Trustees. When they met in August the Curators rejected seriatim and by unanimous vote all of the conditions of the resolution. A few months later the Curators submitted to the Governor their regular biennial report, in which, after adverting to the relations then existing between the Society and the University, they made the following appeal to the General Assembly:

"It is therefore earnestly desired by the Society, that the true intent and meaning of the relation intended by the Legislature, as expressed in the word 'auspices,' in the law referred to, may be clearly set forth.

"If a bona fide relationship is therein intended, we ask that the Trustees of that Institution shall be instructed to provide an appropriate and permanent place for the use of the Society, and that they may be taught to regard it as having a claim upon the protection and aid of the State, through, and derivable from, the appropriations made to the State University.

"On the contrary, if there is no tangible link of connection, then we respectfully request that an appropriation for the purpose of procuring and fitting up a room for the Society, be made direct to it, to be disbursed by some authorized responsible party." The only direct and evident result of this appeal was the special appropriation of 1868, which enabled the Society to secure and fit up for its special uses rooms outside of the University buildings.

In June, 1868, the Curators leased the "Old Stone Church" on Burlington Street, and soon thereafter the association of the State Historical Society with the State

1See Sixth Biennial Report of the Board of Curators, p. 13.

University was completely severed. In the meantime the Society had fortified its independence still further by secur ing articles of incorporation. The historical library remained in the damp musty basement of the "Old Stone Church" until the fall of 1882, when it was removed to better quarters in a building on Washington street. In September, 1901, the library and collections of the Society were finally transferred from the Washington street building to the Hall of Liberal Arts on the campus of the State University.

From the provisions of its Constitution it is clear that the publication as well as the collection and preservation of the materials of history is one of the principal objects for which the State Historical Society of Iowa was established. The various publications which have been issued since 1857 may be grouped under four heads.

First, the official biennial reports which have appeared regularly every two years since the organization of the Society in 1857.2

Secondly, the quarterly publications, of which there have been two series, namely, The Annals of Iowa and The Iowa Historical Record. The first number of The Annals appeared in January, 1863. Thereafter the quarterly numbers were issued regularly until December, 1874, when the series was suspended for want of funds. The Annals complete consists of twelve volumes. In January, 1885, the first

1

The articles of incorporation were filed for record December 2, The Society was again incorporated in 1892.

1867.

2

The first of these reports was printed as The First Annual Report of the State Historical Society of Iowa for the Year 1857.

number of The Record was issued. This was "the resumption in fact of The Annals of Iowa." Of The Record series there are eighteen volumes. The last number bears the date of October, 1902.

Thirdly, the miscellaneous publications, of which the most important are: Documentary Material Relating to the History of Iowa (3 vols.); Fragments of the Debates of the Iowa Constitutional Conventions of 1844 and 1846, along with Press Comments and Other Materials on the Constitutions of 1844 and 1846; The Constitution and Records of the Claim Association of Johnson County, (Iowa); The Constitution of Iowa (pocket edition); Iowa City, a Contribution to the Early History of Iowa; Amish Mennonites in Iowa; Iowa Historical Lectures, 1892; and Iowa Historical Lectures, 1894.

But more inspiring than statutes, appropriations, or publications are the names of the men who as officers and members have been connected with the Society during the past forty-five years. At the head of the list stands the name of James Wilson Grimes. As the first President, both of the Society and of the Board of Curators, Grimes was indeed a worthy predecessor of such men as Ralph P. Lowe, Samuel J. Kirkwood, William G. Hammond, George G. Wright, Josiah L. Pickard, and Peter A. Dey.

Among the Vice-Presidents of the Society were men of the same high character and public renown, as witness the names of James Harlan, Charles Mason, Thomas S. Wilson, William M. Stone, John F. Dillon, Lucien H. Langworthy, John P. Irish, and William B. Allison.

In the long line of Curators one meets the names of J. B.

Grinnell, Thomas H. Benton, Jr., T. S. Parvin, G. W. McCleary, P. M. Cassady, Charles Negus, Silas Totten, Wm. Penn Clarke, James Wilson, J. F. Duncombe, John A. Kasson, D. N. Richardson, and Geo. D. Perkins.

The roll of members is longer and somewhat more provincial. But even here one finds the names of George Bancroft, Jared Sparks, William Cullen Bryant, William H. Prescott, Horace Greeley, and Theodore Parker.2

Such are the historical beginnings of the State Historical Society of Iowa as founded and fostered by the pioneers. Without, perhaps, much knowledge of critical history and without academic training they sowed the seeds of a local provincial history which have grown and matured into ripened grain. To gather the harvest and withal to sift the grain is the duty of the present hour.

THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF Iowa

BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH.

IOWA CITY

MY DEAR SIR:

'NEW YORK, March 17, 1857.

I accept with equal pride and pleasure the honor done me by the

DEAR SIR: Yours of 26th ult. has just come to hand. It gives me great pleasure to accept the honor your society confers on me. I am particularly desirous of acquiring information relating to the religious opinions of the Indians, and if your society should publish anything relating thereto, please consider me a subscriber for it. If you will let me know how books, pamphlets, etc. may be sent to you without cost to you, I think I can furnish you something now and then. Respectfully truly yours,

THEODORE PARKER.

STATE HISTORY IN THE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS

In every public high school, as well as in every college and university in our land, history has come to be an important constituent factor in the curriculum. Discussion may still go on as to how much time ought to be given to this study, as to the methods to be adopted in its pursuit, and as to whether it ought to be required of all students. But these are simply matters of school or college administration which do not affect the general proposition, to which all educationists now agree, that the study of history should be adequately represented in the curriculum of every school of secondary or higher grade.

Accepting this general conclusion as sound, I desire in this paper to advance the further proposition that in the study of history in our public high schools a reasonable portion of the time should be given to the study of State history. Nor is it sufficient that the study of local history be made the subject of a few "talks" to the class in United States history, or introduced simply to enliven the course in civics? On the contrary, I believe that the local history of the State within which the high school is located should be seriously taken up and regularly taught as a subject worthy of special study.

In urging this proposition upon the attention of those who are interested in secondary education there is, of course, some danger of assigning undue prominence to the study of