THE WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
By ELBERT
J. BENTON
As the Western Reserve Historical
Society has passed the
three score and ten commonly allotted as
the span of human life,
having recently celebrated its
seventy-fifth birthday, it would
seem to have attained a respectable age.
The record, however,
shows that there are twenty-two
historical societies in the United
States which were founded more than one
hundred years ago.
One who is familiar with the cultural
history of Ohio would
expect Cincinnati to have been ahead of
Cleveland in this respect.
Again the record shows that the
Historical and Philosophical
Society was thirty-six years of age when
Cleveland's historical
society was organized (Cincinnati, 1831;
Cleveland, 1867).
Clevelanders made what proved to be two
false or prema-
ture, or perhaps better, badly-timed
starts. In 1857, the Cuya-
hoga County Historical Society was
started; the following year,
on February 15, the organization was
completed. Leonard Case,
Sr., was chosen president and John Barr
was selected as secre-
tary. The organization was county wide,
a vice-president and
local committee for each township. Early
settlers and township
officers were given special privileges
on the expectation that such
persons could very effectively aid in
the collection and preserva-
tion of historical materials. Colonel
Charles Whittlesey, Ahaz
Merchant and George B. Merwin were
trustees, all three being well
known in Cleveland's business and
cultural history. Full accounts
of the Society's early activities were
published in the newspapers.
Much information about the early history
of the several town-
ships, gathered by the committees, was
published in the Leader
during 1858. The Society held
"grand county picnic pioneer cele-
brations" at Newburgh in June, 1858
and 1860. Like a county fair,
public speaking and the exhibition of
relics, instead of pigs, cattle
and horses, marked the occasions. In
1860 Colonel Whittlesey was
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WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 97
the chief speaker, and was undoubtedly
one of the real leaders
of the movement. Of the picnic of 1860
the editor of the Leader
wrote that "all had a grand
time," 5,000 or more, and that the
celebration had exceeded the previous
one "in numbers, music,
speeches, relics and enthusiasm." A
third picnic was planned for
June, 1861, at Doan's Corners, East
Cleveland. But the Cuya-
hoga County Historical Society became a
casualty of the Civil
War. Its program never passed beyond the
gathering stage. Its
officers met in the County Court House
in the Public Square.
The records were later turned over to
the Western Reserve His-
torical Society. Several of the relics
mentioned in the contempo-
rary newspapers may now be seen at the
Society's museum: for
example Rudolphus Edwards' compass which
he used in 1798
in surveying the first road from the
Pennsylvania line to Cleve-
land; the millstones of the first
Newburgh flour mill, recently in-
stalled at the museum by the county
commissioners and the county
engineer's men; and Allen Gaylord's
painting, representing Cleve-
land as he saw it in 1797.
In 1863, an attempt was made to found a
Cleveland Histor-
ical Society. Officers were chosen. By whom
is not apparent
from the newspaper record. The president
and secretary bore
names of persons, strangers in the
cultural records of the time
as well as to the Cleveland land
directories, and the Society be-
came another casualty of the Civil War.
The historical societies
of Cleveland were not the only Civil War
victims. For example,
the Academy of Natural Science was
another.
The Cleveland Library Association,
chartered in 1848,
weathered the Civil War. In 1867, at a
time when the majority
of northern people were thinking of
repression and humiliation
for the southern whites, a group of
Clevelanders turned to plans
for a revival of two of the city's
cultural institutions. Active in
the group were Colonel Whittlesey and
John Barr of Cuyahoga
County Historical Society fame. The move
came from within
the Cleveland Library Association. It
was a plan for specializa-
tion in the efforts of the library
group. The trustees and other
officers seemed to think that history
and natural science would
be advanced more rapidly if given their
own quarters and organi-
98
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
zations. In 1867 some of them organized
the Western Reserve
Historical Society and two years later
the Kirtland Society of
Natural History, both departments of the
Library Association,
under its general auspices and
administered by its supporters.
Colonel Whittlesey, a West Pointer by
training and an explorer
by instinct and profession became
president. The president of
the Library Association at the time,
Martin B. Scott, an insurance
man and active promoter of welfare
movements, became vice-
president of the historical department.
A. T. Goodman, active in
the Library Association, also joined
with the group and in 1868
became recording secretary. It is clear
from the record that
Charles C. Baldwin, a graduate of
Wesleyan University, of the
Harvard Law School, a Cleveland
attorney, later a judge of the
circuit court of Ohio, and at the time a
trustee and vice-president
of the Library Association was a moving
spirit in founding the
Historical Society. He and Colonel
Whittlesey had long been
active in their efforts to promote local
history and local culture in
general. The services of Secretary
Goodman, a young attorney
of dynamic personality, were terminated
by an early death and
Judge Baldwin became secretary. On the
death of Colonel Whit-
tlesey, in 1886, he became president.
