installing the display in the Ohio Building during the second year of the

Great Lakes Exposition. This display was one of the more outstanding

at the exposition and attracted a great deal of favorable comment. In

recognition of the service, the display cases, furniture and furnishings of

the Ohio Building were turned over to the Museum at the close of the

exposition.

The director and several members of the staff attended the Michigan-

Indiana-Ohio Museums Conference at Cleveland in November, and as presi-

dent of the organization, the director took an active part in the program.

The Department of Archaeology, Richard G. Morgan, curator, con-

ducted explorations at Fairport Harbor, near Painesville, and secured nu-

merous valuable specimens illustrative of the material culture of the oc-

cupants of the site, which proved to be of Erie origin. The curator of

the Department gave freely of his time in connection with the newly in-

212     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

stalled Lithic Laboratory, and assisted generally in routine duties in the

Museum.

The Department of Natural History completed the rearrangement of

the bird and mammal study collections; conducted work on a series of dis-

tribution maps on orthoptera and Ohio mammals; collected more than

10,000 specimens of Ohio insects; received numerous accessions of birds,

mammals, reptiles, amphibia, and insects from generous donors; and carried

on the usual routine duties of the Department.

On November 1, 1937, Dr. William D. Overman was granted a year's

leave of absence as curator of the Department of History and Mr. John O.

Marsh was appointed to fill the vacancy.  During the year a complete

change in case arrangement, displays and labeling has been effected in the

Department and additional new  material acquired.  A  series of special

exhibits was prepared in connection with the interest occasioned by the

celebration of the founding of the Northwest Territory.

In addition to his duties as curator of history Mr. Marsh has served

as State Director of the Historical Records Survey and of the Federal

Archives Survey, thereby adding much prestige to the Society.

On March 1, 1938, Mr. H. R. McPherson resigned as curator of

State Memorials and was succeeded by Mr. Erwin C. Zepp, erstwhile as-

sistant curator. During the year the Department has carried on the resto-

ration of the Paul Laurence Dunbar home in Dayton, acquired through

legislative appropriation.  Close cooperation in the Northwest Territory

Celebration has demanded much of the curator's time, particularly with

respect to the preparation of several floats, which have joined in the cele-

bration in central Ohio towns and cities.

The routine duties connected with forty-one prehistoric and historic

areas in custody of the Society has been a heavy burden on the Depart-

ment. Curator Zepp has given a good deal of time to a study of these

properties with the idea of determining which of those of lesser impor-

tance may eventually be cared for by local agencies.

The Registrar, in addition to his usual duties, has spent considerable

time in rearrangement of exhibits, the lettering of signs and in the making

of labels. A list of accessions during the year is appended hereto.

H. C. SHETRONE, Director.

List of Accessions

Cotton cloth from Inca burial, Mrs. G. W. Knight, Tucson, Arizona.

Sword and military uniforms, Col. George L. Converse, Columbus.

Cane, William C. Hall, Newark.

Cornsheller and metal square, Charles Binning, Roscoe.

Mill pick, W. G. Davis, Leesburg.

Hatrack and motto, Miss Josephine Parrett, Columbus.

Mill pick, Charles Neptune, Roscoe.

Glassworkers materials, Joseph Slight, Columbus.

Colt revolver, Charles Binning, Roscoe.

Flags and broadside, John S. Campbell, Jr., Cadiz.

Bittikofer Bible, Supt. F. G. Bittikofer, Marysville. Loan.

Picture of Gen. Grant and family, Miss Helen Read, Columbus.

Oil painting, Norris Schneider, Zanesville.

Piano player, Miss Josephine Parrett, Columbus.

Pair of boots, Homer Ellis, Columbus.

Misc. historical material, Miss Mary A. J. Ballard, Richmond, Indiana.

Family portraits, Miss Mary A. J. Ballard, Richmond, Indiana.

PROCEEDINGS                          213

Costumes, Miss Eveline Harrington, Columbus.

Pictures, Curier & Ives prints, Miss Florence Masters, Columbus.

Chair, Charles W. Kite, Columbus.

Archaeological material, Fairport Harbor, Field Work, 1937.

Chalcedony geode, Ames G. Manchester, Hampton Bays, N. Y.

Chinese vase, J. Kent Hopkins, Washington C. H.

Archaeological material collected near Newark.

Stone implement, Norbert Tople, Columbus.

Cooper's adze, Charles F. Reasoner, Columbus.

Fan, Charles R. Owens, Columbus.

Spanish-American War relics, Mrs. Tella Axline Dewitt, Columbus.

Service medals, Col. George L. Converse, Columbus.

Piano, Mrs. Harold Stahl, Columbus. Loan.

Autographs, members of House of Representatives, State of Ohio, 1880-81.

Photos and powder flask, Mrs. George Knight, Columbus.

Flag, Arthur Kellogg, Columbus.

Silver water pitcher, David Wickliff, Buckeye Lake.

Dress, fan, comb, etc., Mrs. Ella Dennis, Columbus .

World War medals and paper money, Miss Margaret A. Knight, Columbus.

Petrified wood from Arizona, large section from State House, Columbus.

Mirror, Mrs. Rachel M. C. Brookbank, Rosedale, Indiana.

Silver cup and medal, Miss Elizabeth Sullivant, Columbus.

Furniture and china, Mrs. J. A. McComas, Upper Arlington.

World War chevrons, C. W. Reeder, O. S. U., Columbus.

Quilt and gold nugget, H. C. Crippen, Columbus.

Chinese and African dolls, Joseph A. Hartley, Columbus.

Coffee pot and creamer, Maj. H. S. Bryan, Newark.

Kitchen utensils, A. G. Williams, Columbus.

U. S. Flag, Demming L. Hannaford, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Portrait of Joseph Thomas, Stanley M. Sells, Columbus.

Quilt and shawl, Dr. Laura Forward, Urbana.

Antique weapons, Mrs. Charles Hamilton, Columbus.

Buckskin pouch, Indian, A. H. Buckmaster, Bexley.

Ox shoes, Calvin Pollock, St. Clairsville.

Archaeological material, exchange with Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.

Straw hat in box, bonnet in box, Mrs. Lafayette Woodruff, Columbus.

Specimen of agate, John Vanartsdalen, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Loan.

Archaeological material, H. M. Trowbridge, Bethel, Kansas.

Civil War material, Miss Phebe H. Fisher estate, Columbus.

Silver tea service, Mrs. J. G. Cramer, Easton, Pennsylvania.

Antique clock and chair, Miss Arta I. Bailey, and Fred W. C. Bailey, Co-

lumbus.

Shoulder patch of 332nd Regiment Infantry, U. S. Army, Theodore T.

O'Connor, Masury.

Egyptian beads, Miss Bessie J. Morgan, Columbus.

Indian head-dress, Dr. John Gillin, Department Sociology, O. S. U., Co-

lumbus.

Adze and wooden measure, Charles Binning, Roscoe.

Doll, Walter Floyd, Columbus.

