USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > First Annual Report of the Ohio Valley Historical Association comprising the proceedings of the central Ohio Valley History Conference held at Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 29 and 30, 1907 > Part 4
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The manuscript histories of the Capital, and of its founders and promoters, which had been written by the local Society of Colonial Daughters for the new organization were then turned over to the State Historical Society and plans projected for its future successful conduct. There was no money to call upon for its advancement, save the mem- bership fees and voluntary contributions, the appropriation to the former society having been exhausted. But though lacking this powerful aid, the members continued to gather, and to write histories, and to fill the book- cases with rare volumes of historical literature, and to adorn the walls of the rooms with portraits and pictures of the governors and other great men of the State, and also to gather curios, relics, and arms used in the Revolution, the War of 1812-15, the Mexican War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.
The Society was conducted on a very simple plan with a few people to attend to the administrative and executive departments, not as monopo- lizers but as chosen representatives working for success. And the Society as a department of the State began to feel its importance when corre- spondence with its Secretary was sought by people throughout the Union. The Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the Historical
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Societies of New England were most generous in their contributions to our library, and in courteous encouragement to our Society. The demand upon the Secretary for information became incessant.
In the beginning it was intended to found a Society for Kentucky and Kentuckians, for we had no dream of the importance of the state in the Union, from the time Daniel Boone entered it until the present. The Society was originally founded in his honor, and his history (1836) was then the most interesting data the forefathers possessed; but in 1900 something more was expected from her position as a great state. Her state history, in its scope and individuality, could not be limited to a narrow field of usefulness. The times called for its development. A committee was then appointed to seek from the state the supplies granted under its charter to its predecessor by the legislature. To this end a committee from our Society was invited to appear before the state print- ing Board of 1902. After conferring with its members, the board ordered that our application for the right of the society to supplies (for such things as for any other department of the state, and the publication of our literature, in cards, pamphlets, or magazine) should be honored in future.
In January, 1903, we issued the first number of the Register, the magazine of the State Historical Society. This supplied the long felt want of the Society, to make known the history of the people of Kentucky, heretofore hidden in unpublished letters and diaries. We had already collected, by solicitation and by purchase, the well known published his- tories of Kentucky, and our bookcases were now stored with important historical literature.
The Magazine had a cordial reception from the public. We con- tinued to hold interesting meetings, which on occasion from time to time Governor Beckham, then the President ex-officio, and other distinguished men. addressed. As the years glided by the Register lengthened its list of exchanges, and such was the demand for it that every year we had to have a second edition of certain very popular numbers, entailing additional work for the editor and additional expense all around. The Society in- creased in popularity, until the modest sum of the initiation fee, $1.00 per year, and a like sum for the subscription to the Magazine were found inadequate for a fund to support the dignity of the Society and carry on its business.
Again we called a conference of our members and laid the case before them, and after much deliberation it was decided that the Society must have an appropriation of $5,000 annually, since our work showed that we deserved it. Yet, however, the old enemy of progress, the "Cap- ital removal" question, was still with us and becoming more serious every year. We were told that it was so imperative to have this question settled first, whether or not Frankfort should continue the Capital of the State, that we would better wait until this was done, then bring in our bill for an appropriation to the Society-and we waited. At this juncture our co-editor, Captain C. C. Calhoun collected a debt for the State of
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more than a million dollars. This settled the "Capital question" for the money would build a new Capitol at Frankfort, without an additional tax on the people. The bill for this appropriation passed the legislature in 1904 to the intense satisfaction of Governor Beckham and his cabinet.
Frankfort entered into rest. She was now forever the Capital of Kentucky, a consummation so long desired and due to the Governor, his Cabinet, and the General Assembly of 1904. Our Society was so happy and grateful over the conclusion of the "Capital question" that the mem- bers went on cheerfully hoping for better things to enlarge its fund, now much too small for its expenses. It was said the Society's influence was no inconsiderable factor in keeping the Capital in Frankfort. Much of its work at this time must ever remain unwritten history. With no en- dowment fund to draw upon, the society determined now to appeal to the Legislature of 1906 for an appropriation. Governor Beckham very gracefully suggested in his message to the General Assembly that winter, the propriety of appropriating $5,000 annually to the Kentucky State His- torical Society. We had the bill ready for the Legislature's consideration, and after much solicitude and days of waiting, it was voted upon and passed in the House for an appropriation of $5,000 annually to the Society.
After the House had passed our bill, a number of the Representa- tives visited the Historical rooms, and confessed themselves surprised and delighted with the exhibit there. They had heard much about it, but in wealth and beauty of portraits, books, paintings and pictures, relics, china, etc., it was beyond anything they had ever seen. They said to the members of the Society: "Why did you not ask for ten thousand dollars, in your bill. We would have just as gladly given it to you, as the five thousand a year. Your rooms are splendid, and Kentucky may well be proud of its Historical Society. You deserve the gratitude of the State for it."