The by-laws gave to the
"department" the name that was to
hold--The Western Reserve Historical
Society--and stated that
the principal object was "to
discover, procure and preserve what-
ever relates to the history, biography,
genealogy, antiquities and
statistics connected with the City of
Cleveland and the Western
Reserve." In order to make sure
that all historical interests of
Clevelanders would come within its
field, the by-laws added,
"and generally what relates to the
history of Ohio and the Great
West." A board of six curators with
the president, treasurer and
chairman of the library committee of the
parent society as ex-
officio members became the governing
body. At the start the
Cleveland Library Association provided
the two departments--
the Historical Society and the Kirtland
Society--with quarters.
To the historical department it assigned
"the splendid fire-
proof room 29 ft. by 80, on the third
floor of the Savings
Bank." The collections of the two departments or branches.
WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 99
the officers of the Library Association
said, would constitute "a
valuable museum of history, mechanical
arts, specimens of natural
history and natural science, maps,
manuscripts, likenesses of the
pioneers, relics, engraved views,
etc."--a comprehensive program
for the advancement of history and
natural science. The annual
reports of those days were a record of
small beginnings. Only a
few cases were available for the display
of objects which came in.
But the reports exhibited no lack of
optimism. The meetings of
the Society were nearly always at the
home of some one of the
curators, and largely for social and
literary discussions.
In 1892, the Historical Society passed from under the wings
of the parent organization, having
secured a state charter and
purchased a home of its own, the old
Society for Savings build-
ing on the Public Square, the one in
which it had been a tenant
from the beginning. In the new charter
the functions of the
Society were broadened. It was to have a
wider outlook--Ohio
and the West, not Western Reserve and
the West; it was to
maintain a museum and a library as
coordinate agencies, and it was
to employ literary meetings,
publications and "other proper
means" of fulfilling its
educational mission.
In the latter part of the nineteenth
century, Cleveland had
entered into a new period of its
cultural history, with Western
Reserve University and Case School
established four miles out
Euclid Avenue, in the country, in fact.
In 1898, six years after
purchasing a home of its own on Memorial
Park, the name of
the time for the Public Square, the
Society sold its property to
the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and
moved into a new build-
ing, designed better to meet its needs,
located in the Wade Park
area, adjacent to Case School and
Western Reserve University.
It was a significant change, from the
business center to the so-
called University Circle.
In 1913 the Society advanced to a new stage
when it ap-
pointed Wallace H. Cathcart director,
its first, with the under-
standing that he would devote his entire
time to its work. It rep-
resented a new era, one of very rapid
growth. His skill as a
collector put new life into the Society.
Within a few years the
100 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
building the officers had thought the
answer to all their needs
was greatly overcrowded. The assembly
hall was taken over to
house the library, and without a hall,
the lecture series and meet-
ings of members were abandoned. The
museum was cramped al-
most to a point of extinction by the
needs of the accumulating
books, pamphlets and newspapers. Much
that the Society owned
was stored in rented warehouse rooms.
The officers faced a dilem-
ma: without space for exhibits gifts
were withheld; stagnation
meant declining confidence in the
Society's objectives. A way
was found to break the deadlock.
Between 1938 and 1941 President Laurence
H. Norton led
the trustees through the necessary steps
in the acquisition and
occupation of a new home on East
Boulevard, facing Wade Park
and still near the University, Severance
Hall and the Museum of
Art. In 1944 two fifty-room residences
house the Library and
the Museum. Together they constitute a
unique setting for an
historical society. In architectural form they are Florentine
villas, set in enclosed, formal gardens,
and constitute a beautiful
place for the treasures of a library and
a museum. What is also
important in a large city, so far as the
Society's needs can today be
foreseen, there is ample space for
expansion with additional build-
ings.
The Society set out, as the name
implies, to serve north-
eastern Ohio. It has sought to do this
with a library of books,
pamphlets, maps and manuscripts that
would encourage the study
of American history, with a museum that
would vitalize and give
reality to innumerable aspects of
history, and by annual lecture
series and publications that should make
public the results of
studies in the museum library. The
founders made much of fre-
quent meetings of the members of the
Society in one another's
homes for a discussion of historical
subjects--a sort of members'
forum. In 1944, all the services except
the members' forum are
being continued. New services have taken
its place. Lantern
and film projectors exhibit scenes of
historic significance. The
settled opinion of historical scholars
regarding controversial views
of the past are exhibited by charts and
other graphic devices. The
use of certain rooms in the Museum by
individuals and by so-
WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 101
cieties for the exhibition of
significant private collections adds
variety and therefore interest to the
Society's work. Loan ex-
hibits sent to the schools and other
public buildings carry the
Society's influence into the community.
The gardens are much
used for social affairs of cultural
organizations--churches, pa-
triotic societies and clubs--with mutual
advantages for the visitors
and for the Society.
In Cleveland, as elsewhere, the Museum attracts
more visitors
than the Library. It is ever changing
and offers exhibits that
attract the eye. The Library is the
place where visitors go to work
on a variety of tasks. A description of
the Museum's twenty-four
or five rooms of exhibits would in many
cases not be true the fol-
lowing month. Half of the contents of
the Museum are in storage,
to be drawn on for fresh exhibits as
occasion arises.