Mineral specimens, Mrs. Stella Will, Laurelville. Loan.

Material for Lithic Laboratory, Willis Magrath, Alliance.

Cannon ball, H. Jones, Columbus.

Civil War flag, Miss Olive Neil, Columbus.

Letters of 1850 and 1851, Mrs. J. O. Goodwin, Cambridge, Nebraska.

214    OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Spanish-American War badges, Alexander Sapp, Pratt's Forks.

Japanese vase, with stand, estate of Ella Price, Columbus.

Glass salt cellar, Mrs. M. H. Galliger, Wellston.

Calcite crystal and barite rosettes, Philip Kientz, Columbus.

Lot of old wood planes, Charles L. Inscho, Columbus.

Clarinet, and boy doll, Clarence L. Weaver, Columbus.

DR. LINDLEY: Something ought to be said concerning the

double interest involved this year. At 12:30 and 3.30, sessions

will be held at the Deshler-Wallick Hotel, under the auspices of

the Ohio Academy of History. At six o'clock is the annual din-

ner. The evening meeting will begin promptly at 8:15. Tomor-

row at 10 o'clock will occur the last session of the conference.

I wish to call special attention to the exhibits of cacti at the

entrance in the rotunda, also an exhibit of the publication division

of the Museum. In the main hall of the building are special ex-

hibits of the Ordinance of 1787 and the Establishment of Civil

Government in the Northwest Territory.

I might say that this idea of a joint session combining the Ohio

Academy of History with the Annual Meeting of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society really originated with this

Society about eight years ago. On account of the depression and

limited budget the idea was dropped for the time being. When

the Ohio Academy of History, representing the college and uni-

versity history teachers of the State was re-organized some years

ago, those immediately interested in its re-organization suggested

the possibility of a joint annual meeting with this Society. But

conflicts of dates and other difficulties were encountered. The

request for a joint meeting came to us from the Ohio Academy

of History again last year, and it is because of the desirability

for such a method of procedure that steps were taken to amend

the Constitution making more elastic the time for our Annual

Meeting. We shall endeavor to develop this into a State-wide

history conference, enlisting the interest of local and regional

historical societies, genealogical and patriotic organizations and

all those interested in historical endeavors.  Various interests

can be accommodated through sectional meetings. A good illus-

tration of this is the organization of a committee on medical his-

tory among the physicians of the State to develop a Medical His-

PROCEEDINGS                          215

tory section, under the supervision of the State Historical So-

ciety. It is not intended to limit the activities and interests of the

conference to Ohio history alone, but rather to develop an annual

Ohio History Conference devoted to all phases of history in which

the membership might be interested.

The president called for a report of the Nominating Commit-

tee for trustees. The chairman of the committee reported that the

committee recommended the re-appointment of Dr. George W.

Rightmire, president of Ohio State University; Mr. Harold T.

Clark, of Cleveland, and Mr. Webb C. Hayes, II, of Fremont,

as trustees for the regular term of three years from date. This

report was unanimously approved. The Annual Business Ses-

sion of the Society then recessed to April 26, 1938.

ABSTRACT OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAE-

OLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

APRIL 1, 1938

The regular April meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society was held in connection with

a called meeting of the Society on April 1, 1938, at 1:00 P. M. Trustees

present were Messrs. Johnson, Florence, Goldman, Hayes, Miller, Parker,

Rightmire, Spetnagel and Weygandt. Director Shetrone, Secretary Lind-

ley and Mr. McKinley also were present. Mr. Johnson presided.

There being no objections to the minutes of the previous meeting

which had been sent to members of the Board through the mail, these

minutes were approved.

Mr. McKinley reported for the Committee on Membership and policy,

that, although one meeting had been held, there had been no definite action

to report. He stated that the meeting may have had some value as a

precedent for future gatherings of the kind but that a definite report would

have to be delayed until a later time.

The secretary reported that it was necessary to get a definite action

from the Board concerning their wishes regarding the publication of the

Ohio Guide for which the Society is co-operating sponsor. He reviewed

previous transactions. It was the general opinion of the members present

that since the money for writing the Ohio Guide had come from W. P. A.

that the Federal Government procedure should be followed so far as pos-

sible. Mr. Goldman moved that the Board approve letting the contract

for publication of the Ohio Guide according to specifications of the federal

director of the Writers' Project on the basis of bids submitted by various

publishers with the understanding that the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society would under no circumstances underwrite the publica-

tion in any amount and that an Ohio publishing firm would be favored, all

other considerations being equal. After some discussion, the motion was

seconded and approved.

The secretary read a brief report of the current status of the Rankin

State Memorial which had been prepared by the Society's Park Depart-

216     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ment. The report stated that on March 9, 1938, a ninety-day option was

executed on an area of approximately twenty acres. A second option for

five years also was executed for an additional ten acres to provide pro-

tection against any encroachment on the first optioned property. The local

fund of $800.00 for maintenance as provided at the last meeting of the

Board is being collected. Abstract of title and warranty deed to the prop-

erty are in process of preparation.

Mr. McKinley gave a brief report of the work done on W. P. A.

projects in the Society's Building and stated that the sum of $200.00 was

needed for materials to be used on the W. P. A. project which would end

September 1, and the Board approved a guarantee for materials for a new

project to operate for one year following September 1, if and when such

project might be approved by W. P. A. officials.

The Board approved the publication of a Handbook for the Campus

Martius Memorial Museum.

The director recommended the appointment of E. C. Zepp as curator

of Historical Memorials, succeeding H. R. McPherson, who had resigned.

The secretary recommended the appointment, effective September 1,

of Mr. Andrew Ondrak to fill the position of assistant reference librarian.

He also reported that Mr. Jay Beswick had been added to the staff for a

six-months' appointment to be paid from the appropriation for the six-

volume History of Ohio sponsored by the Society. Mr. Miller moved that

the appointments of Mr. Zepp, Mr. Ondrak and Mr. Beswick be approved.

The motion was seconded by Mr. Parker and approved by the Board.

The secretary reported that an invitation had been received by the

Society to be represented at the ceremonies connected with the inaugura-

tion of the new president of Bowling Green College. The Board recom-

mended that the secretary take care of finding a representative of the

Society.

Mr. Miller presented a motion that the officers of the Board of

Trustees who had served for the past year be re-elected and that the

secretary cast the ballot. The motion was seconded by Mr. Hayes and

unanimously approved. Mr. Weygandt moved that the present staff of the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society be re-elected for another

year. The motion was seconded by Mr. Spetnagel and approved.

Miscellaneous Business

The director gave a brief summary of the aid given the Society in the

past by the "Save Out-door Ohio" Council and stated that the council was

now sponsoring a plan to develop a recreational park on the shores of Lake

Erie. He advised that the Society reciprocate the favors of the "Save

Out-door Ohio" Council by the signing of a petition to the responsible

State authorities that such a recreational area be erected. The Board ap-

proved the recommendation in the following form:

"Memorializing the conservation commissioner and the conservation

council to purchase certain lands located along the shore of Lake Erie

for conservation and recreation purposes.