The Senate confirmed the passage of House Bill 249, and it went to the Governor who signed it. Then came the plans for a new Capitol in which we were honored with rooms on the first floor adjoining the Hall of Fame. This was success. Our officers were likewise made judges on the board for this Hall of Fame which will be adorned by the portraits, paintings, sculpture, relics, etc., that have been acquired largely by our influence, by solicitation, and recently by purchase. We are de- termined to make our Society one of the most useful in the Union, as well as the most attractive. Our purpose is to teach and to illus- trate the entertaining history of Kentucky-provided Kentucky will con- tinue to aid the Society by its appropriation.
We have inaugurated a system by which we hope to have in the future, a large and comprehensive History of Kentucky, each County supplying its quota of information from branch Societies throughout the state. The settlement of the "Capital question," makes such a consumma- tion of our purposes for the upbuilding of the State possible.
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STATE AID IN COLLECTING THE LOCAL HISTORY OF THE OHIO VALLEY.
HON. VIRGIL A. LEWIS, State Historian and Archivist for West Virginia.
To me, the committee which prepared the program for this meeting, has assigned as a subject, "State Aid in Collecting and Preserving the Local History of the Ohio Valley." By way of introduction it becomes necessary to inquire regard- ing the field of operation and the work to be per- formed.
The Ohio river drains a region of vast extent, being navigable for a thousand miles. If a line be extended from Cairo at the mouth of this river along the highland or watershed through Illi- nois separating the waters which flow into the Missis- sippi from those falling into the Ohio; thence along the same elevation through the states of Indiana and Illinois so as to separate the Lake drainage from that of the Ohio; thence around the source of the Allegheny river in southwestern New York; thence along the VIRGIL A. LEWIS. crest of the Laurel Ridge through Pennsylvania: thence along that of the Alleghenies in West Virginia; and thence fol- lowing the top of the Cumberland range so as to include the source and valley of the Tennessee river to its mouth, the Hydrographic Basin - ยท That is the Valley of the Ohio -thus included, will embrace an area of 168,000 square miles; of which 24,000 will be in Ohio; 30,000 in Indiana : 9,500 in Illinois ; 31,500 in Tennessee; 40,000 in Kentucky; 20,000 in West Virginia ; 11,000 in Pennsylvania, and 1,100 in New York.
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If we make inquiry regarding the population of this region, we shall. perhaps, be surprised at the result. By the census of 1900 it was shown that the average population was 69 to the square mile for the entire region. Thus it is seen that 2,494,407 of the people of Ohio have their homes in the region divided by the Ohio river; as have likewise 2,097,000 of those
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of Indiana; 803,590 of those of Illinois; 1,515,462 of those of Tennessee ; 2,147,174 of those of Kentucky; 799,000 of those of West Virginia; 1,575,- 537 of those of Pennsylvania; and 181,722 of those of New York-a total population of 11,613,942. So it may be roughly stated that the Ohio river drains a region whose total area is 170,000 square miles, on which reside 12,000,000 people. Such is the Ohio Valley where this busy mass of humanity now rushes along.
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Viewed from the standpoint of History, the region we are consider- ing is the most important in the world-a land of military renown and civic achievement-the home of the Red race; of discovery and explor- ation; of thrilling exploits and daring adventure; the object of conflict between France and England for territorial supremacy therein; of Brad- dock's defeat on the banks of the Monongahela; of Boquet's invasion of the Ohio wilderness with its barbarian inhabitants; of Lord Dunmore's War and the presence of a royal Colonial Governor at the head of a Virginian army in the valley of the Scioto: the backdoor of the American Revolution, and the burial place of thousands of veterans of that war; of Clark's campaigns and victories in Illinois and Indiana; of a land of pioneer cabin homes, in a wilderness inhabited by wild beasts and wilder men; of the military expeditions of Lockery, Crawford, St. Clair and General Wayne into the Indian country : of the conquest of a native race ; of the part of the people of this valley in the Second War with England, the Mexican War, and the war between the States; of a vast forest region transformed into fruitful orchards and productive fields; of the founding of towns and the building of cities; of the organization of counties and the creation of states: of the introduction of steam navi- gation, and the building of railroads: of industrial enterprise and com- mercial activities : of the greatest inland commerce of the world, with all of which the intellectual growth and development of the people have kept pace, until the great valley of the Ohio is the home of the best mental development and social life to be found in the English speaking world. Such is the importance of this wonderful Valley as a historic field, more interesting and valuable to human knowledge, than that of the valleys of the Nile, the Tigris, or the Euphrates of antiquity ; or of the Thames, the Seine. and the Rhine of modern times.
