Editorialana. 221
Society Wednesday evening, and a
reception Thursday afternoon by Presi-
dent and Mrs. Harper, at their
residence, corner of Fifty-ninth street and
Lexington avenue. President Harper is an
Ohio man, and was formerly
connected with Muskingum College, at New
Concord. His wife is also
a Buckeye, and when a girl lived in
Mansfield. She is the daughter of the
Rev. David Paul, who was the pastor of
the Mansfield United Presbyterian
Church from 1858 until 1864, when he
resigned to accept the presidency of
the Muskingum college.
The American Political Science
Association and the American Eco-
nomic Association held their annual
meetings at the same time, in the
halls of the Chicago University
buildings.
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING.
Apropos of the need for a building for
the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society, we note with
much interest and not a little envy
the announcement that the New York
Historical Society is erecting a
building for its future home on
Seventy-sixth Street, opposite Central
Park, New York. The site of the building
was bought in June, 1891, at a
cost of $300,000. Some difficulty was
experienced in raising the additional
money necessary to begin the work of the
construction. Dean Hoffman,
father of the present president of the
society, was the leader and director
of this undertaking. He induced several
prominent New Yorkers-among
them Archer M. Huntington, Miss Matilda
Wolf Bruce, J. P. Morgan,
F. Robert Schell, the late John Alsop
King, Cornelius and George W.
Vanderbilt-to contribute large amounts.
The building committee was appointed in
June, 1901, to receive and
report upon plans for the proposed
building. This committee decided to
erect the central portion, 135 x 115
feet, on the lines of American colonial
architecture, from the plans of Messrs.
York & Sawyer, at an estimated
cost of $400,000. The cornerstone was
laid by ex-Mayor Seth Low,
November 17, 1903. The work has been
going on with more or less inter-
ruption, but it is expected that the
building will be completed as far as the
first story this spring. The building
when completed will be the finest
of its kind in the country. It will be
of pink Milford granite, three stories
high, affording ample shelf space for
nearly 500,000 volumes and several
special rooms for exhibits of various
sorts, and will contain an auditorium
on the main floor, capable of seating
400 persons, a lecture room, reception,
lounging and committee rooms. On the
second floor will be a large
museum, two large lecture galleries and
a reading room. The plan of this
central portion of the building is so
drawn that at some future time exten-
sive wings of the same general style of
architecture may be added.
The New York Historical Society was
founded on November 20,
1804, on which date Egbert Benson, De
Witt Clinton, Rev. Dr. William
Linn, Rev. Dr. John N. Abeel, Rev. Dr.
John M. Mason, Dr. David Hoo--
222 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
sack, Anthony Bleecker, Samuel Bayard,
Peter G. Stuyvesant and John
Pintard met in the picture room of the
old city hall, in Wall Street, to
organize this society, whose principal
object should be to collect and pro-
tect materials relating to the natural,
civil and ecclesiastical history of the
United States in general and the State
of New York in particular. The
society was incorporated by an act of
the legislature of February 9, 1809.
It is now one of the richest historical
societies of the country in its accu-
mulation of books, pictures, manuscripts
and objects of art. Its library
comprises over 100,000 books, pamphlets
and manuscripts. At present the
society is housed in its own property, a
small, unpretentious building,
which it has occupied for a century,
which is literally packed with the
invaluable collections which the society
has purchased or from time to
time have been bequeathed to it by
distinguished donors.
The securing by the New York Historical
Society of such worthy
quarters as it will soon possess is an
object lesson which it is hoped the
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society may be able to follow at
no distant date. With a home such as the
life and work of our society
now
deserves it, too, would be the beneficiary
of innumerable collections
of books, manuscripts and archaeological
relics and endowment funds.
Provided with proper permanent quarters
the Ohio State Society would
soon occupy the same relation to Ohio
archaeology and history that the
New York Society now bears to the Empire
State.
THE MAUMEE VALLEY PIONEER AND HISTORICAL
ASSOCIATION.
The Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical
Association held its
annual meeting at the court house, in
Toledo, on February 22. The asso-
ciation is comprised of earnest pioneers
and other loyal, patriotic citizens,
living along the historic Maumee. They
are endeavoring to keep alive
the fires of patriotism and preserve the
historic landmarks of the eventful
locality in question. There was a good
attendance of gentlemen and lady
members. Mr. D. K. Hollenbeck, of
Perrysburg, the president, called
the meeting to order, and the Rev. N. B.
C. Love, trustee of the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society, delivered the invocation. The
report of the treasurer showed a balance
of $38.96 on hand. The follow-
ing members were elected as trustees for
thee years: D. K. Hollenbeck,
J. L. Pray and C. O. Bringham. A
committee of three, consisting of
Julius Lamson, David Robinson, Jr., and
J. Kent Hamilton, was appointed
to confer with the electric roads, with
a view of their contributing toward
the fund for buying the unpurchased
portion of Fort Meigs, which the
association hopes to obtain entire, and,
without destroying its historic
character, transform into some sort of a
public park. The association
already owns nine acres, which is about
one-fourth of the entire fort tract.
The committee on Fort Miami reported
that the association should no