"WHEREAS, There are no state park facilities on the shores of

Lake Erie for conservation and recreation purposes; and

"WHEREAS, The establishment of state parks on the shores of

Lake Erie would provide conservation and recreation facilities for the

people of our state, therefore be it

"Resolved by The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

that Conservation Commissioner L. Wooddell, and the members of the

conservation council of Ohio are hereby memorialized to purchase any

PROCEEDINGS                         217

lands as sites for the establishment of state parks along the shores of

Lake Erie for conservation and recreation purposes.

"Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be transmitted

by the secretary of this organization to Conservation Commissioner L.

Wooddell, and to each member of the conservation council, and to the

chairman of the Senate Conservation and Finance Committees, and to the

Governor of the State of Ohio."

Mr. Miller read a report of receipts from the concessions at the va-

rious State parks.

Mr. Johnson suggested that the Board present felicitations to Mr. H.

Preston Wolfe on the occasion of his wedding and to Mr. H. C. Shetrone

on the occasion of his completing the twenty-fifth year in the service of

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

Mr. Spetnagel moved that the Board express its appreciation to

President Rightmire for his entertainment of the Board members at

luncheon in the Faculty Club. The suggestion was heartily approved.

On motion of Mr. Miller, the meeting was adjourned.

HARLOW LINDLEY, Secretary.

Ohio Academy of History Session, 12:30 P. M., April 1,

Deshler-Wallick Hotel

The first annual joint meeting of the Ohio State Archaeolog-

ical and Historical Society and the Ohio Academy of History

was held at Columbus on April 1 and 2. The arrangements for

the joint meeting were carefully planned and were admirably

carried out.   Although sessions were held at the Ohio State

Museum, at the Deshler-Wallick Hotel, and at the Ohio State

University Chapel there was not the least confusion.

Friday noon, April 1, following the annual business meeting

of the Society, a luncheon was held in the Spanish Room of the

Deshler-Wallick   Hotel.    Following   the  luncheon, Professor

Harold Davis, of Hiram College, president of the Ohio Academy

of History, presided and welcomed approximately fifty members

of the Academy and of the Society. Professor Homer C. Hock-

ett, of the Ohio State University, chairman of the Nominating

Committee proposed Sellaw A. Roberts, of Kent State College,

for president of the Academy, and John O. Marsh, curator of

History, Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, for secretary.

Both were elected.    A  resolution, that the Ohio Academy of

History co-operate with the Ohio State Archaeological and His-

torical Society in a second annual joint meeting, was unanimously

adopted.

Following the brief business meeting several papers were

read. The first speaker was Professor Walter Dorn of the De-

218    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

partment of History of the Ohio State University, who discussed

"Some Problems of Contemporary Historiography." Dr. Dorn's

remarks, which are published in full in this issue of the

QUARTERLY, pp. 219-228, emphasized the crisis in historical

thought. His paper, as well as the round table discussion, was

greatly appreciated by the members of both the Academy and the

Society.

The afternoon session was given over to a consideration of

the War in China. Professor H. M. Vinacke, of the University

of Cincinnati, spoke on "The Internal Changes and Foreign

Policies in Japan." He rapidly traced the events leading up to the

Japanese policy of aggression, or the dynamic policy. The mo-

tives for Japanese expansion, he explained, were occasioned by

Japanese ideology, the fear of Russia, following the annexation

of Korea, and the development of industrialism. Following the

conclusion of the World War, the Japanese justified their policy

of expansion as a safeguard against communism.

Professor W. J. Hail, of Wooster College, discussed "What

China Fights For," calling attention to the political and social

conditions in China in the post-war years. There are, he said,

three principles for which China has waged her incessant con-

flict: first, for economic control against the Japanese; second, for

the preservation of their own ideology; third, for the sanctity of

treaties and international order and good will.

Professor Meribeth E. Cameron, of Western Reserve Univer-

sity, ably discussed "The Russian Angle." The speaker outlined

the social and industrial conditions in Russia following 1923, and

gave an interesting account of the political situation following

1927. She traced the relations of Russia with Japan and China

and mentioned the alarm occasioned in Russia by the rapid in-

dustrial development of Japan. Miss Cameron pointed out that

while Russia is not undisturbed by the political crisis existing in

Europe and Asia, the Socialist Republic is following a policy of

neutrality.  The interests of Russia today, according to Miss

Cameron, revolve around building up communism in her terri-

torial inheritance, the building up of an efficient army, and in carry-

ing to a successful conclusion the principles of the Five Year Plan.

PROCEEDINGS                           219

SOME PROBLEMS OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORIOGRAPHY1

By WALTER L. DORN

Among the multiple tendencies which inspire historians of every

variety in our day, one of the strongest is a synthetic, or comparative study

of history. Although national histories are still being written in all the

countries of western society, there is a keen consciousness everywhere

that national history in its isolation does not constitute an intelligible field

of historical study. Comparative procedure and synthesis provide the only

relatively objective criteria for historical judgments, and periodization is

no longer the bugbear it once was, but has, on the contrary, become a

sharp tool which enables the historian to penetrate to profounder depths

than the dogmatic supporter of the principle of continuity. Every country

has its synthetic historians from the Englishman, Arnold Toynbee, who is

attempting it alone and single-handed, to the numerous French, American

and German co-operative enterprises. So much are we impressed with the

necessity of synthesis, that even our minute specialized investigations are

inspired by an ultimate aim at synthesis. And yet it still remains true,

that all further progress in the study of history as such, lies along the

lines of plowing up fresh ground in the multiple branches of specialized

history; the history of diplomacy and political parties, the history of mili-

tary organization and strategy, constitutional, legal, economic and admin-

istrative history, church history in all its branches, the history of philos-

ophy and the natural and social sciences and the history of art. Today

every sector of culture and civilization has its special branch of history

with its own special set of principles. Taking them all together it would

appear that the controversy of cultural versus political history has ended

in a complete victory of cultural history. It is on this point that I wish

to make a few comments.

There is abroad a curious notion that cultural and political history

are opposites. This I cannot persuade myself to be the case. If a real

and not a factitious synthesis of the various branches of history is possible

at all, I suggest that cultural history is at its best when it becomes an

integral part of political history. The most felicitous economic historians

have been those who, like Leonard Woolf in his Empire and Commerce in

Africa, have recognized the interdependence of politics and economics, and

have tapped economic problems, described economic institutions with a view

to the conditioning factor of politics. While I do think that economists

have written the best economic histories, a pure economic history that

emphasizes exclusively economic points of view is a contradiction in terms.