The General History of a region is but the sum total of its Local History. The question presented to the people now is: How can the history which they and those who went before them made, be most fully collected and preserved for the use of those who are to come after them? It has been said that "Historians are the Bookkeepers of States and Nations," and such they are; but they cannot collect and preserve history material. They are annalists, their mission being to record the events of history. as they occur ; in the time of which they write. Many such have been active in this work in the Valley of the Ohio, chief among them being Caleb Atwater, Samuel P. Hildreth. William D. Gallagher and Henry Howe in Ohio: Thomas Ford. Alexander Davidson, Bernard
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Stuve, and John Moses of Illinois ; John B. Dillon, John Law and William H. English of Indiana; John Haywood, James Phelan, and James G. Ramsey of Tennessee; John -Filson, Humphrey Marshall. Mann Butler, and the two Collins-father and son-in Kentucky; Joseph Doddridge, Alexander Scott Withers, Hugh Paul Taylor, and Will De Hass of West Virginia ; and Proud, Hazard, Ruff, and Crumrine in Pennsylvania. All these and many others have been faithful workers in this great historic field, and we examine their productions we are surprised. and then as- tonished-surprised that they accomplished so much, and astonished be- cause of the vast mass of history material which they have left wholly untouched. We do not even now know to what material they had access, or what they did with it when they had finished their work.
The Historians noted above wrote books; but there was another class of workers in this historic field who chose rather to publish their work in periodical form-that of monthly magazines. We can mention but three of these. The first was "The Hesperian, or Western Monthly," which made its appearance at Columbus, Ohio, in 1838. It was edited by William D. Gallagher and Otway Curry, and published by John D. Nichols. It was a most worthy publication, its object being "to collect from still living witnesses. and preserve for future histories the important records of the teeming and romantic Past." But its existence was short, three volumes, published in eighteen months, was all there was of it.
A second one of these publications, was "The American Pioneer," the publication of which was commenced at Chillicothe in January, 1842, by John S. Williams, and a year later removed by him to Cincinnati. It too, was a most worthy publication, and as stated on its title page, was "Devoted to the Truth and Justice of History." Its life was short, continuing but two years in which time twenty-four numbers were issued and bound in two volumes.
A third publication of this class, and a most valuable one was "The Olden Times," issued monthly; the first number published at Pittsburg in January, 1846, by Neville B. Craig. It was devoted to the publication of original documents relating to the local history of Pittsburg and vicinity. Two years were the measure of its existence; like its predeces- sors, its publication ceased at this time.
Thus far, the writers of History in this region have received our attention. They did their work and did it well, but we are now con- cerned with the collection and preservation of the sources of History, for posterity will have more interest in those, than in written volumes often without so much as foot-notes citing the authority for statements made therein. Three agents have attempted this work of collection and preservation with what success we shall see.
Feeble attempts have been made by individuals-enthusiastic-here and there throughout the wide extent of this field we are considering, an 1 many valuable collections have been brought together, only to be more widely scattered than before. When the collector died the rule has been
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that his children or other friends had no interest in the material, and it was sold at junk prices and destroyed or scattered far and wide-none knew where. We can cite dozens of such collections in Ohio and West Virginia alone, which have gone this way.
Numbers of these Societies have been organized at.various times and places within the Ohio Valley; and they have done much good in the way of arousing and keeping alive a public interest in the work which they were undertaking to do. Some of them have collected much valuable material, a part of which is still preserved, while the greater part of what was once in their possession has been lost.
Where now is the valuable collection of History material once be- longing to the Western Museum Society of Cincinnati? It began its work in 1818. Afterward its collection was placed in a room in the College of Cincinnati: later removed to a building on the northwest cor- ner of Second and Main streets; then placed in the custody of a French- man, who finally removed it with other museum collections to New York, where all trace of it was lost.
Again, what shall be said of the work of the old Vincennes His- torical Society, which was organized in 1808? This society created a cabinet of all kinds of historic relics, curios, arid documents, and during its active existence made a large collection. These relics were kept in a room in the famous old "Town Hall," until 1856, when the society ceased to exist, and its collection was, as we are informed, thrown into an old garret. What finally became of it we do not know.
Once again, let me cite an instance from my own state. The West Virginia Historical Society was organized at Morgantown in 1869. Its membership represented every part of the state and included the leading educators, lawyers, physicians, clergymen and business men of that time. They, many of them, had been active before the Civil War. They had been divided in that struggle. But when it was past they were reunited in an effort to save from oblivion the history of the new-born state. Active work continued for sixteen years. Then all grew old, many died, and their mantles descended to others who had not been history-makers, and in 1884, the organization ceased to exist. It had made a fine col- lection, in which were rare manuscripts and documents together with an interesting museum section, but all was soon after scattered so widely that now scarcely a trace of it can be found.
