Several visits to the Fort have been made by the Chairman and other members of the Executive Committee, and personal supervision has been given to the care and preservation of this prehistoric spot. An arrangement was entered into with Messrs. Moorehead and Cowan, the former the Curator of the Society, by which the enclosure within the embankment was thoroughly cleaned of all rubbish, underbrush, debris and dead wood; the washings were filled or checked and the entire grounds cleared into a park-like condition. A competent man was engaged to occupy the dwelling house at the entrance and guard the grounds from intruders. The embankment and enclosures have been protected by erection of barbed wire fences. The legislature should not hesitate to continue its provisions for the care of this property, the largest, best preserved and most interesting, and probably most important relic of the ancient mound builders in this country. It is hoped the State will no longer delay obtaining possesion of that portion of the Fort which by mistake, in its previous purchase, it failed to secure. The State should be the sole and complete possessor of this property, and that before the part now owned by private parties is destroyed or irretrievably damaged. Of such interest to the archæologist is this Fort that models of it are made in some of the museums of Europe. It is becoming more and more an object of historical and archæological study on the part of scholars throughout the United States. It is also a most popular resort for pleasure seekers and should be a State park as well as a State relic. QUARTERS FOR THE SOCIETY. The great need of the Society is adequate quarters for the placing of its property and facilities for its work. The Society is now located in the Orton building of the Ohio State University. The University authorities have granted every accommodation they can, but cannot spare what we positively need. Our museum is upon the second, or gallery floor of the Orton Museum, in inaccessible and cramped quarters. Our library is mostly packed in boxes in the basement rooms of the same building, while we have no office facilities or reading room. The State of Ohio can not afford to ignore its Historical and Archæological Society. The State, if it is not ready at this time to erect a building especially for the use of the Society, should at least remember the Society to the extent that it grant the Ohio State University such buildings as the University needs, with ample accommodations in one of them for the exclusive occupancy of the Society. Many valuable donations of books, documents and specimen collections are only waiting to come to the Society when it has quarters to receive them. The Society has grown in the value of its work and its reputation till it is recognized as in the front rank of similar State societies, and our great State cannot do otherwise than liberally promote its progress. No well regulated or self-respecting State in the Union is without an Historical Society, more or less fostered by the State. Even the western and newer States, with nothing like the need or field for such an agency as Ohio has, liberally care for their State societies. For instance, Nebraska, last year gave its society, if I am correctly informed, $4,500.00; Kansas, $5,680.00, and Wisconsin, $12,000.00. No State can surpass Ohio for wealth of material in the line of Archæology, Biography and History. The Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society is the only State agency for the collecting and preserving of this wealth. It should be afforded every means and facility required for the full accomplishment of its purpose. Respectfully submitted, E. O. RANDALL, Secretary. By order of the Executive Committee. Vol. V-19 Balance in hands of Treasurer February 1st, 1896, 328 82 $4,174 62 Respectfully submitted, S. S. RICKLY, Treasurer. |