This is also true of the other branches of cultural history. A historiography

that ignores the factor of politics no longer fulfills its mission. If it is

possible to speak of a triumph of cultural history, it is only because the

political historian has incorporated it as a necessary and integral part of

his field of study. The old controversy of Kulturgeschichte versus political

history is no longer an issue in our day. A real and genuine synthesis is

possible today only when the historian gathers his material around the cen-

tral trunk of the political life of nations and peoples, political life, to be sure,

conceived in the widest possible sense. But if the State in its new and

expanded meaning still remains the center of the historian's interest, he

reaches out in all directions into areas that have either a direct or an

indirect relation to political life. Even those who affect to be cultural

1 Text of an address delivered at the joint session of the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society and the Ohio Academy of History, Deshler-Wallick Hotel,

Friday, April 1, 1938.

220     OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

historians cannot escape regarding the State in its expanded sense as

a principal and central cultural phenomenon. This re-affirmation of po-

litical history as the central trunk of history is not incompatible with

the belief that the other branches of cultural history have an inde-

pendent existence in their own right. When, for example, the art historian,

Woelfflin, contends that the evolution of the plastic arts follows an

imminent law of its own and that national, religious, political and

economic factors are of secondary importance, we see no good reason

to disagree with him, though we are apt to emphasize these factors

more strongly than he does. The upshot of this part of my argument

is that if we are to have a genuine synthesis, we cannot achieve it

as historians of natural science, of law, economics or religion (all these

fields require a special training which no single man possesses), we can

do so only as political historians in the widest sense, and consider these

other factors as they cut into the central stream of the larger political

life of nations and peoples. There may, of course, be differences of em-

phasis due to interest and capacity, but I venture to suggest that there is

a pretty general consensus of opinion among us on this main proposition.

I cannot forego the temptation to make some remarks on the relation

of history to the social sciences. Thanks to the work of such philosophers

as Rothacker and Rickert we draw a sharp contrast between the explana-

tion offered by natural science and our understanding of the historical

process. Although the historian cannot dispense with the concept of causal-

ity, we know that we cannot prove a scientific causal relation between

one event and another.  The very uniqueness of the historical process

makes it impossible to apply the methods of the natural scientist. It is

true that, particularly in recent years, the social sciences have become

more historical, after the failure of the extreme forms of scientific posi-

tivism.

It is particularly the modern sociologist who has occupied himself

with historical materials--and there is a general disposition among his-

torians to learn from  the sociologist everything there is to learn. To

be sure, what passes under the general caption of sociology is still an un-

certain quantity. If, for example, it is the task of political sociology to

pursue the deeper roots of constitutional evolution by examining these

roots in their relation to one another and to the process of constitutional

evolution as a whole, we historians may say in good conscience that this

is precisely what legal and constitutional historians for the past thirty

years have done or have wanted to do. What parades as the new history

is precisely what constitutional and legal historians for the past gener-

ation have done or have wanted to do. Historical jurisprudence has been

particularly careful to avoid deducing legal principles from concepts, but

regards them as the products of the historical process. It is the sociologists

who aim primarily at understanding the social process, whom we historians

welcome with open arms, We historians need never be alarmed that sociology

will swallow history. The best among them, like Max Weber and Sombart,

to mention only two, have become historians. The kind of sociology that

aims at abstract and timeless laws can never absorb history, which turns

its attention to the unique, the creative, to what has a past, a present and

a future. It is perfectly true, that if it were possible, as Pareto and others

believe, that you could study society after the manner of a natural

scientist, history would become useless. Until that happens, if it ever hap-

pens, it appears to me rather fantastic to believe that sociology can ever

supplant history. If sociology is a special science or discipline at all, it

PROCEEDINGS                          221

is the science of a procedure or of a method. Many of the profoundest

sociologists contend that it is pre-eminently the science of a method, a

Wissenschaftslehre. If that is true, then what objection is there to call-

ing a modern refined and improved historical method a sociological method

also? This method apart, sociology has no better claim to an independent

existence than cultural history. The necessary division of labor may make

it advisable to have special departments of sociology, economic and cultural

history at our universities, but how much of the present evil of depart-

mentalized thinking could we not avoid, were all of us to meet some-

where on the same ground?    Sociology divorced from  social history is

relatively useless. A sociology that abandons the testing ground of social

history threatens to become a mere institution for inventing a special eso-

teric jargon.

No one will deny the sociologist the right to describe and analyze an

entire social system from the point of view of his special discipline. Such

attempts have been made and successfully made, but only by those who

are rooted in some special social discipline, such as law, economics, or re-

ligion. There can be no objection if such studies are limited by the special

interests of the investigator. To transcend such limitations is not given to

mortal men.

Some sociologists have made supremely successful efforts at a pro-

founder and sharper conceptual grasp of historical materials. Among

these efforts I should like to include Max Weber's efforts at establishing

a historical typology. There are historians who have objected to the cre-

ation of historical types on the ground that they are incompatible with the

predominance of the individual and the unique in history which always

must claim the historian's first attention. I hold this objection to be a

mistake. If the historian desires to grasp the real significance of the unique

and the individual in history he cannot dispense with what is typical, with

a typology. The practice of creating types goes far back into the early

nineteenth century. All recent efforts among modern sociologists at creat-

ing a typology are no more than a return to this older procedure. G.

Freytag and Lavisse constantly operate with historical types, and every one

is familiar with the prominence of types in Burckhardt's The Civilization

of the Renaissance in Italy. Historical types are certainly nothing new to

the historians of America. The historian, however, never confines himself

to the description of types, but transcends beyond them. The historical

type must always be the means not the ultimate object of historical descrip-

tion. Such an ideal type never possesses a concrete reality, its construction

merely serves the purpose of historical description. Such a type need not

be an average type, but merely the most precise conceptual expression of an

empirical reality, or a cenceptual intensification of historical reality, a

stylized reality. To subsume all history under such types would be a per-

version. They dare never be more than a heuristic principle for the study

of concrete historical reality, or a means toward an end. Lavisse offers

an excellent illustration of the correct use of the type. When he proceeds

from the description of the ideal type of a Dutch mynheer in the seven-

teenth century to an analysis of the personality and statemanship of John

Dewitt. Therefore, typological construction and historical description are

two separate and distinct things. How often have we been told that feudal-

ism was once a universal phenomenon among all the peoples of Europe?

We historians know today that everywhere it took on a different form. The

term renaissance has become such a typological concept, and a loose-think-

ing historian like Lamprecht has blessed modern history with a whole suc-

222     OHIO ARCHAELOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

cession of renaissances. I am  of the opinion that there was but one

Renaissance, and to equate more or less similar phenomena in different

epochs is misleading.

Permit me in the few moments that remain at my disposal, to make a

few further comments on a subject of the most vital importance to every

reflective historian: The relation between the ideology of contemporary

political parties and the historian's effort of rendering a study of the past

intelligible and useful.