Several Educational Institutions in this field have engaged in the work of collecting the sources of history. The Carnegie Museum at Pittsburg, is doing much of this work; Marietta College has a highly creditable collection : Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky., has a rare library, the accumulation of a hundred years ; and the University of Ohio. at Atliens, has among its collection, the famous old coon-skin li- brary. I repeat that these Institutions have done much, in this line of work, and yet we are not aware that a single one of them has made a
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complete collection of the sources and material of the Local History of the county in which it is situated.
: I undertake to say that it is not within the power of individuals, historical societies, or educational institutions, in any American state, to collect and preserve in systematic order the history, biography, public documents, state papers, legislative journals, exccutive messages, proceed- ings and reports of boards of regents and directors of state institutions, educational and otherwise; members of conferences, presbyteries, synods and other meetings of religious bodies; proceedings of grand lodges and secret benevolent societies, and other social organizations; records of commercial and industrial progress ; programmes and catalogues ; "dead" papers of courts ; annual and biennial reports of executive departments ; maps, charts and drawings, with hundreds of other items, which illus- trate the history, government, geography, geology, topography, military achievements ; and the civic, industrial and economic life of the people, and the many other publications that go to make up the archives of the state which constitute its history material-the sources of its local and general history-together with its literature, the productions of its au- thors, and that of others whose writing relates in any way to its files with newspapers and other periodicals, and to classify and arrange all this so as to be readily available to overyone when wanted. If the material-the sources of the local history of the Ohio Valley-is rescued, collected and preserved for the use and benefit of those who are to come after us, how is the work to be accomplished? From what has been said, it is safe to conclude that it will not be done-can not be done -by individuals, historical societies, nor educational institutions. How then, we ask, shall it be performed? There is but one way, one power, that can do it, and that is the state. Invoke the strong arm of the commonwealth and it will be done. Let these Ohio Valley states-each . one of them-create a department of Archives and History, to do the work-no matter under what name-and it will be done. Then let men and women fully equipped, and filled with enthusiasm for the work, and under oath, to fully execute the provisions of the law creating the department, be placed in charge thereof; and then will the sources and material for local history be gathered from the remotest bounds of the state, and be brought together in any common store house, there to be classified for the use of students and all others who may have an in- terest in it or care to see it. Only the strong arm of the state-aided by an appropriation of sufficient funds from the state treasury-can perform the work, which the future cries loudly to us to perform and transmit results to it.
THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY IN WEST VIRGINIA.
We are sure that we are pardoned for speaking of the work of rescue, classification and preservation of history material, and that of kindred subjects in West Virginia. We have mentioned the existence of the West Virginia Historical Society. and how in 1884 it ceased to exist.
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There were many people who remembered the work of this society, and in 1901, made an effort to reorganize it under the name of the "Trans- Allegheny Society". This within two years went the way of the parent society. In January, 1890, another organization known as the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society, was perfected at Charleston and did much valuable work in the next sixteen years. Meantime, thoughtful men saw that the annals, the history of the state was not being collected and preserved. Governors Atkinson and White voiced this sen- timent in their messages to the legislature, and Hon. W. M. O. Dawson, then secretary of state, and now Governor of the state, earnestly ad- vocated the movement which in 1904 resulted in the creation by the legislature, of the Department of Archives and History. The act pro- viding for it carried with it an appropriation of $4,000.00 with which to begin work. In 1905, the legislature gave it $9,000.00 and allowed it $7,000.00 with which to make the State History Exhibit at the Jamestown Exposition. The Department occupies the third floor of the new Capital Annex Building where it has a floor space of nearly 8,000 square feet, all of which is being utilized by the rapidly accumulating collections. I close by saying as the director of the Department and a citizen of the state; that West Virginia will be abreast with her sister Ohio Valley states in the work of collecting and preserving the history of the vast region occupied by them and her.
HISTORICAL WORK OF THE STATE LIBRARY.
C. B. GALBREATH, Ohio State Librarian.
One of the characteristic developments of library. work in recent years is the widening scope of state library activity. This new departure had its origin in the state of New York, under the leadership of Melvil Dewey, the greatest library propagandist in his day and generation. He conceived the idea that the state library should be state wide in the sphere of its service and influence. Originally it was designed to be a collection of books for the general assembly and the state officials. The librarian, if considered at all, was regarded as the merest incident of the institution. Later, as salaries were slightly increased, and subordinate positions were created, it became the temporary abiding place of the practical politician who failed to land a more luscious plum. It was left for Mr. Dewey and his followers to point out and develop its pos- sibilities as an educational agency. It has been his belief that it should stand at the head of the library system of the state; that it should lend, assistance in the establishment and organization of public libraries, and inspect and aid those already established; that it should support and oper- ate a system of traveling libraries; that it should maintain a school for the training of librarians; that it should equip and administer a legis-
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