Perhaps a summary description of the
contents of the Library
may interest scholars outside Cleveland
and should find a place
in this statement. Here again pictures,
medals, coins, stamps and
maps, though in cases in the Library,
serve the same purpose as
the museum objects. They illuminate
history rather than serve
as the raw materials out of which
history is made--as do manu-
scripts, newspapers, pamphlets and
books. The collections of
pictures, medals, coins, stamps and
maps, however, are a notable
part of the historical material in the
Library building.
The Baldwin map collection deserves
special mention. It
contains I5th, 16th and 17th century
world maps, and others of
the Americas in particular. The
manuscript maps of the early
surveyors and agents of the Connecticut
Land Company consti-
tute an invaluable record for the early
history of Ohio. There are
more than four hundred atlases in the
map division, including
many rare world atlases.
No one knows exactly how many
manuscripts the Society
possesses. Wallace H. Cathcart, who as
director did more than
anyone else to build up this division,
estimated the number at
more than one million items. Several sections are extensive
enough to be worthy of special mention:
(a) The records of the Connecticut Land
Company, its sec-
retary, surveyors and agents, and those
of the early land pro-
102
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
prietors of New Connecticut, as they
preferred to call the West-
ern Reserve.
(b) William P. Palmer's great collection
of letters, diaries
and other papers on slavery, the Civil
War, Lincoln and recon-
struction.
(c) The Shaker collection, which
includes diaries, journals,
correspondence, sermons and other papers
from the several
Shaker unions.
(d) There is a long file of personal
correspondence--that of
Elisha Whittlesey, Whig Congressman from
Ohio; of Theodore
E. Burton until the end of the session
of Congress in 1915; and
that of Myron T. Herrick. That of
Herrick, while ambassador
to France, is particulary valuable for
students of history in the
1920's. The collection of business
records is rapidly growing, as
might be expected of a Society located
in a large industrial cen-
ter.
The newspaper division contains about
25,000 bound volumes
and thousands of unbound, fragmentary
files. The Palmer col-
lection alone contains 22,000 issues of
newspapers published in
the Confederate States. There are
unbroken or nearly unbroken
files of all leading Cleveland
newspapers and many of the short
lived class. This is also true of many
cities of Ohio, particularly
of the Western Reserve area, of, for
example, Warren and Elyria.
The Ohio State Journal is
complete since 1826, the Scioto Gazette
for 1801-1857, and the Liberty Hall
and Cincinnati Gazette for
1801-1837. The Society has the National
Intelligencer, tri-weekly,
1800-1861, daily 1813-1869, the Columbian
Centinel, Boston, 1788-
1820,
the New York Tribune, 1845-1896, and the Herald and the
Times, 1861-1896. Going farther afield there is the London
Chronicle, 1757-1799.
The Society has made no attempt to build
up a general
periodical collection. That is a field
it is content to leave to
Western Reserve University and the
Cleveland Public Library.
Its major purpose is to maintain a
collection of national, regional
and local or State historical
periodicals. Files of many denomi-
national publications, however, cover a
large portion of the nine-
WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 103
teenth century. For example, there is
the Quaker Friend, 1828-
1903, and Bibliotheca Sacra, 1844-1921.
Harper's Weekly is com-
plete, and that is true of Godey's
Lady's Book and the Ladies' Re-
pository. Punch, interesting for cartoons, is complete for 1841-
1912
and for the World War I period. The National Geographic
Magazine and the Geographical Journal are complete from
the be-
ginning to date. The same is true of Antiques,
and the Cincin-
nati Lancet and Clinic.
As would be expected, two-thirds of the
Library space is
occupied by books and pamphlets. There
are about 400,000 books
and pamphlets. It is not practical to
list more than a few signifi-
cant collections. The W. P. Palmer
library of works on slavery,
Civil War, reconstruction and Abraham
Lincoln is outstanding
in value for research students. The
Lincoln section has been
supplemented by valuable additions, the
gifts of Mrs. George R.
Lamb and the daughters of Stephen Wallis
Tener. The D. Z.
Norton collection of works on Napoleon,
though small, is unique
in the number that are not commonly
found in American libraries.
The Judge Henry C. White gift covers an
extensive field of
Arctic explorations; and there is the
Charles G. King collection
on the history of costume, international
in scope and of every age.
In the genealogy division are 15,000
individual family genealogies,
besides the general material in society
publications and vital
records. There is a practically complete
file of early Ohio laws
and of Congressional records and
documents. But this is in
danger of becoming a catalogue. The
Society merely claims to
have a usable and extensive library of
Americana, including both
popular works and rare early imprints.
The Library is open
from 9:00 to 5:00 six days during the
week and from 2:00 to
5:00 Sunday. The Museum is open to the
public Tuesday to Sat-
urday inclusive from 10:00 to 5:00 and
on Sunday from 2:00 to
5:00. Both are free of fees at any time.