Every decisive attitude toward a political or historical problem involves

not merely the affirmation or negation of a certain set of facts; it involves

also a well-rounded philosophy of life, whether it be liberal, conservative

or socialist. Modern political parties seek not merely to enroll their follow-

ers as active members of the party, but attempt to indoctrinate them with

a definite system of political and historical thought. The differentation

or polarization of politics and history into several divergent movements

began in the nineteenth century and proceeds with an ever-increasing inten-

sity in our own day. It is true, the members of all parties, whether liberal,

conservative or communist, seek historical reality in their thought, but this

reality is a different one in each case. They contradict one another, they

conflict with one another and a serious crisis in historical and political

thinking has arisen. It will no longer do simply to insist on the absolute

and exclusive correctness of one's own thought and the partial vision of

others, for in such a world as this it turns out that one's own vision is

partial also.

As a background for my argument, which is the central theme of my

remarks, let me attempt a typological definition of the four principal kinds of

political and historical thought: Conservatism, liberalism, socialism and

Fascism.

1. Conservatism. We find it especially among the nobility and among

those groups of the bourgeois intelligentsia who physically and intellectually

dominate the politics of a nation. Wherever the universities were or-

ganized on a plutocratic basis, as in Germany and Great Britain, we find

this conservative view of politics and history. What characterizes the

conservative is that he singles out the irrational, the non-calculable element

in politics and history as the object of his special attention. In the eyes

of the conservative, politics and history are not governed by reason. The

forces that dominate history are unreasonable and human reason can do

nothing in the face of historical tendencies.  History is dominated by

instinct inherited by tradition, by silently operating spiritual forces, by the

genius of a people which arises out of the subconscious and shapes events

and movements. This was Edmund Burke's view, the sage from whom

conservatives all over the world have drawn their wisdom. This peculiar,

irrational, incalculable element, this doctrine of inherited experience, which

is given only to those who for generations have governed a country, is

simply designed to give legitimacy to a particular class, and it was so used

by the nobles of England and Germany in the nineteenth century.

But I beg you to note that people who believe this and have a social

position to correspond to it can see certain aspects of politics and history

very admirably. The conservative as a rule has a keen eye for those aspects

of politics and history where reason does not decide the issue, where the

solution is the resultant of a free play of social forces. One may say

that the conservative interpretation of politics and history revolves around

this pivot. To the conservative, historical forces are at bottom irrational,

they cannot be artificially produced, they grow. As between a rational

PROCEEDINGS                           223

political planning and haphazard growth, the conservative thinks that the

latter alone is possible. Generally speaking, this irrational conception of

politics and history is a hang-over from the pre-capitalistic epoch of

medieval history. The medieval jurist contended that you could not make

law, all you could do is to find it somewhere in the social customs and

habits of the people.  Even so brilliant a historian as Ranke wrote his

history with such ideas in mind. It is an ideology of traditionally ruling

classes. But the conservative does not believe that a science of politics is

possible.

2. Liberalism. The middle classes came to power in an age of extreme

intellectualism. They employed this intellectualism as a weapon to destroy

the privileges of the nobility and the church. By intellectualism  I mean

a manner of thought that either is not aware of impulsive, emotional or

religious factors in politics or history, or one that at least regards them as

being subject to the control of intellect and reason. This bourgeois in-

tellectualism demands a scientific history. It has the naive faith that there

is such a thing as a science of politics. If in politics the bourgeois liberal

encounters this irrational, impulsive element, he treats it as though it were

subject to intellectualistic control.  He, therefore, cannot help believing

that political action can be scientifically determined, first by setting down

the aims of the State and then by determining the means by which these

aims can be realized. It is one of the ear-marks of modern intellectualism

not to tolerate a type of thinking which is rooted in the emotions, that is

to say, thinking in terms of value alone. If, nonetheless, he encounters this

emotional or irrational element, as he must, for in politics there is always

an element of the irrational, he attempts to isolate and dissolve it. Gen-

erally, the bourgeois liberal really does not face the crucial question whether

the irrational and incalculable factors of politics and history are not at times

so inextricably mingled with factors we call rational, that it is quite im-

possible to isolate and control them. With an unperturbed optimism he

seeks to gain a field that is clear of all irrationality.  Political aims, he

thinks, can be determined and determined correctly by discussion in parlia-

ment. One may say that the liberal conception of parliamentarism   was

that of a discussion society in which the truth was to be sought by rational

discussion. That this was a delusion and a snare and that our contemporary

parliaments are not discussion societies everyone knows. We know today

that behind every political theory there are collective interests that aim at

a practical, not theoretical, compromise of conflicting interest groups rep-

resented in parliament. This becomes clear as soon as we take up the

socialist theory of politics and history.

3. Socialism. For the purpose of my discussion here I shall con-

sider socialism and communism as one and the same thing. Karl Marx

discovered that in politics and history there is no such thing as a pure

intellectualism and that every political theory has behind it certain collec-

tive economic interests. Marx called this phenomenon, that all thought

in politics is conditioned by and bound to certain interests, ideology. Any-

one who is familiar with socialist or communist literature will know that

the Marxian finds this ideology in politics and history only among his

opponents, while he, himself, pretends to be free from such ideological

thinking. But the historian sees no good reason why this discovery of

Marx should not also be applied to Marxism itself to show the ideological

character of Marxian thought. I use the word ideology here, not in the

sense of a conscious political lie, but in the sense of a type of thinking

which necessarily corresponds to a definite social position and that all

political and historical thinking is conditioned by and bound to a definite

224     OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

social situation and social experience. What I mean is that the way in

which you see history, the way in which you construe isolated facts into

a picture of a total situation, in other words, the way in which you see

politics and history in the large, depends on where in the social scale you

stand.

You know that it was Karl Marx's purpose to combat the utopian

form of socialism. To quote him: "Communism is not a condition which

is to be created, not an ideal according to which reality must be shaped;

we call communism a real movement which will dissolve the present order

and the circumstances of this movement arise out of the presuppositions

which now exist."

Now if, today, you ask a well-schooled communist of Leninist

persuasion, how he pictures to himself the society of the future, he will

answer you that your question is not a relevant question and tell you that

the future will shape itself out of present circumstances. He will tell you

that you cannot determine beforehand how anything should or will be.

Only the direction of historical evolution lies in us. The concrete problem

for the communist can always only be the next step. Theory, even com-

munist theory, is a function of reality, of history. You will see from

this brief statement that the socialist wishes to avoid alike the extreme

intellectualism of the bourgeois liberal and the complete irrationality of the

conservative. Lenin often quotes Napoleon's famous dictum, "On s'engage,

puis on voit," and argues that it is first action which clarifies thought.

Thus the communist theory of politics and history is a synthesis of the

intellectualism of the bourgeois liberal, for at every moment the situation

must be rationalized, and the irrationality and intuitionism of the con-

servative, for he declines any attempt to predict the future. At no time can

the communist act without theory, but the new situation, growing out of

the one before it, is quite different. Thus communism attempts a synthesis

of the irrational and intellectualistic elements of politics and history. In so

far as the Marxian does not deny the incalculable element in politics his

thought is closely related to that of the conservative. He does not, like the

bourgeois liberal, treat this element as though it were subject to rational

control. Now how is it possible to explain this peculiar combination of

irrationality and intellectualism which is so characteristic of Marxism?

Looking at it historically it is the theory of a rising class which is not

interested in achieving merely momentary successes, but takes a long view.

On the other hand, this class must keep continuously alert in the face of

the ever-changing incalculable events of every revolutionary situation.

Since merely momentary successes are almost useless, it must take a long

view of things. Communism and socialism, therefore, have a highly con-

strued interpretation of history on the basis of which the communist can

always ask himself: Where do we now stand? At what stage of its evolu-

tion has the movement now arrived?   Thus a rational interpretation of

history is quite as necessary for the communist as a clear program of

action. To put it briefly, Marxism appears as rational thinking concern-

ing irrational action--irrational because the communist knows that he can-

not calculate the result of that action. Thus what is peculiar to the

dialectics of Marxism is that he incorporates both the historical intellec-

tualism of the bourgeois and the irrationality of the conservative view of

history.

4. Fascism. Fascism is closely allied to the irrational philosophies of

modern times, I mean those of Bergson, George Sorel and the Italian

sociologist, Pareto.

PROCEEDINGS                           225

In the center of the Fascist doctrine of politics there is the apotheosis

of action, the romantic faith in the saving act and in the importance of

the initiative of a leading elite. For the Fascist the essence of politics is

to recognize the moment for decisive action. Programs are of no im-

portance, what is essential is organization and absolute subordination to the

leader. Neither the masses nor ideas make history, for all great historical

achievements are the work of an elite. Here we have irrationality in its

extreme form, not the irrationality of the conservative, not Edmund

Burke's mystic faith in the creative power of a long span of time, but

the irrationality of the act which is the negation of history. The Fascist

movement as it appears in Italy and Germany is anti-historical. The

Fascist believes as little in the possibility of a political science as he does

in the possibility of a scientific investigation of history. Here the extreme

scientific skepticism of Pareto was pressed into the service of a young

movement which is imbued with the naive faith in the saving grace of vital

action.

Some things Marxism     and Fascism  have in common.     While the

Fascist operates with the notion of a myth, the Marxian uses the word

ideology in the sense of a tissue of lies, a screening device, a fiction. But

from a Fascist point of view the Marxian conception of history as being

determined by economic forces is only another myth, just as every other

attempt to interpret history is a myth. To the Fascist the notion that

there is such a thing as a "proletariat" is also only a myth. In the last

analysis, the Fascist theory of politics goes back to Machiavelli.  The

Fascist belief in the elan of the leader has its counterpart in Machiavelli's

conception of virtu and of the superman.

Now of the four systems of politics and history which confront us in

our own day, those of conservatism, liberalism and communism, though

they may be opposed to one another, have at least this in common, that

they proceed on the supposition that there are definite historical phenomena

which are related to one another and which can be investigated in a way

that makes it possible to determine, as it were, the location of every event

in the evolution of the race. They further agree in this, that not every-

thing is possible at all times, that certain experiences, actions, a particular

manner of thought are possible only under certain conditions and in certain

epochs. To all three groups the study of history and politics has meaning.

To all three groups history is a necessary instrument of orientation and

a decisive factor in political action. But to Fascism, to quote Mussolini:

"Everything is possible, even the impossible and the most unreasonable."

As different as the interpretation of history is among liberals, conservatives

and communists they all agree that there is a certain connection between

men and events in history which can be studied. They do not see in history

a heterogeneous juxtaposition of phenomena or a meaningless chaos of

isolated events, but a coherent co-operation of significant forces which it is

the business of the historian to reveal. They study history to wrest from

it a criterion for their own action. Much as they may differ, they all agree

that every sort of political action takes place in an historical environment

and that we can clarify our political thinking by placing ourselves into

this process of historical evolution. But as soon as we come to the Fascist

apotheosis of action, history suddenly ceases to have any meaning, as it

does already with George Sorel, the founder of syndicalism.     To the

Fascist every interpretation is pure fiction, for, says the Fascist, the

dynamic personality can always break through obstacles in every age. The

Fascist does not study history with the serious intention of employing it

226     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

as a means of orientation in the world in which he lives. He operates with

a fiction, a myth, a grand romantic myth, which he proposes to transform

into reality. The Fascist puts into practice what George Sorel and Pareto

wrote on their doctrine of the myth.

Now it is my argument here that all these groups seek reality, but

that all of them see only a part of this historico-political reality with which

we are dealing.    The bourgeois intellectualist projected his political

rationalism into history and revealed to us this rational aspect of politics

and history as no one without his mental equipment and social experience

could have done. If his intellectualistic history was inadequate so were

his politics which were based on the principle that the simple appeal to

reason and discussion would solve social problems. Here we can see very

clearly how these partial views of history supplement each other. Socialist

thought on politics and history begins at the point where bourgeois intel-

lectualism discovered its limitations. The socialist politician and historian

saw what the liberal did not see, that political action was conditioned by

social position and class interests, elements that are not amenable to

rational appeal, a point of view which certainly extended our field of

political vision. And finally, if Marxism had emphasized somewhat too

sharply the economic underpinning of politics and history, the Fascist has

a keener eye for the great moment, not freighted with the dead weight

of the past, a keener eye also for critical situations, when class conscious-

ness suddenly becomes important.

This brings me to the crucial question, whether a synthesis of all

these partial views of politics and history is at all possible today. Let

me say at once that an absolute synthesis for all times would be undesir-

able, it would merely be a relapse into the static view of politics sponsored

by intellectualism. Only a relative synthesis is thinkable, and this certainly

not in the sense of adding all these partial points of view in the belief

that a mere addition of these points of view would produce the synthesis

desired. That would be impossible, for a real synthesis is not the quanti-

tative center between these various points of view I have discussed here.

Such a synthesis could not be made once for all time to come, it must

possess no fixity; it must decide from case to case what portion of old

inherited institutions is no longer necessary and what programs for the

present are not yet possible. Such an experimental, dynamic, ever-changing

synthesis cannot be affected by a class, let us say the middle class, but

by a relatively classless group.

Intellectuals have been such a relatively classless group in the course

of modern history.   I do not propose to tap here the difficult socio-

logical problem  of the role of the intellectual in modern society. All

I wish to say on that score is that they cannot be regarded as a distinct

social class or as the mere appendage of another class.    To be sure,

economically their social position depends largely upon industrial capital,

much in the way that this is the case with the professional classes. But

it is none the less true that they do not depend on capital in the same

way as those who are directly engaged in the economic process. A social

revolution would affect one group of intellectuals favorably, another un-

favorably. They are not a class in the sense that their economic interests

can be homogeneously determined. As a matter of fact, we find intel-

lectuals in all classes and in all political parties. In France, Great Britain

and Germany, they have always supplied the theorists for the conservative

parties. It is a notorious fact that they have supplied the "proletariat" of all

countries with theorists and leaders. Again, the intellectuals were so closely

PROCEEDINGS                           227

allied with the rising liberal bourgeoisie that reference to this is scarcely

necessary. Thus in the midst of our modern society which is being split up

into classes with a cumulative intensity, there appears this group of intellec-

tuals, who, besides belonging to these classes, have characteristics peculiar to

themselves. They form an actual center, but still no distinct class. They do

not fluctuate unattached above the classes, for they are recruited from all

classes and all social groups alike, but what unites them is their education

and their disciplined and trained intelligence. While the industrialist who is

directly engaged in the process of production is bound to a definite class

and the manner of life peculiar to it and finds that his thought and action

is determined by his social position, the intellectual, besides being deter-

mined by his affinity for a special class, is influenced also by something

quite independent of his class, his disciplined and trained intelligence. The

capitalist's or the laborer's attitude toward political and social problems

is more or less pre-determined by his social position from which he cannot

escape, while this is not true in the same degree of the intellectual. One

may, of course, argue that in an age like our own when every class in

society tends to become class-conscious, the intellectuals must inevitably

become, if not class conscious, at least conscious of their position in this

society.  In the course of the nineteenth century there are precedents

enough for this,  I do not wish to investigate here the possibility of

creating a party of intellectuals with a distinct theory of political action.

In a democratic age where mass organization and mass action is required

this strikes me as utterly impossible. But this does not prevent the

intelligentsia from accomplishing things which are of incalculable im-

portance for the entire political and historical process. Precisely here lies

the supreme mission of the intellectual in modern society, to find the point

from where a comprehensive orientation of the entire political and historical

process is possible, and not exclusively from a conservative, liberal or a

communist point of view. He is, as it were, the watchman in a night

which would otherwise be too dark. It is precisely because the intellectual

arrives at his political attitudes in a different way from the other classes,

whose political decisions are largely predetermined by their position in the

economic structure of society, that he has a larger freedom of choice and,

therefore, feels a need for a comprehensive orientation and of thinking

things together.   This urge   toward  a  comprehensive orientation  is

potentially active even when he has become the member of a party. It is

first the existence of this relatively free group of intellectuals who come

from all social classes and political parties that makes possible the creation

of a forum in which the prevailing tendencies of thought can mutually

influence and penetrate each other and approach the difficult problem of

effecting a synthesis over and over again of their partial points of view.

Let me attempt to summarize my argument by setting up a hypothetical

university which is keenly alive to its important mission in our modern

society. In this university political science and history are studied in the

closest possible relationship to one another. This university is in no sense

a party school in that it cultivates a liberal political science and history,

or one that is conservative, or socialist. This hypothetical university does

not see its mission in serving as a nursery for any political party or in

indoctrinating its students with any specific political or historical philosophy.

The very function of this university is based on the realization that each

one of the political parties I have discussed here represent only one seg-

ment, a partial point of view of the entire political and historical reality.

It is just in our day when party schools are arising everywhere at least

228     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

in Europe, and we are becoming politically alive in every direction, that

there exists as never before the possibility of cultivating such a higher

form of political science and history. This new political science will not

aim primarily at dictating political decisions but prepare the ground for

such decisions; it will reveal and illuminate combinations in the realm of

politics and history which hitherto have been scarcely noticed. It will

undertake for example investigations of the following sort:  If anyone

wants this or that, then he will think thus and so at a particular point in

the historical situation, then he will see the entire political process in this

or in that way. But the fact that he wants this or that, depends on these

or those traditions, and these and those traditions are dependent on such

and such positions in the structure of society. Only he who approaches

political and historical problems in this spirit will ever arrive at a relatively

comprehensive grasp of totality. Such a political science and such a history

will acquire a new vitality, a new meaning, and a new usefulness.

Dinner and Evening Sessions

A subscription dinner for members of both organizations

representing the conference and their friends occurred at the

Faculty Club of Ohio State University at 6 P. M. About fifty

were present.    Mr. Robert Price, of the Department of English

of Ohio State University, addressed the group on "Johnny Ap-

pleseed--the Myth and the Man." This address was very much

appreciated by all present.

THE RECORD OF THE AMERICAN PRESS

An address delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Ohio State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio, April 1, 1938,

8:15 P. M., University Hall

By DOUGLAS C. MCMURTRIE

We are all of us, I take it, interested in history from one viewpoint or

another; otherwise we should not be gathered here this evening. Relying

on that interest, I propose to ask your attention to some matters con-

cerned with basic sources of historical material.

If I read aright the trends of historical study, I should say that the

most important thing to the historian of today is access to original, con-

temporaneous sources of information. At an earlier time, the writers of

history used to depend upon so-called "authorities"--upon men who had

written books which had come to be regarded as standard works on one

subject or another--and each writer thereafter would quote such an author-

ity with a sense of finality. But the modern historian is disposed to dis-

count almost all histories written after the fact and to insist upon relating

all statements back to contemporaneous evidence--evidence which has not

passed through all the changes through which so many statements go when

they are filtered through memory and through rewriting and restatement.

And contemporaneous evidence is not only more accurate and hence more

important to the historian; it is also more vivid.

I am not primarily a historian. My interest in history began in be-

coming interested in the history of my own profession, which is printing.

From that as a starting point, I have become interested in history in gen-

PROCEEDINGS                          22₉

eral, as I found that many a historical event became alive and real to me

when I read some original printed record of it. The  record may have

interested me at first only as evidence of the workmanship of a printer

who was a pioneer in his locality. But the printed document took on new

meaning when I realized the part it may have played in the lives and for-

tunes of men of a bygone day.

Let me illustrate what I mean. It is one thing to read at second hand

of the struggles of the American colonists for independence in the days of

the Revolutionary War. But it is something quite different to pick up and

read the actual printed broadside proclamation in which the royal governor

of one of the colonies called upon the citizens to desist from certain activi-

ties which he called disloyal, and then to read another printed broadside,

issued the same afternoon, in which the patriots declined to be coerced by

the governor and reasserted what they believed to be their rights. From

those original documents you get a feeling of immediacy and reality that

you cannot get, I believe, in any other way.

And so it seems to me, as it must seem, I think, to everybody con-

cerned with any field of historical study, exceedingly important to discover

and put to use every possible source of original, contemporaneous infor-

mation, as of the day or the day after the events themselves.

Broadly speaking, we have two classes of such sources. One consists of

documents written by hand and known to us all as manuscript material.

Manuscript material, of course, is being used more and more as historians

become familiar with the places where it can be found. As yet, however,

I think there is a very insufficient record of where manuscript materials of

various kinds can be found. And one of the tasks yet ahead of organized

historical research is to find and record in some systematic way the manu-

script sources of history. But that is a problem which does not come

within the range of my immediate interest.

The other class of historical source material is printed documents.

And printed material, it seems to me, has an important quality all its

own. If a document was printed, if it was taken to some printer and

put into type, it had an acknowledged importance at the time, or the expense

of printing would not have been incurred. That it was printed indicated

that the writer or author of the document, at least, if not other people,

thought it was worthy of the attention of a wider circle than might be

reached by word of mouth or by the passing out or posting of a hand-

written document.

Printed material, in turn, may be divided into two classes. The first

of these is newspapers. Contemporaneous newspapers are being used more

and more, and their use has been greatly facilitated, so far as the earlier

years of our history are concerned, by the work over the last twenty or

twenty-five years of Clarence S. Brigham.  Dr. Brigham, formerly as

librarian and later as director of the American Antiquarian Society, at

Worcester, Massachusetts, has been indefatigable in seeking out every issue

of every American newspaper published earlier than 1821, in recording them,

and in making known where the various files, or even scattered issues, can

be found. This has been, I think, in many respects the most important

contribution to American history that has been made by any individual in

the last generation.

The newspaper field, I should say, has been covered well. Just re-

cently, within the last six months, a considerable project, carried through

under the auspices of the Bibliographical Society of America, has resulted

in the publication of a union list of American newspapers since 1820.

230     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The two lists--Brigham's and the union list--fitted together provide a quite

satisfactory means for finding newspapers published in any locality at any

date. This does not mean, of course, that every issue of every newspaper

can be found. But if copies have been preserved, the record of where they

may be found is available.

Leaving the newspapers, we have the second class of printed materials

in what are called "imprints."  I shall promptly define that term, because

many people with whom I have talked about imprints immediately inquire

"What is an imprint?" This is a fair question, inasmuch as "imprint" has

been adopted by the librarians and the bibliographers as a term used in a

special sense peculiar to their professional jargon.

Strictly speaking, an imprint consists of those printed lines at the bot-

tom of the title pages of most printed books and pamphlets which make

known the place of printing, the name of the printer, and the date. The

lines "Columbus, printed by P. H. Olmsted, 1821" on the title page of a

particular book or pamphlet is the imprint of that particular piece of printed

matter. But by an extension of the term, the book itself will be called an

"Olmsted imprint."  By still further extensions, all printed pieces bearing

Olmsted's name will be known as "Olmsted imprints," all things printed

in Columbus will be designated as "Columbus imprints," and all books and

pamphlets printed in Ohio become "Ohio imprints." In this wider sense,

however, the term "imprints" is usually applied to printed matter falling

within certain limits of date or place which give them historical interest or

value. Thus, we may be concerned with eighteenth century American im-

prints only, or with Idaho imprints before 1891.

A really enormous quantity of this sort of material is available if one

knows where to find it. As a matter of course, the great libraries in

the eastern part of the country can be depended upon to have remarkable

collections of Revolutionary and pre-Revolutionary documents, and the his-

torical societies in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, to mention only

a few, have really wonderful libraries of early printed materials.

But how has this material been recorded, so that the student may know

of its existence and where to find it? Several attempts have been made to

compile lists of American printed documents earlier than the Revolution.

Later efforts were made to record all such material to the close of the

eighteenth century--that is, through the year 1800. The most consequential

effort in the latter field was made by a gentleman who lived in Chicago,

Charles Evans by name. Mr. Evans years ago undertook single-handed

the task of compiling a list of all American books, pamphlets and broad-

sides printed earlier than 1801. I say "single-handed" because, before his

death at an advanced age about a year ago, he had succeeded in bringing

out the twelve volumes of his American Bibliography, recording titles

through 1798 and with half the titles of 1799, without a moment's help from

any other person. He gathered the material, he wrote out every entry in

ink with his own hand, he compiled the volumes, he read every line of

proof--he personally attended to every detail of the whole enormous task

totally unaided. It is a truly remarkable achievement.

Another noteworthy effort to list printed material of American in-

terest was undertaken by Joseph Sabin in his Dictionary of Books Relating

to America.  This work, suspended several times, first because of Mr.

Sabin's death, later by changes of editorial direction, has recently been

brought to completion under the editorship of R. W. G. Vail, and also under

the auspices of the Bibliographical Society of America. Unlike Evans, who

divided the material off by years, Sabin and the later editors of the latter

PROCEEDINGS                          231

work arranged the material throughout alphabetically by authors and sub-

jects. Sabin also includes a wide variety of material relating to America

but printed in many different countries, and covers a wide range of dates.

Evans, as has been said, fixed the final date of the material with which

he concerned himself at the year 1800. This rules out of his bibliography

large portions of the United States in which no kind of settlement or

political organization, to say nothing of presses, had been set up by 1800.

For material printed in the eastern states, Evans provides a good finding

list. But if we look at American history as stretching from coast to coast,

if we believe that the settlement of Oregon is as important historically as

some of the events of the French and Indian War, if we regard the Louisi-

ana Purchase as of importance equal to that of various little quarrels

throughout colonial New England, then we must set up a record of his-

torical material on a much wider basis than with 1800 as a date limit.

Here the Sabin Dictionary is helpful indeed, but even Sabin leaves out large

ranges of useful material.

In recent years a most useful mechanism has been created for locating

printed historical material--the union catalog.  The first and the most

important of these union catalogs was started by a grant from the Rocke-

feller Foundation to establish in the Library of Congress at Washington a

combined catalog of all the principal libraries in the United States, which

should be kept constantly up to date. This catalog now comprises between

seven and eight million titles. It is maintained with a high degree of

ability and is kept strictly up to date for titles in all the libraries that

contribute to it. So it is possible to go to that catalog in Washington and

look under the name of any desired authority and find in what libraries

copies of it may be consulted. In not a few cases it will be found that

only one copy has been recorded, and it is sometimes immensely valuable

to know in what library that unique copy is located.

The union catalog at Washington is now being supplemented with

others, such as those which have been started in Philadelphia and in Cleve-

land. In these local catalogs will be gathered the titles of all the libraries

within their respective metropolitan areas, including many libraries which

have not contributed to the great union catalog of the Library of Congress.

But the union catalog mechanism, though widely welcomed by bibli-

ographers and historians, does not completely solve the problem of finding

historical source materials. These catalogs are author catalogs only; they

are not classified by subjects. The student in search of a book of which

he knows the title and the author's name finds the union catalogs invalu-

able. But the student in search of material on a special subject is still

more or less helpless, as he cannot possibly know the title and author of

every book and pamphlet bearing on his subject. One interested, for ex-

ample, in the early history of the city of Saint Louis may have references

to ten or a dozen books of importance. These he can find. But there may

be forty or fifty other books and pamphlets of equal importance to him if he

could but know of them. How is he going to find them if he does not even

know that the material exists?

The answer to that question of how we can make an inventory of all

printed historical material throughout the United States--material of im-

portance to the history of various localities or of various periods--is a

project in which I have been interested in recent years. Let me explain

how I happened to get interested in this subject. As I have said, I am not

a professional historian. I am not even a professional librarian. But I

have long had a deep interest in the history of printing. When I began

232     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

actively to work in that field, however, and endeavored to compile some

satisfactory reports of the early beginnings of the press throughout the

United States, I soon found that there were great gaps in the available